Weekly Update: Project Clean Up Newsletter - Vol. 1, Issue 32

Date: January 16, 2026

Mining the Sky: The Rise of DAC Sorbents

Welcome back to the Project Clean Up (PCU) weekly newsletter! Last week, we assessed our 2026 trajectory and the global shift toward destructive remediation. This week, we pivot to a material that doesn't just clean our water, but cleans our air: Direct Air Capture (DAC) Sorbents.

As we face the climate challenges of 2026, we are no longer just looking to reduce emissions; we are looking to remove legacy carbon. DAC sorbents are highly engineered materials—often amine-functionalized resins or MOFs—that possess a high affinity for $CO_2$. When air is pushed through these filters, the $CO_2$ sticks to the surface of the sorbent while the rest of the air passes through. Once saturated, the material is gently heated to release pure $CO_2$ for underground sequestration or industrial reuse.

At Project Clean Up (PCU), we see a deep parallel between DAC technology and our own PFAS capture methods. Both rely on the precision of surface chemistry to find "a needle in a haystack." By supporting the development of these materials, we are helping to build a world where the mistakes of the past are actively scrubbed from the atmosphere.