44.01 eliminates CO2 by turning it into rock

🪨 Here’s 44.01, an Oman-based start-up eliminating CO2 permanently by turning it into rock through natural mineralisation.

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• Founded by Talal Hasan, 44.01 won the prestigious Earthshot Prize in 2022, and also recently secured a $1M prize in Elon Musk’s XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition.

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💰 Investor lowdown: In 2021, they secured $5M in seed funding led by Apollo Projects, a early-stage investment fund from Max and Sam Altman, with Breakthrough Energy Ventures also participating.

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🌬️It's too late to apologise, it's too late:

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According to the UN, carbon dioxide removal is now essential to achieve net zero.

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Traditional methods of carbon storage are temporary and risky because they often rely on storing carbon in forms or locations where it can potentially be released back into the atmosphere, such as in geological formations that might leak, highlighting the need for lasting, safe solutions.

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🤘 Rock on:

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44.01 (the molecular weight of CO2, if you were stumped) thinks it’s got the answer.

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The company wants to remove CO2 permanently by mineralising it in peridotite, a rock found in abundance in Oman as well as in America, Europe, Asia and Australasia.

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How exactly?

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Well, by vacuuming CO2 from the atmosphere, separating it from air, and then mixing it with carbonated water and pumping it underground of course. Duh.

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Doing so in this way, accelerates a natural mineralisation process in both a safe and scalable way.

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Naturally the process takes decades, but with their tech they’re able to convert the CO2 into rock in less than a year.

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What's more, unlike carbon ‘storage’, which involves burying CO2 underground in disused oil-wells or aquifers, peridotite mineralisation removes CO2 forever. 

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This means there is no requirement for long-term monitoring or insurance, and ultimately makes the process more cost-effective, scalable and safer.

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And boy, are people taking notice:

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• ADNOC recently partnered with 44.01 back in January 2023 in Fujairah. The pilot was the region’s first CCM project by an energy company

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🔮 Flashforward:

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44.01 is aiming to expand its operations internationally, enabling local mineralisation without requiring costly CO2 transportation. 

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The goal is to have mineralised 1bn tonnes of CO2 by 2040.

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They recently announced that they will be partnering with Aircapture to pilot the world's largest peridotite mineralisation project to eliminate CO2 in Oman's Hajar mountains in late 2024.