Phlair and the EIC Accelerator: A CO2 Capture Plant Shrunk to 10 t

Phlair, which renamed itself from Carbon Atlantis in September 2024 and is based in Ismaning near Munich, captures carbon dioxide from the air using an electrochemical "pH swing": an all-electric, low-temperature process that uses salt solutions instead of heated sorbents and is designed to run on intermittent solar power. Its EIC Accelerator project, CAPTURE, receives an EU contribution of €2,494,673 and runs from November 2024 to October 2026, according to CORDIS. The award described the deliverable as a minimum viable "Gen3 stack capable of capturing 500 tonnes CO2 per year from the air".

The project's first report, now titled for a plant "capable of capturing 10 tonnes CO2 per year", says that "albeit the initial assumption to develop a 500 tCO2/year demo plant, challenges explicitly discussed in the progress meeting presentation led to deviations in plant capacity and location", according to CORDIS. Phlair built the smaller demonstration plant, Electra 00, at its Ismaning headquarters, commissioned it and ran it "over multiple hours", including on solar power, and it achieved TÜV certification. The electrolyser stack was scaled back because of membrane manufacturing limits; a stack with fewer than ten cells has been built and tested, while the 42-cell target is "still underway".

Where Phlair Stands Now

Commercially, Phlair has moved faster than its hardware. In February 2025, Frontier, a carbon removal buying group, agreed that its buyers would pay $30.6 million to remove 47,000 tonnes of CO₂ between 2027 and 2030, supporting a first commercial-scale plant in Alberta, Canada, according to Frontier. The German government awarded it €8.2 million from December 2025 for a project called E3CO2-SUV and a further €0.9 million in 2026, according to North Data, which also shows losses of €0.87 million in 2023 and €3.0 million in 2024.

The Technology: Capturing CO₂ Without Heat

The EIC report says incumbent direct air capture approaches are held back by high energy use, poor fit with intermittent power and degrading organic sorbents. Phlair's electrolyser changes the acidity of salt solutions to capture and release CO₂, and stores the solutions in tanks so the energy-hungry step can run only when solar power is available. Frontier says Phlair targets less than 1.5 megawatt-hours per tonne, which it estimates at about 1.3 times lower than the average of other electricity-intensive removal approaches. The commercial unit is now defined as a 1,000-tonne-a-year module, the report says.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The EIC funded a 500-tonne minimum viable product. The report describes a 10-tonne plant at a different location and an electrolyser stack still being scaled. The project ends in October 2026. Phlair did build, certify and operate a working plant and filed two patents, so the technology moved forward, but at a fiftieth of the scale in the award.

1. 500 t/year demo plantDownsized10 t/year.
2. Plant commissionedDeliveredElectra 00, TÜV.
3. 42-cell stackIn progressSingle-digit stack.
4. CustomersSignedFrontier offtake.

The Money

Phlair's €14.5 million seed, announced in September 2024, was led by Extantia Capital with Planet A and Verve Ventures and counted the €2.5 million EIC grant within its total, according to Renewable Carbon News. At the time it said the money would bring its first plants online in 2025. Phlair was founded in 2022 by Malte Feucht, Paul Teufel and Steffen Garbe. German federal grants now exceed the EIC's contribution.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

The EIC report cites an EU need for 280 megatonnes of carbon capture by 2040, a quarter of it from direct air capture. Phlair's approach could make that cheaper if it works at scale. But its first commercial plant is planned in Canada, and its European demo is small.

The Verdict

Phlair and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.