Climeworks: “Innovation in Vacuum Busch Award 2021”

The company Climeworks has been awarded the Innovation Award by Busch Vacuum Solutions for its advanced use of vacuum technology. Climeworks is the first company to use Direct Air Capture technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In this way, the company is actively making an important contribution to reducing global warming. In these unique plants, MINK claw vacuum technology from Busch is used to filter CO₂.

Busch presents the “Innovation in Vacuum Busch Award” once a year. This award honors individuals or companies that make use of vacuum technology with particularly innovative ideas and thereby serve the well-being of people and the environment. The “Innovation in Vacuum Busch Award” was first presented in 2013 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Busch Vacuum Solutions.

The rise in temperature caused by climate change can only be limited by restoring a healthy balance in the CO₂ content of the atmosphere. This can only be realized if both current emissions are drastically reduced and unavoidable emissions that have already been emitted are removed from the air.

Using Climeworks’ Direct Air Capture technology, CO₂ is filtered directly from the air. CO₂ collectors selectively capture carbon dioxide in a two-step process. First, the air is drawn into the collector by a fan. The carbon dioxide is captured on the surface of a highly selective filter material located inside the collectors. After the filter material is filled with carbon dioxide, the collector is closed, and the temperature is raised to 80 to 100 °C – releasing and capturing the pure carbon dioxide. The filtered CO₂ is extracted using MINK claw vacuum pumps from Busch.

It is then mixed with water and injected underground into basalt rock by Climeworks’ partner Carbfix. Over a period of a few years, the CO₂ mineralizes itself and is thus permanently and safely removed from the atmosphere and converted back into rock underground. Climeworks’ technology is powered exclusively by renewable energy or waste heat, and the modular collectors can be combined to create systems of various sizes.

Climeworks and Busch have had a close partnership from the beginning. Climeworks has now been awarded the “Innovation in Vacuum Busch Award 2021” for its innovative use of vacuum technology in CO₂ removal. Managing Director and founder of Climeworks Jan Wurzbacher accepted the award together with other representatives of the company during a small ceremony at the headquarters of Busch Vacuum Solutions in Maulburg.