OAC Missions: Research & Development

Carbon Removal Challenge The Carbon Removal Challenge is a worldwide challenge for students to create new processes, approaches and prototypes to remove carbon from the land, waters, or air. This mission is led by Matt Parker Cyan The CYAN mission began under the leadership of Dahl Winters in January 2021. The objective has been to develop a miniature, open-source device that removes small amounts of CO2 from the air using simple, inexpensive off-the-shelf components. Viridian Algae Hackers Air-Synth Carbon Forming Carbon Forming was a collaborative R&D mission to embed CO2 removed from the air in 3D-printed objects through a distributed, solar powered, modular platform. The mission kicked off in early 2022 through the initiative of a small team of scientists, designers, engineers and artists located all over North America. By expanding this collaboration to include the insights, ideas and support of a much larger global community, the mission team aims to rapidly evolve the concept into a real world, functional prototype. VIOLET VIOLET was a collaborative OpenAir mission to develop and evolve the world’s first miniature open-source Direct Air Carbon Capture (DAC) machine - inactive effective April 2023. DAC machines are envisioned to suck carbon right out of the air and will be an essential part of reversing climate change and optimizing our atmosphere for civilization in the 21st Century. During the VIOLET mission, participants explored a variety of adsorbent materials and evaluated sensors. An effective combination of adsorbent and regeneration process was not encountered. Synthwave Biochar The Biochar mission seeks to explore production and utilization of biochar on small scale, to help individuals with interest in carbon dioxide removal learn how biochar can be harnessed in creative and do-it-yourself ways. THURSDAY THURSDAY is a DAC device developed at Octavia Carbon, Nairobi, Kenya. It is an early prototype temperature-swing adsorption unit with PEI on silica gel The mission’s objective is to realize continual improvement to and evolution of the design and performance through a global peer-production community of designers, hackers, students and whoever else wants to contribute.