The Future of Carbon Capture: A View of the Current Players
By: Kyle Spencer
Tags: Carbon Emissions, Carbon Capture, Carbon Markets, Environment, Carbon

This post was written by Kyle Spencer and Ehina Srivastava, whose bios are at the end.

As per the 2021 IPCC report, it is clear that it is no longer sufficient to simply reduce carbon emissions. In order to tackle climate change, we need to rapidly remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. While this seems daunting, hundreds of companies have worked towards various carbon capture and sequestration methods over the last few decades. We have compiled a list of some of these companies with a variety of carbon sequestration technologies. In addition to a brief description of their technology, we have also included indicators of economic feasibility and sustainability when available. The list is organized by the company’s main focus, but note that many of these processes and missions overlap with one another. Disclaimer: this list is not exhaustive, these companies happened to catch our attention or were more advanced in their funding or mission than others.

Geocarbon Sequestration to Make Concrete and Building Products:

Blue Planet: The first carbon capture company on our list is Blue Planet, a company whose focus is storing carbon in rocks to make products such as concrete. Blue Planet uses “biomimetic carbon capture,” allowing them to use CO2 as a raw material to make carbonate rocks. From their carbon sequestration process, Blue Planet is able to produce carbon-neutral concrete with a synthetic limestone coating on recycled aggregate. In general, the cost of geological carbon capture is more than $100 per ton, and Blue Planet’s technology aims to reduce this cost because its sequestration process creates an aggregate as a byproduct which can be sold. Thus far, they have raised $9.3 million.

CarbonCure: CarbonCure’s main focus is geocarbon sequestration, and they only do CO2 storage. They have made a technology for the concrete industry that introduces recycled CO₂ into fresh concrete. Once injected, the CO₂ undergoes a mineralization process and becomes permanently embedded into the concrete. In April 2021, CarbonCure won the $7.5 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE for its breakthrough technology to convert CO2 into usable products. Their projected cost of sequestration is $100/ton. They have raised $12.4 million.

Carbon Upcycling Technologies: This company focuses on converting CO2 gas into different materials needed for construction. It is primarily focused on converting CO2(g) into concrete, but they also power feedstocks like Fly Ash, crushed glass, steel slag, graphite, talc, and more. This process is carried out through CO2-pressurized reactors. The projected cost of sequestration is not publicly available, though potential customers can ask for a price estimate for their products. Carbon Upcycling Technologies has generated an unknown amount of capital.

CO2 Conversion Into Various Products:

CCm Technologies: CCm primarily focuses on converting CO2 into fertilizer, fibers, and soil conditioners. Ccm has developed a method of producing fertilizer and soil conditioner via captured carbon dioxide from industrial power generators. It has been pretty successful thus far, transforming 6,500 tonnes of waste into 13,000 tonnes of high-grade compound fertilizer. As for projected cost of sequestration, the current estimate is £200 per tonne. CCm has raised $2.8 million.

Kiverdi: The main focus of Kiverdi is to make systems of production across various economic sectors sustainable. This company is extremely versatile, sporting 46 patents not only focused on reducing CO2 emissions, but on making the economy sustainable and renewable in general. Some of the products Kiverdi produces include the following: air protein (meat made, in part, with CO2), reverse plastics (transform plastic waste into a range of biodegradable materials via gasification), revive soil, CO2 aquafeed, and custom cycle. The projected cost of sequestration for air protein, revive soil, and CO2 aquafeed has received no comment. As a whole, Kiverdi has raised $32 million.

Twelve: Twelve’s main focus is carbon transformation. Carbon transformation entails turning CO2 into essential products. They source their carbon from CO2 rather than from fossil fuels. Their invention “O12” replicates photosynthesis at industrial scale to capture CO2. It consists of CO2-reducing catalysts with a device that uses water and renewable energy to split CO2. Modular technology. At scale, they claim their technology has the CO2-reducing capability of 120 billion trees. They make carbon negative materials that sequester up to three tons of CO2 for every one ton of product made. They claim their technology can address up to 10% of total global emissions and up to 50% of difficult to decarbonize industrial emissions. The projected cost of sequestration is not known. They have raised $68 million.

Direct Air Capture:

Global Thermostat: Global Thermostat is a leader of direct air capture and is affiliated with ExxonMobil. Their current main focus is making their carbon capture technology more widely available by securing locations in which they can build their technology. They claim that their technology works just as well at capturing CO2 from power plants and industrial flues as it does capturing CO2 directly from the air. The versatility of their tech eliminates the need for expensive trucking and long pipelines, opening up vast new markets. They claim their projected cost of sequestration is $100/ton and they have raised an unknown amount.

Carbon Engineering: Main focus: to capture carbon from the air in a 4 step capture and purification process. Captures carbon dioxide from the air rather than just industrial flue stacks. Uses direct air capture in a 4 part process: starts with an air contactor that captures CO2 in solutions, then requires separating the salt out from solution into small pellets via a pellet reactor, then heated in a calciner, lastly hydrated in a slacker and recycled back into the system to reproduce the original capture chemical. Projected cost of sequestration ranges between $94-$232/ton. Carbon Engineering has raised $110.4 million.

Climeworks: Climeworks’s main focus is to capture carbon from the air in a profitable manner based on an average consumer subscription (as opposed to energy companies or governmental grants). They have 14 direct air capture facilities, including the world’s first commercial air capture facilities. Their business works through consumer-based “subscription service” where you pay to “order” carbon removal in your name. Their projected cost of sequestration is $600/ton. Climeoworks has raised $138.7 million.

Mission Zero: Missions Zero’s main focus is to electrochemically remove CO2 from the air and concentrate it for a variety of sequestration pathways. Mission Zero was founded in June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a spin-off from Deep Science Ventures. They claim they are developing DAC technology that will recover high-purity CO2 from the air for a fraction of the costs and energy it takes to do so today. Their projected cost of carbon sequestration is estimated to be $319 per ton and have raised at least $1 million.

Point Source Air Capture:

CO2 Solutions: CO2 Solutions’s main focus is to use carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme, to capture carbon from industrial sources. They have developed a carbon capture technology called the “Industrial Lung,” which uses the enzyme, and this tech works in chimneys and other industrial sources of CO2. Their projected cost of carbon capture, including compression is <$40/ton. The amount of funds raised is not known.

Pure Geocarbon Sequestration:

CarbFix: Their main focus is geocarbon sequestration. CarFix technology requires favorable rocks, water, and a source of carbon dioxide. Their tech accelerates the natural process where carbon dioxide is dissolved in water and interacts with reactive rock formations to make carbon sinks. Their projected cost of sequestration is $49 per ton. They have raised an unknown amount.

Heirloom Carbon: Heirloom is a company focused on geocarbon sequestration through mineralization. Their technology enhances carbon mineralization to help minerals absorb CO2 from the ambient air in days, rather than years. They first input natural carbonate materials into a high-temperature reactor. This creates two products, CO2, and calcium oxide. The CO2 is sequestered in geological storage. The calcium oxide materials are then put into a passive air contactor and re-bonds with CO2 within two weeks. These materials are then returned to the beginning of this loop to be processed and reused.. The projected cost of carbon sequestration is currently $2054/ton. Heirloom Carbon has raised over $1 million.

Project Vesta: Project Vesta’s main focus is coastal carbon capture. They harness the power of the ocean to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere. Their process entails acquiring olivine and transporting it to beaches, where the free energy of wave action is harnessed to crush the rock and speed up the natural carbon dioxide capture process via weathering. Their projected cost of sequestration is $75/ton. They have raised $1.6M.

44.01: 44.01’s main focus is carbon mineralization. They are working with Climeworks to sequester carbon. They acquire CO2 from carbon capture plants and DAC plants and use mineralization to sequester the CO2. They turn CO₂ into rock permanently, safely and securely, contributing to lower concentrations of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Their “innovative” technology allows them to accelerate the mineralization process and use natural carbon sinks throughout Oman and the UAE to eradicate the CO₂, keeping it out of the atmosphere forever. Their projected cost of sequestration is unknown, and have raised $5M.

Ocean Sequestration:

Running Tide: Running Tide’s main focus is carbon sequestration via plants in the deep ocean. They have three main focuses: rebuilding food systems, removing excess carbon, and restoring coasts. To remove carbon, they expedite photosynthesis in kelp. This kelp grows, absorbing CO2, and then dies, sinking into the deep ocean and allowing for carbon sequestration. Their projected cost of carbon sequestration is $250/ton. Running Tide has raised $11.2 million.

Seachange: Seachange’s focus is on sequestering CO2 in the form of seashells. They input seawater into their newly innovated machine, and this water gains an electric charge. This triggers chemical reactions to combine the dissolved CO2 in the water with calcium and magnesium in the water. This creates limestone and magnesite. These two minerals are essentially ground-up seashells. These can then be disposed of on loans or released back into the ocean. The seawater can then flow back into the ocean, absorbing more CO2. Seawater has a higher concentration of CO2 than the air, at 150 times the concentration. This process requires little energy to work. The projected cost of carbon sequestration is $1370/ton, and Seachange has raised $1 million.

Planetary Hydrogen: Planetary Hydrogen’s patented Planetary Hydrogen Ocean Air Capture (OAC) technology utilizes renewable electricity to produce hydrogen from electrolysis of water. They call their process SeaOH2. The innovative part of their process is that they add a mineral salt to the system, enabling the electrolysis cell to create an atmosphere-scrubbing compound called mineral hydroxide as a waste product. This compound actively binds with carbon dioxide, producing an “ocean antacid” that is similar to baking soda. The net effect is that while they produce pure hydrogen, they also engage in the direct air capture and storage of CO2. For every 1kg of hydrogen it produces, the system can consume as much as 40kg of CO2 and permanently store it. The projected cost of carbon sequestration is not publicly listed, although Shopify has purchased carbon removal through them, and they have raised $600k in funding.

Bio-Oil:

Charm Industrial: Charm Industrial’s main focus is to convert waste biomass into bio-oil. This bio-oil is then injected deep underground to sequester the carbon, or is reformed to produce green hydrogen as a fuel and industrial chemical. Their projected cost of carbon sequestration is $600/ton and they have raised an unknown amount of capital.

Forest Management and Carbon Offsets:

The Future Forest Company: The Future Forest Company plants trees to engage in biological carbon removal. Their step one is planting 50 million trees by 2025. Step two is trialling and deploying complimentary carbon removal technologies — biochar and enhanced weathering — to remove an estimated 10 times more CO2 than through reforestation alone. Their projected cost of sequestration is $200/ton. They have raised $30 million.

NCX: NCX’s main focus is forest carbon sequestration and forest management through a carbon offset program. NCX connects those who want to offset their carbon to the landowners, habitats, and communities through their carbon marketplace. Their expertise allows for the purchase of carbon credits with immediate, verifiable impact and for landowners to quantify the full value of their forests. Carbon-conscious companies can partner with the up to 1.5 million US forest owners in their system to confidently buy and sell carbon credits. Their projected cost of sequestration is unknown, and they have raised $22.3 million.

Others:

DyeCoo: DyeCoo differs from other carbon sequestration companies, as it focuses on using CO2 as a medium in the dyeing process, eliminating the need for waste water. This is accomplished via a closed-loop process. In this process, when pressurized, CO₂ becomes supercritical (SC-CO₂). In this state CO₂ has a very high solvent power, allowing the dye to dissolve easily. Also, since there is no need for waste water, there are no process chemicals that need to be disposed of. As for projected costs of sequestration, it is not clear. We do know that the cost of just one DyeCoo machine is up to $4 million, which does indicate an economic limitation regarding the implementation of this technology. DyeCoo has raised $6.5 million.

We will need all hands on deck to successfully combat climate change. It’s going to take the work of all of the companies in the carbon and climate spaces currently, as well as all of those in the future, for us to have a chance of success. We are excited to see what the future holds in store.

Bios:

Kyle Spencer is a rising Junior at Dartmouth College from Rye, NY. He is pursuing a major in Environmental Studies with a Focus in Environmental Economics. He passionately believes the best way to combat climate change is through advancing direct air capture and carbon sequestration technologies. He is currently creating his own startup in the DAC space. Kyle has worked for: CAPM2.0, an environmental newsletter informing investors of the seismic shifts in the economy and asset prices caused by climate change; Solaflect Energy, a solar energy provider in NH and VT; at Dartmouth as a James O. Freedman Presidential Scholar Research Assistant of Professor Mukul Sharma determining the energy required per ton of sequestered CO2 for various forms of biochar and hydrochar; with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and EPA; and with HagoEnergetics. Kyle enjoys swimming, scuba diving, and water polo, as well as photography both above and below the water (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-spencer-b810a51a1/).

Ehina Srivastava (“Nina”) is a sophomore at Cornell University studying Environmental Engineering with a minor in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. From the DC metro area, Ehina has experience in advocating for environmental justice, international aid, as well as anti-poverty initiatives. While at Cornell, Ehina works as a freshman Resident Advisor and dances with Cornell Nazaqat, a classical North Indian dance team. She has a deep passion for environmental sustainability and hopes to work in climate change research. Outside of academic interests, Ehina enjoys ballet, travelling, and baking (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ehina-srivastava-a7b588185/).

We are both interns for HagoEnergetics, a company starting its journey in this field. HagoEnergetics produces green hydrogen from the decomposition of biogas from dairy farms. In addition, we produce activated carbon, biochar, carbon black, and methanol. We are also engaged in projects to develop direct air capture at the industrial and modular scale.