Critical Threshold of 70 mol% CO2 Concentration for Economically Viable Geological Storage from Direct Air Capture (DAC)

Critical Threshold of 70 mol% CO2 Concentration for Economically Viable Geological Storage from Direct Air Capture (DAC) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Critical Threshold of 70 mol% CO2 Concentration for Economically Viable Geological Storage from Direct Air Capture (DAC) Yunfeng Liang, Le Zhang, Arata Kioka, Takeshi Tsuji This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6213195/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Direct Air Capture (DAC), a key component of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), has been widely studied. However, its large-scale deployment is hindered by the high energy cost of purifying captured CO₂. Using impure CO₂ can reduce energy consumption and overall costs, but it also lowers storage efficiency. This work employs Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations to examine storage efficiency by analyzing the impurity systems' density across a wide temperature and pressure range. The results indicate a strong similarity between the density changes caused by impurities at the macroscopic level and the Van der Waals interaction changes at the molecular level. Additionally, the Normalized Storage Efficiency caused by Impurities (NSEI) is proposed, which can be used in conjunction with the storage efficiency factor for further storage potential and cost evaluation. A detailed NSEI analysis suggests that CO₂ concentration should reach at least 70% to achieve economically viable storage. This finding provides practical guidance for DAC capture system design and impurity CCS project planning. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Carbon capture and storage Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Environmental economics Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Impurity Storage Efficiency Direct Air Capture Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files ZhangLeSupportingDocument20250319.pdf Supporting Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6213195","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":437549828,"identity":"5299b215-b7b3-4d15-a940-362c152d2152","order_by":0,"name":"Yunfeng 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