A startup backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is developing a unique technology where carbon dioxide can be injected underground and turned into stone.
The Oman-based startup 44.01, funded by Sam Altman’s Apollo Projects, has found that peridotite, a type of rock found in every continent, holds a potential key to trapping CO2 under the earth’s surface permanently.
Under this developing technology, a mixture of CO2 and water is injected down a borehole into the cracks of peridotite, a naturally fractured rock. CO2 is sequestered by the rock through carbon miniralisation, a process in which certain minerals when reacting with CO2, create solid carbonate.
Generally, peridotite is found deep in the earth’s interior but in Oman, the deposits have been found near the surface. These deposits allowed the scientists to observe the carbon-sequestering abilities of the stone. After observing the process, the scientists at 44.01 were able to find a technique to speed up the sequestration process by pumping carbonated water into the cracks of peridotite, deep underground.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of 44.01, Talal Hasan said, “Rather than taking decades as it would in nature, it’s taking us single-digit months in the subsurface.”
Along with funding from Altman’s group, the startup has raised a $37 million Series A round led by Equinor Ventures with Shorooq Partners in the United Arab Emirates to expand internationally. Other investors in the round include Amazon.com Inc.’s Climate Pledge Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Hasan said that with this financing round, 44.01, deriving its name from CO2’s molecular mass, plans to commercialise the technology in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, where it has already completed pilot and demonstration projects. Tests have shown that through this technology, about 50 to 60 tons of CO2 can be stored per day, and 44.01 aims to sequester 100 tons of CO2 daily at a commercial scale.
