The direct capture of CO2 from the atmosphere is a topic that is talked about a lot, but about which very little is done. And I think there are several reasons. One is the high cost of the operation, another is the general lack of conviction, and in part also that many see it as a means of misleading us from the fundamental task, which is to avoid sending CO2 into the atmosphere as soon as possible.
But the amount of CO2 that we have in the atmosphere is so large, and the worst thing is that it continues to increase, that we will need any complementary process that will help remove some of that CO2 from the atmosphere. That is why I believe that this technology (called DAC) has an important future, although now many people doubt it.
According to data from the Climate Panel (IPCC), humanity should remove more than 600 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by the end of the century. And that is a huge amount, that some experts estimate that it would be necessary to build 30 DAC stations a year between now and the year 2050, and that each one would eliminate more than 1 million tons of CO2.
And with only a few prototypes being built around the world, that means once again that we're way behind the problem.
A typical DAC station has large fans to force air movement through a material, extracting CO2 from it and then concentrating it. Once concentrated, it can be stored or used to produce synthetic fuels, chemicals, etc…
But it is a process that today is very expensive. And while costs are expected to come down, they won't if many facilities aren't brought online. It is a vicious circle that has not yet been broken.
Surprisingly, these new CO2 removal processes still have very little support, and instead we are subsidizing the consumption of fossil fuels in aviation and other transport. And it is not that we are that stupid, it is that there are many interests because of which they have not just been eliminated.
Some smart people like Bill Gates have invested in such new companies, but it is still something rare and very new to most people.
It only remains to hope that this technology expands as soon as possible, since any type of help to eliminate the CO2 that we are continuously pouring into the atmosphere is more than welcome.
Hopefully we will see many DAC installations in a short time.
EN 
ES