By signing in you confirm you are 18 or older, or have your parent’s or guardian’s consent.

UPSC Prelims 2025 GS Paper 1, question 36

Topic: Environment and ecology

Q36

With reference to ‘Direct Air Capture’, an emerging technology, which of the following statements is/are correct?

I. It can be used as a way of carbon sequestration.

II. It can be a valuable approach for plastic production and in food processing.

III. In aviation, it can be a source of carbon for combining with hydrogen to create synthetic low-carbon fuel.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  1. (a) I and II only
  2. (b) III only
  3. (c) I, II and IIICorrect answer
  4. (d) None of the above statements is correct

Solution.

Answer: (c) I, II and III

  1. Statement I is correct: Direct Air Capture (DAC) extracts carbon dioxide directly from ambient air for permanent geological storage (carbon sequestration).
  2. Statement II is correct: captured atmospheric CO2\text{CO}_2 is used as a feedstock for manufacturing carbon-negative plastics/polymers, synthetic building aggregates, and beverage carbonation/dry ice in food processing.
  3. Statement III is correct: in aviation, DAC-captured CO2\text{CO}_2 is combined with green hydrogen via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to produce drop-in synthetic Sustainable Aviation Fuel (e-SAF).