Spiritus | Aramco and Spiritus to Advance Direct Air Capture Technology, Investment by Aramco Ventures

Aramco and Spiritus to Advance Direct Air Capture Technology, Investment by Aramco Ventures

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. & RIYADH, Saudi Arabia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spiritus, the climate tech company pioneering cost-effective solutions for scalable direct-air-capture (DAC) of carbon removal, today entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aramco, one of the world’s leading global energy and chemicals companies, and has additionally announced that it received an equity investment in the company in November 2023, from Aramco Ventures.

“Aramco has stated its ambition to achieve net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across its wholly-owned operated assets by 2050, and sees opportunities to build potential lower-carbon new energy business,” said Ali Al-Meshari, Sr. Vice President of Technology, Oversight & Coordination, Aramco. “Innovative technologies deployed at scale can help reduce the costs of reducing carbon emissions, and we are investing in developing these through our R&D, venture capital, and technology deployment programs. We believe direct air capture has the potential to play an important role in reducing carbon emissions from hard-to-abate sectors of the economy, and we see Spiritus’ approach to have the potential to scale globally, and specifically in the Middle East.”

Today, in the presence of Jennifer Granholm, United States Secretary of Energy, and HRH, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, the parties as represented by Spiritus CEO and co-founder Charles Cadieu and Aramco Sr. Vice President Ali Al-Meshari, entered into the MoU to explore further collaboration including: to further enhance Spiritus’ technology; potential piloting and scale deployment of Spiritus’ technology; and localization of Spiritus’ supply chain in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The signing ceremony, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, highlighted the innovation collaboration between the two countries to work towards their respective net-zero goals and ambitions.

Spiritus' novel approach to direct air capture addresses the major cost challenges of current direct air capture approaches and includes reducing energy needs, passive air collection, and a proprietary sorbent material to remove carbon from the atmosphere at a tenfold increase in adsorption efficiency compared to existing methods.

About Spiritus

Spiritus is a climate tech company at the forefront of Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology. With a dedication to innovation and sustainable stewardship of our environment, Spiritus has crafted a unique solution that achieves rapid sorption and desorption rates at a fraction of the sorbent cost versus state-of-the-art sorbents under passive DAC conditions. The company's approach combines the Spiritus Sorbent and the Spiritus Carbon Orchard, offering a scalable and modular system for low-cost DAC and sequestration (DAC+S). Spiritus is committed to making carbon removal an accessible and practical tool in the global fight against climate change.

To learn more about how Spiritus is pioneering a feasible, scalable, and cost-effective approach to carbon removal, visit spiritus.com.

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Rewind.earth

Biomass carbon removal and storage

Tel Aviv, Israel

R&D

Rewind.earth uses cranes off of boats to sink agricultural and forest residues to the oxygenless bottom of the Black Sea, the largest anoxic body of water on Earth. Oxygenless water dramatically slows biomass decomposition. The lack of living organisms in the Black Sea limits any potential ecosystem risks. This process allows for affordable and environmentally safe carbon removal.

Carboniferous

Biomass carbon removal and storage

Houston, TX, US

R&D

Carboniferous sinks bundles of leftover sugarcane fiber and corn stover into deep, salty, oxygenless basins in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of oxygen in these environments–and therefore absence of animals and most microbes–slows the breakdown of biomass so it is efficiently preserved and stored durably in ocean sediments. The team will conduct experiments to determine the functional stability of sunken biomass as well as the interaction with ocean biogeochemistry.

Vycarb

Ocean alkalinity enhancement

Brooklyn, NY, US

58 tons

Vycarb uses a reactor to add limestone alkalinity to coastal ocean water, resulting in the drawdown and storage of atmospheric CO₂. Their dissolution system has a novel sensing apparatus that base tests water, dissolves calcium carbonate, and doses alkalinity into the water at a controlled amount safe for dispersion. Their closed system makes it easier to measure the amount of dissolved alkalinity added and CO₂ removed.

Arbon

Direct air capture

New York, NY, US

173 tons

Arbon uses a 'humidity-swing' process to capture CO₂ from the air. The sorbent binds CO₂ when dry and releases it when wet. This process uses less energy than approaches that rely on changing temperature and pressure to release CO₂. The sorbent’s ability to bind CO₂ has been shown to remain stable over thousands of cycles. Both of these innovations could reduce the cost of DAC.

Vaulted

Biomass carbon removal and storage

Houston, TX, US

1,666 tons

Vaulted injects organic waste into durable wells, where the carbon in the waste is sequestered as it decomposes. Using a specialized slurry injection technology, their process can handle a wide range of organic carbon sources with minimal energy and upfront processing. Their system has the potential to be deployed quickly at large scales.

Spiritus

Direct air capture

Los Alamos, NM

713 tons

Spiritus uses a sorbent made from commercially-available materials and a passive air contactor that requires little energy to capture CO₂. The CO₂-saturated sorbent is then regenerated using a novel desorption process, capturing the CO₂ and allowing the sorbent to be reused with less energy than a higher-heat vacuum chamber typically used in direct air capture approaches. The high-performance, inexpensive sorbent and lower regeneration energy provide a path to low cost.

Planetary

Ocean alkalinity enhancement

Nova Scotia, Canada

937 tons

Planetary harnesses the ocean for scalable removal. They introduce alkaline materials to existing ocean outfalls like wastewater plants and power station cooling loops. This speeds up the sequestration of CO₂ safely and permanently as bicarbonate ions in the ocean. Planetary then verifies the removal through advanced measurement and modeling techniques.

Mati

Enhanced weathering

US and India

1,513 tons

Mati applies silicate rock powders to agricultural fields, starting with rice paddy farms in India. These rocks react with water and CO₂ to produce dissolved inorganic carbon that is subsequently stored in the local watershed and eventually in the ocean. Mati relies on rice field flooding and higher subtropical temperatures to accelerate weathering, and extensive sampling and soil and river modeling to measure removal and deliver co-benefits to smallholder farmers.

Holocene

Direct air capture

Knoxville, TN, US

332 tons

Holocene captures CO₂ from air using organic molecules that can be produced at low cost. In the first step of their process, CO₂ is captured from air when it comes into contact with a liquid solution. In the second step, a chemical reaction crystallizes the material as a solid. That solid is heated up to release the CO₂, minimizing energy wasted in heating water. Holocene’s process runs at lower temperatures, further reducing the energy required, increasing energy flexibility, and lowering overall cost.

EDAC Labs

Enhanced weathering

Baltimore, MD, US

317 tons

EDAC Labs uses an electrochemical process to produce acid and base. The acid is used to start the recovery of valuable metals from mining waste, and the base is used to capture CO₂ from air. The acid and base streams are then combined to produce metals that can be sold for applications such as batteries, and solid carbonates, which permanently store CO₂.

CarbonRun

Ocean alkalinity enhancement

Nova Scotia, CA

1,291 tons

CarbonRun enhances the natural ability of river currents to weather abundant, low-cost limestone and reduce river acidity levels. This benefits river ecosystems locally and enhances the rivers’ ability to capture CO₂ from the atmosphere. Rivers, which are natural carbon transport systems, then deliver CO₂ to the ocean for permanent storage in the form of bicarbonate.

CarbonBlue

Direct ocean removal

Haifa, Israel

400 tons

CarbonBlue uses calcium in a closed-loop cycle to mineralize, separate, and remove dissolved CO₂ from water. This results in a pure stream of CO₂ that can be durably sequestered. Their approach can operate in freshwater or saltwater and can rely on waste heat for the regeneration process. The team plans to integrate with desalination plants and other water-withdrawing industries, reducing energy usage and costs.

Carbon Atlantis

Direct air capture

Munich, Germany

275 tons

Carbon Atlantis is using a process known as electrochemical pH-swing. Their system uses a solvent to capture CO₂ and an acid to release it. This approach is inspired by recent innovation in Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells and electrolyzers, making the process both cost-effective and energy-efficient. The CO₂ is then run through

Banyu Carbon

Direct ocean removal

Seattle, WA, US

360 tons

Banyu Carbon uses sunlight to capture CO₂ from seawater. A reusable, light-activated molecule that becomes acidic when exposed to light causes carbon dissolved in seawater to degas as CO₂, which is then stored permanently. Because only a small portion of the visible light spectrum is needed to trigger the reaction, this is a highly energy-efficient approach to direct ocean removal.

Alkali Earth

Enhanced weathering

Northfield, MN, US

1,351 tons

Alkali Earth uses alkaline byproducts from industrial processes as carbon-removing gravel to apply to roads. These minerals act as a sink for atmospheric CO₂, storing it permanently while cementing road surfaces. The formation of CO₂-containing minerals within the gravel can be directly measured, leading to high-confidence in resulting removals.

Airhive

Direct air capture

London, UK

943 tons

Airhive is building a geochemical direct air capture system using a sorbent that can be made out of cheap and abundant minerals. This sorbent reacts rapidly with atmospheric CO₂ when mixed with air in Airhive’s fluidized bed reactor. Coupled with a regeneration process that’s powered by electricity to release the CO₂ for geologic storage, this provides a promising approach to low-cost DAC.