Wärtsilä has invested a further €1 million in Soletair Power Oy, a Finnish CO2 direct air capture technology company. In 2019 Wärtsilä invested €500,000 in the company, which has developed what is being called a breakthrough solution for capturing the carbon dioxide from air in buildings that can then be used when creating synthetic renewable fuel. The latest investment will enable Soletair Power to further its global sales efforts and to scale up the manufacturing of its CO2 capture solution for building ventilation. In addition to producing synthetic renewable fuels, the carbon captured from air can be used for various purposes and industry applications, such as in the food industry.
The direct air capture of CO2 is being seen as an essential element of the world’s efforts towards decarbonisation. Soletair Power’s technology is the first in the world with building integration, which opens a unique business case with several value streams. Capturing CO2 from in-house air allows occupants to perform better, which is applicable especially in schools and workplaces. The technology represents a circular economy in the form of carbon utilisation.
“Soletair Power has already demonstrated how the captured CO2 can be turned into synthetic renewable fuels, and there are many other interesting applications under development in different industries for its utilisation,” says Matti Rautkivi, director, New Business at Wärtsilä Energy. Wärtsilä, together with Soletair Power and Q Power, a Finnish company specialising in synthetic fuel technologies, developed the first demonstration unit producing synthetic methane from captured CO2 in 2020.
