Oceanography Professors Transform a Research Tool into a Startup That’s Sucking CO2 from Seawater

"As the world hurtles toward dangerously warmer temperatures, international experts advise that carbon removal will be essential to avoiding the worst climate outcomes. Many startups are devising approaches that pull carbon from the air and capture it. One of the big challenges, however, is that atmospheric carbon dioxide exists at levels that make it difficult to vacuum up efficiently.

Sachs and Gagnon’s solution takes advantage of the ocean’s natural ability to concentrate carbon dioxide at higher levels than are found in the air — and other startups are following suit. The nonprofit [C]Worthy lists 19 startups in marine-based carbon dioxide removal."

"Companies aiming to extract carbon dioxide from seawater face multiple challenges, said David Ho, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii. That includes accurately monitoring, reporting and verifying the volume of carbon dioxide removed. When carbon dioxide is subtracted from sea water, the ocean gains new capacity to absorb it from the air, but that amount can be hard to calculate.

There are also risks to ocean ecosystems and marine life from pumping out water from the sea.

At the same time, Ho, who co-founded [C]Worthy to address marine carbon dioxide removal accounting, sees the overall approach as “having a better chance to scale” than land-based strategies.

Banyu’s greatest strength, according to Ho, is the energy efficiency of its approach. “The challenge for Banyu,” he said, “has to do with their photoacid and their ability to make it work at scale and economically.”

Read the full article here.