Frontier facilitates fourth round of carbon removal prepurchases

Alithic couples a solvent CO₂ capture process with a novel ion exchange method for efficient solvent regeneration. This process reacts CO₂ with industrial wastes and upgrades it into a material that can be resold for producing low-carbon concrete. Their approach has the potential for low-energy removal at scale and can be used flexibly across a wide range of alkaline feedstocks.

Alt Carbon spreads basalt on tea plantations in the Himalayan foothills, where the hot, humid environment helps speed up the natural reaction with water to remove CO₂ and store it as durable bicarbonate. This project uses a novel verification approach using metal tracers in the soil to reduce the cost of measurement and further understanding of weathering in new geographies. Alt Carbon’s project also improves soil health and provides additional revenue for farmers in an industry threatened by rising costs and climate change.

Anvil contacts highly reactive alkaline minerals with atmospheric CO₂ in a low-energy system that speeds up the mineralization process. The resulting solid carbonate minerals are then stored durably on-site and the removal can be easily measured. The team is targeting a promising feedstock and accelerating its broad use for removal at scale.

Capture6 uses electricity and saltwater in an electrochemical system to remove CO₂ while eliminating industrial waste streams. They use proven technologies and can flexibly integrate across a range of industrial processes to generate co-products like clean metals or freshwater, increasing the likelihood they can scale quickly and cheaply. This project also accelerates research around using low-carbon chemical byproducts productively.

Exterra Carbon Solutions uses a thermochemical process to transform mine waste into fast dissolving alkaline minerals that can be used to remove carbon in a variety of ways. For their pilot, they are partnering with Planetary to mix their material into coastal outfalls where it draws down atmospheric CO₂ and is stored durably in the form of oceanic bicarbonate. Their process cleans up mine sites by eliminating asbestos residues and extracts valuable low carbon metals like nickel that can be sold to reduce the cost of removal.

Flux accelerates the natural ability of rocks to absorb CO₂ by spreading basalt on farms in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with high weathering potential due to its humid, tropical climate. They are introducing field weathering to new regions and developing a tech platform to make robust, responsible measurement and future deployments easier. In addition to storing CO₂ as bicarbonate, the approach provides significant agronomic benefits to farmers who have historically had less access to soil amendments such as fertilizer or lime.

NULIFE uses a process called hydrothermal liquefaction to efficiently transform wet waste biomass into a bio-oil that is cheap to transport and is injected underground for permanent removal. Their process can destroy contaminants in waste biomass like PFAS and generates potential scaleable co-products that lower the price of carbon removal.

Planeteers uses a novel pressure-swing process to convert limestone, a cheap and abundant feedstock, into hydrated carbonate minerals, a fast-dissolving material that can be a scalable feedstock for a range of carbon removal approaches. Their pilot project mixes this material into water treatment plant outflows where it reacts with CO₂ in the air to form durable bicarbonate. This approach is easy to measure and leverages existing infrastructure, reducing costs.

Silica applies basalt and other volcanic rocks across sugarcane farms in Mexico, where warm, wet conditions speed up the weathering of the materials and storage of CO₂ as bicarbonate. They are pioneering a novel approach that could make carbon removal measurement on small farms easier and cheaper and are working with consumer brands to demonstrate how carbon removal can be incorporated into agricultural supply chains.