The two California companies have announced a partnership that will result in a new carbon removal system, designed to extract 100-tons of CO2 from the ocean. Operating from the Port of Los Angeles, this new venture will see a 100x scale up of the pilot system that is currently running at Newport Beach, and has been in operation since late 2022.
At the core of the project is Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology, which is powered by renewable energy and utilises the natural capacity of the ocean as a carbon sink to aid in the removal of CO2. The AltaSea campus will serve as a home for future testing and research to help improve Captura‘s DOC technology.
Captura’s technology is progressing rapidly through our piloting program towards large-scale commercial deployment.
Steve Oldham, Captura CEO
DOC works on the principle of Henry’s Law, where due to an equilibrium effect, CO2 will naturally flow from a higher concentration point to a lower concentration point. The process will be sped up thanks to Captura’s technology, which will suck up ocean water, treat it with electrodialysis to alter its molecular structure, then release it back into the ocean. The output will then react with the carbon in the water and in turn release CO2, which will then be captured for storage or on-sale.
Founded in 2021 at Caltech, Captura won Elon Musk’s XPrize competition the very next year, taking home $1 million USD in prize money.
AltaSea is a sprawling 35 acre institution, located at the Port of Los Angeles, North America’s largest and most profitable seaport. The company specialises in ocean-related solutions, including science, business and education initiatives.
