Frontier backs rock-based CO2 storage with $11.7M deal
What's the deal? FrontierDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the corporate carbon removal buyers' group, has brokered $11.7 million in purchase deals with 44.01, a startup that turns CO2 into rock. The agreement covers roughly 21,000 tons of removal between 2028 and 2031.
How does it work? 44.01 dissolves captured CO2 in water and injects it deep into peridotite, an abundant rock. That speeds a "natural reaction with magnesium silicate minerals that locks the CO2 into stable, solid carbonates," Frontier said.
Why it matters: It is Frontier's first purchase using this method, which turns CO2 into solid minerals and could open new locations for permanent storage. The startup plans to draw CO2 from a wastewater treatment plant and inject it into rock formations on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates.
What's the endgame? The deal volume is small, but it offers an early test of whether the technology can work at commercial scale. "This small offtake is really the key stepping stone to commercializing in-situ mineralization," said Frontier head Hannah Bebbington Valori.
What's the potential? Peridotite and similar formations could store over 5 billion tons of CO2 annually, according to Frontier. The method could also handle CO2 captured from industrial operations such as cement and steel production, and reach places where conventional underground storage is too costly or impractical.
Catch up quick: Frontier vets carbon removal startups and facilitates deals for its members. It was founded in 2022 by Google, Shopify, and Stripe, and includes Autodesk, H&M GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Workday. 44.01, named after the molecular mass of CO2, was founded in Oman and is headquartered in London.
The signal: "It will be one of the first continuous injection trials and pilots, it will de-risk in-situ mineralization anywhere around the world," Bebbington Valori said. The bet is that proving the method at pilot scale builds the case for a wider storage infrastructure, as has happened with conventional geologic storage.
Read more: finance.yahoo.com
Image credit: James St. John
