CO2 to stone: Startup plans to inject 100 tons of carbon 1 km inside Earth

A new startup called 44.01 is developing a process that permanently traps carbon dioxide under the Earth’s surface.

The startup, backed by Open AI CEO Sam Altman’s Apollo Projects, says the method could help to remove vast amounts of planet-warming CO2 from the atmosphere for good.

If successful, there’s a chance it could help mitigate the worst effects of climate change. The company has demonstrated its technology in Oman and it hopes to commercialize its method in the country before scaling globally.

A new carbon sequestration technology

Apollo Projects is an early-stage investment fund managed by Sam Altman and his brother Jack Altman.

In addition to earning funding from the Apollo Projects, 44.01 also raised a $37 million Series A round led by Equinor Ventures with Shorooq Partners in the United Arab Emirates. Other investors include Amazon.com Inc.’s Climate Pledge Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

44.01’s technology injects CO2 a kilometer underground. Once there, chemical reactions turn it into stone, meaning it won’t be released back into the atmosphere, a report from BNN Bloomberg reveals.

The Oman-based startup mixes CO2 with water before injecting it down a borehole where it will seep into cracks in peridotite, a type of rock that is naturally fractured. The peridotite sequesters the rock via a process known as carbon mineralization, where minerals react with the CO2 to create a solid carbonate.

Though carbon sequestration and capture technologies could play a key role in limiting the effects of climate change, many scientists have warned that it should not be seen as the solution. Instead, governments must drastically curb the use of fossil fuels.

The amount we would have to remove from the atmosphere would take a massive global effort, even if the fossil fuel industry stopped pumping CO2 into the atmosphere today.

44.01 to commercialize technology in Oman and UAE

Oman is an ideal location to carry out 44.01’s process. Peridotite is typically very deep under the Earth’s surface, meaning it wouldn’t be practical to reach it using conventional drilling technologies.

In Oman, however, deposits of the rock are found near the surface, meaning it is much easier and much more cost effective to perform the injection process.

44.01, which is named after the molecular mass of CO2, aims to commercialize its technology in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It has already completed pilot and demonstration projects in those two countries.

Initial tests have shown that the technology can currently store approximately 50 to 60 tons of CO2 daily. Once its technology is commercialized, 44.01 aims to eventually sequester 100 tons of CO2 daily with each injection borehole.