Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Help us produce all of the high-quality, original content we publish week after week despite the challenges of content-scraping AI, antisocial media, inflation, and other hurdles.
Brooklyn-based Vycarb recently reached a significant milestone in storing low-purity CO2 in sea water. This convenient, low-cost solution has the potential to make CCS more affordable and accessible. I recently met with Vycarb CEO and Founder Dr. Garrett Boudinot to see the progress at their Brooklyn Navy Yard headquarters. Founded in 2022, the startup is currently running a pilot on the East River, with positive, verifiable results poised for large-scale commercialization.
Vycarb has addressed a major challenge to CCS by using ocean-based chemistry and real-time sensor technology to store CO2 in water as stable dissolved bicarbonate (HCO3-). As much of the world’s population concentrates on coasts with accompanying industrial carbon emissions, the ocean is a potentially convenient place to sequester carbon. The cost of geologic sequestration is often not practical, due to the need to compress and transport purified CO2 to suitable geologic formations. Vycarb’s system works with inexpensive, prevalent alkaline minerals as a feedstock with minimal power consumption. However, the benefits go beyond just being water-based.
