DeltaSpark (Develop electrolysis technology to capture CO2 and produce valuable hydrogen and solid carbonate)

DeltaSparka, a Swiss cleantech company founded in 2022, has developed an innovative electrolyzer technology that takes CO₂ from industrial flue gases and converts it into valuable products like mineral carbonates and hydrogen. This approach could make carbon removal profitable by pairing with low-cost local hydrogen supply.

(This article contains 2 diagrams and 1183 words.)

Challenges: making CO₂ removal profitable

The accelerating impacts of climate change have made large-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal a necessity. Yet despite decades of innovation in carbon capture technologies, deployment has remained limited, largely because CO₂ removal is treated as a cost center rather than a value-generating activity. Conventional approaches rely heavily on policy incentives, subsidies, or compliance markets, which constrains scalability and exposes projects to regulatory and financial uncertainty. As a result, the gap between the technical feasibility of CO₂ removal and its real-world adoption continues to widen.

Transforming CO₂ removal into a profitable endeavor represents a fundamental shift in how climate technologies can be deployed. By embedding CO₂ capture within systems that produce economically valuable outputs—such as energy, materials, or chemical intermediates—carbon removal can become self-sustaining rather than externally subsidized. This reframing aligns climate mitigation with market forces, enabling investment, innovation, and scale to be driven by economic returns rather than obligation alone. The significance of this approach lies not only in reducing atmospheric CO₂, but in creating a viable pathway for continuous, distributed deployment across industries and geographies.

DeltaSpark Technology

DeltaSpark has developed a CO₂ removal system that integrates CO₂ removal into an electrochemical system to simultaneously generate economically valuable products like mineral carbonate and clean hydrogen. This dual-purpose system improves overall system efficiency and enables continuous, scalable operation under conditions compatible with industrial deployment. By structurally linking CO₂ removal to economic performance, DeltaSpark overcomes a primary limitation of prior carbon capture technologies and establishes a pathway for profitable, market-driven carbon removal at scale.

How DeltaSpark electrolyzer works

DeltaSpark has developed an Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolyzer for the simultaneous electrolysis of CO₂ and H₂O. It operates at low temperatures (typically below 200 ºC) and has high conversion rates while preventing the typical degradation caused by salt precipitation. The diagram below depicts the configuration and working mechanism of DeltaSpark’s electrolyzer.