Climeworks Doubles Direct Air Capture Performance at Iceland’s Mammoth Plant
Climeworks says sorbent and mechanical upgrades more than doubled CO2 capture at its Mammoth plant in Iceland while cutting operating costs over 50%.
Photo by Policarpo Brito on Pexels
Climeworks announced on September 10, 2026, that sorbent and mechanical upgrades have more than doubled real-world CO2 capture performance in upgraded collector containers at its Mammoth direct air capture plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland, while cutting operating cost per ton by more than 50% over the past year. Co-founder and co-CEO Jan Wurzbacher detailed the improvements in a company blog post accompanying the announcement.
The upgrades combine a refined sorbent formulation and production process with mechanical and operational changes to the plant’s equipment. Two of Mammoth’s collector containers have run with both upgrades for more than six months, and Climeworks says they are now hitting the plant’s original design target of 1.37 tons of CO2 captured per day at peak run rate per container – a rate the company had not previously achieved in real-world operation. By the end of 2026, Climeworks plans to roll the upgrades out across all 12 collector containers in one Mammoth module.
Output nearly six times higher than a year earlier
Climeworks reported net carbon dioxide removal (CDR) production of 675 tons in the first half of 2026, against 119 tons in the first half of 2025 – a more than fivefold increase. The company also said the upgraded containers are now running at a capacity factor of roughly 40% to 50%, which Climeworks contrasts with typical capacity factors of 20% to 25% for solar power and 30% to 40% for wind.
Mammoth began operating on May 8, 2024, with a design nameplate capacity of 36,000 tons of CO2 per year across 72 planned collector containers – about ten times the capacity of Climeworks’ earlier Orca plant. Twelve containers were online at the May 2024 launch, with the full buildout completed later that year.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Net CDR production, H1 2025 | 119 tons |
| Net CDR production, H1 2026 | 675 tons |
| Increase | More than 5x |
| Operating cost per ton, change over past year | Cut more than 50% |
| Capacity factor, upgraded containers | ~40-50% |
| Mammoth design capacity | 36,000 tons CO2/year |
| Per-container peak design rate | 1.37 tons CO2/day |
Next-generation technology due in 2027
Climeworks said testing of next-generation direct air capture technology will begin at Mammoth in early 2027. In lab conditions, the company has recorded a tenfold improvement in sorbent lifetime and a fourfold improvement in process densification within the same module footprint, which would let fewer collector containers produce the same output. Climeworks has not yet confirmed those lab-scale gains in field operation at Mammoth.
About Climeworks
Climeworks is a Swiss direct air capture company that uses amine-based sorbents in modular collector units to pull CO2 directly from ambient air, then stores it permanently underground in partnership with Icelandic firm Carbfix. The company built its first commercial plant, Orca, with a capacity of 4,000 tons of CO2 per year – a facility Winss has covered previously – before scaling up roughly tenfold with Mammoth in 2024. Climeworks has said it aims to reach megaton-scale removal capacity by 2030 and gigaton-scale by 2050. The September 2026 performance upgrades at Mammoth, delivered through sorbent and mechanical changes rather than new construction, mark the company’s first publicly reported doubling of real-world capture rates at the plant since it began operating in 2024.
Sources: Climeworks; Climeworks (Jan Wurzbacher); ESG Today; Winss Solutions (prior Climeworks coverage)
Featured image: photo by Policarpo Brito on Pexels (free Pexels license).
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I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.
