Çakanel (2026): Integrity-first control of direct air capture systems under carbon certifiability constraints
Ahmet Çakanel, IN: Applied Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2026.128430
Direct air capture (DAC) systems are increasingly deployed with the goal of delivering net-negative carbon emissions through permanent CO₂ storage or utilization. However, capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere does not guarantee that the removal remains certifiable under conservative measurement–reporting–verification (MRV) frameworks. Grid electricity with variable carbon intensity, auxiliary power demand, and MRV uncertainty margins interact during cyclic operation to create transient periods of net-positive emissions that accumulate as a liability over time. This cumulative liability, referred to as carbon debt, must remain bounded relative to physical capture if reported removals are to be defensible under third-party verification standards. This study introduces Carbon-Integrity-Constrained Control (CICC), a supervisory framework that treats carbon certifiability as an operational constraint enforced in real time, rather than as a retrospective accounting adjustment. Admissible operation is characterized by a bounded debt-to-capture ratio (δ≤δmax).