Lisa Stiffler of GeekWire reports on a carbon dioxide removal startup that is sucking CO2 from the ocean.
- University of Washington professors Julian Sachs and Alex Gagnon co-founded Banyu Carbon, a startup developing technology to extract carbon dioxide from the ocean, which could help mitigate climate change.
- Banyu’s system uses a special chemical called a “reversible photoacid” to absorb carbon dioxide from seawater, capturing it for disposal or reuse, and the process is powered by solar energy.
- Like other carbon dioxide removal solution, Banyu faces challenges in scaling up the technology, verifying carbon removal, and reducing costs to make it economically viable.
“In the startup’s carbon dioxide removal system, sunlight will activate the chemical, and the acidic protons will flow into a tank of seawater. That will cause carbon dioxide gas to bubble out of the water, something like it does in a highly carbonated soda. The system captures the carbon dioxide for disposal and transfers the protons back to the photoacid. The seawater is returned to the ocean.”
Read the full article here.
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