India's Carbon Capture Landscape: Emerging Technologies, Pilots, Pathways Forward
India's Direct Air Capture (DAC) activity is early-stage but diverse, spanning startups, academic labs, biological systems, and construction-linked carbon utilisation.
By Anubha Jain
Published : January 30, 2026 at 1:16 PM IST
Bengaluru: Climate change, driven by excessive carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, continues to pose one of the most urgent challenges of our time. While deep decarbonisation of energy systems and industrial processes is essential, complementary technologies that remove CO₂ directly from the atmosphere and convert it into value‑added products are gaining attention. These technologies—particularly Direct Air Capture (DAC) paired with carbon utilisation—offer pathways to reduced atmospheric carbon while also delivering industrially useful outputs, such as construction materials, synthetic fuels, and chemicals.
Globally, leading companies are demonstrating how DAC and carbon utilisation can work together. For instance, Climeworks (Switzerland/Iceland) captures CO₂ directly from ambient air and either permanently sequesters it via mineralisation beneath Iceland’s basalt formations or supplies it to partners producing carbonated concrete and synthetic fuels. Its emphasis on rigorous Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), lifecycle transparency, and storage permanence sets a benchmark for credible carbon removal and high‑integrity carbon credit frameworks. Similarly, Heirloom (USA) uses a low‑energy mineral looping process with limestone—accelerating a natural rock weathering reaction—to capture CO₂. The resulting carbonated limestone can be integrated into cement and construction materials, linking carbon removal with industrial value chains.
In November 2024, the Dharampal Satyapal Group (DS Group) partnered with Liquid Trees to unveil India's first outdoor “Liquid Tree” at their headquarters in Noida, India. The cube holds 1,600 L of microalgae solution—capturing roughly the same CO₂ as six mature trees, showcasing how microalgae can clean air, store carbon in biomass, and support greener cities.
India’s DAC and Carbon Utilisation Landscape: From Research to Early Pilots
In India, the large-scale commercial DAC deployment remains limited compared to global leaders; most activity is in research, pilot projects, or emerging startups. However, there is a broadening ecosystem of research initiatives, pilot deployments, and collaborative networks pointing to growing activity in carbon removal and utilisation.
1. Indigenous DAC and Carbon Capture Startups
- Novonanmek Material Sciences (Delhi) is reportedly developing a DAC technology called Novoclime, a hybrid sorbent approach targeting CO₂ removal from ambient air. Although still at the pilot stage, this effort signals early indigenous innovation in DAC.
- Kerone Engineering Solutions (Mumbai) has designed DAC systems intended to capture CO₂ from ambient air, concentrate it, and enable disposal or utilisation. Their systems incorporate advanced materials and energy‑efficient mechanisms to improve capture rates and reduce operational costs, though details on commercial deployment remain limited.
- CarbonSQR is noteworthy for planning India’s first pilot DAC facility near Hyderabad, expected to capture up to 8 tonnes of CO₂ per day when operational, illustrating a nascent but concrete DAC deployment in India.
2. Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) Pilots
Although not strictly an ambient DAC, CCU initiatives play a complementary role by converting captured CO₂ into useful products—developing technological and industrial pathways that DAC systems can later leverage.
CO2India, a national network of over 1000 scientists, faculty, industry experts, and students, fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and links lab-scale research with real-world deployment. It advocates for supportive policies, long-term funding, and dedicated institutes to accelerate Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) innovation nationwide.
The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has outlined a comprehensive CCUS R&D roadmap, calling for coordinated action, supportive policies, and strengthened infrastructure to accelerate CCUS deployment across sectors like power, cement, and steel. It has supported the foundation of a CO₂‑to‑methanol pilot plant in Pune, developed in collaboration with IIT Delhi and Thermax under a public–private partnership. This facility, with a design capacity of about 1.4 tonnes per day, aims to demonstrate conversion of captured CO₂ into methanol—used in fuel blending, chemical production, and as a hydrogen carrier.
3. Biological Capture and Utilisation Pathways
Biological CO₂ capture systems are attracting interest, particularly those that couple air capture with biomass production:
- Carbelim, an IIT Madras–incubated climate tech startup, is developing algae‑powered air capture systems (photo bioreactors) that capture CO₂ and other pollutants from ambient air and convert them into biomass, vegan Omega‑3 oils, spirulina protein, and oxygen. These modular systems can be integrated into building façades and urban installations, offering a pathway for air purification and CO₂ utilisation.
- Organic Recycling Systems Ltd. (ORSL), in partnership with IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur, has initiated India’s first pilot Bio‑CCU platform under a DBT‑BIRAC grant, converting biogas CO₂ through algal cultivation and photocatalytic processes into mixed alcohols and other products. These emerging biological pathways highlight the diversity of CO₂ utilisation strategies beyond conventional DAC or chemical CCU routes.
Academic research also explores microalgae bioreactors and novel cultivation designs for CO₂ capture, converting CO₂ into biomass for biomaterials and energy applications, though large‑scale commercial deployment remains a challenge.
4. Nanocatalysis Laboratory, TIFR Mumbai: Advanced CO₂ Conversion Research
The Nanocatalysis Laboratory focuses on converting carbon dioxide (CO₂) into useful chemicals, particularly carbon monoxide (CO), a key intermediate for producing synthetic fuels, methanol, and various industrial chemicals. While converting CO₂ to CO may seem straightforward, it is scientifically challenging because CO₂ is an extremely stable molecule. Activating it typically requires very high temperatures, which often result in low efficiency, unwanted by-products, and rapid catalyst degradation, limiting large-scale industrial use.
To overcome these challenges, the laboratory developed defect‑engineered trimetallic nanocatalysts—composed of nickel, copper, and zinc on cerium oxide (ceria)—to enhance CO₂ conversion. In catalysis, “defects” are small structural irregularities, such as missing atoms, that can significantly enhance performance. At the nanoscale, more surface atoms are exposed for reactions, while structural defects in ceria act as active sites that trap CO₂, weaken its bonds, and facilitate its transformation.
Each component of the catalyst has a specific role. Ceria defects adsorb and activate CO₂, while the trimetallic combination allows precise control of electron density at the active sites. This synergy enables selective breaking of the C=O bond, favouring CO formation while suppressing unwanted side reactions. As a result, the catalyst exhibits high CO selectivity, enhanced productivity, and stable performance over long operating times, even at elevated temperatures.
Beyond thermocatalysis, the laboratory explores photocatalysis, particularly plasmonic catalysis, where light drives chemical reactions under milder conditions by using materials that convert light into chemical energy more efficiently. CO₂ has very strong bonds, usually requiring high temperatures to break. Plasmonic materials offer a new solution: when light hits them, energetic “hot electrons” are injected into CO₂ molecules, activating them directly. The team has developed a material called black gold, composed of closely spaced gold nanoparticles that absorb a wide spectrum of sunlight like a light-harvesting antenna. It can also host reactive metals such as nickel, controlling reaction rates, product selectivity and easing the transfer of hot electrons to reactant molecules.
The laboratory also explores integrated approaches to enhance the sustainability of CO₂ conversion. One promising strategy couples CO₂ reduction with industrial reactions such as propane dehydrogenation, producing hydrogen in situ and reducing dependence on externally supplied green hydrogen. Another line of research investigates CO₂ reduction using water as the sole hydrogen source under light irradiation, simplifying the process. In all cases, maintaining catalyst stability during long‑term operation and continuous light exposure remains a critical design priority.
5. IISc Case Study: Carbon-Enhanced Construction Materials
At the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, researchers are turning captured CO₂ into a resource for construction materials. At the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, they treat excavated soil and construction & demolition (C&D) waste with CO₂ from industrial exhaust streams, producing a substitute for natural sand. The CO₂ reacts with calcium to form stable calcium carbonate crystals, enhancing strength, reducing porosity, and improving bonding with cement and lime.
In complementary work, CO₂ from flue gases is injected into soil and C&D waste to create low-carbon composites, including 3D-printable materials. These have shown improved compressive strength, shorter curing times, and can replace up to 50 per cent of natural sand in mortar.
This approach permanently locks carbon into durable building products, reduces dependence on natural sand, and demonstrates a scalable, practical pathway for integrating CO₂ capture and utilisation in India’s construction sector.
Barriers and the Path Ahead
India’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) and carbon utilisation ecosystem faces significant challenges, including high capital and operating costs, energy-intensive processes that depend on affordable renewable power, weak MRV frameworks, low technology readiness levels, and gaps in talent and infrastructure needed for scale-up. Despite these barriers, growing climate urgency has positioned DAC and carbon utilisation as important complements to emission reduction efforts, particularly where captured CO₂ can be converted into value-added products for existing industrial value chains.
In India, the DAC landscape, including startups, academic research, pilot projects, and collaborative networks, remains at an early stage but is gradually expanding. These efforts demonstrate the long-term potential of CO₂ removal while underscoring the need for patient capital, enabling policies, credible MRV systems, and sustained public–private collaboration. Strengthening these enablers will be critical to scaling carbon removal technologies and ensuring India’s meaningful and equitable participation in the global climate technology transition.
