Sucking up CO2When carbon and rocks become one.
Big Picture
Natural minerals are vital carbon sinks that have been balancing Earth’s carbon cycles for millennia. On geological timescales, CO₂ in air and water chemically binds to minerals and permanently turns to stone. It is a highly efficient process, but one that takes a year or more in nature. In a future where we need to remove trillions of tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere, speeding it up will be crucial.
How it Works
Heirloom’s direct air capture automates carbon mineralization, cutting down time required from years to weeks. Their closed-loop process first extracts CO₂ from naturally abundant carbonates using electric kilns. Stripped of CO₂, what remains of the carbonates moves through a passive air contactor, soaking CO₂ back up from the ambient air. Once saturated, the carbonates cycle back through the kilns. Rinse and repeat.
Unfair Advantage
Their process is one of the simplest self-contained CO₂ removal processes that can exist. Their primary feedstock is a widely available mineral that uses a chemical reaction to capture carbon. The result is a relatively low-capex, low-opex process that can verifiably extract carbon from the atmosphere while minimizing the land and energy required. At scale, it will enable a cost per ton of CO₂ well below $200.
1.4
Percent of global golf course land
could remove one gigaton CO₂
SHASHANK SAMALA CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Shashank was previously co-founder and VP of Product at Tempo Automation.
NOAH McQUEEN HEAD OF RESEARCH & CO-FOUNDER
Noah is the co-inventor of Heirloom’s tech and a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering at UPenn.
Carbon-Capture Startup Using Dirt Cheap Material Raises $53 Million
Bloomberg
Heirloom Opens First U.S. Direct Air Capture Plant
The New York Times
Heirloom and Microsoft sign one of the largest permanent CO₂ removal deals to-date
Heirloom