The world’s largest facility designed to enhance the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) will begin operations in Singapore in the first quarter of 2026, with installation of the first phase due to commence by the end of September.
The Equatic-1 demonstration plant, to be built in Tuas, is a collaboration between Singapore’s national water agency PUB and US-based start-up Equatic, which developed the ocean-based carbon removal technology.
The system works by altering the chemistry of seawater taken into the facility, extracting dissolved CO₂ for long-term storage. Once treated and discharged, the seawater is able to absorb more CO₂ from the atmosphere, effectively enhancing the ocean’s natural carbon sink function. While the ocean already absorbs around 30 per cent of global CO₂ emissions, scientists have cautioned that altering seawater chemistry at scale could have consequences for marine life and ecosystems.
The US$20 million plant will initially be capable of removing one tonne of CO₂ per day, scaling up to 10 tonnes daily once fully operational. This reduction is roughly equivalent to taking 870 average passenger cars off the road. The facility will draw seawater from adjacent desalination plants.
Inside the plant, seawater will be subjected to an electrical current, triggering chemical reactions that split it into hydrogen and oxygen. The dissolved CO₂ combines with naturally occurring calcium and magnesium to form solid carbonates and bicarbonates, which Equatic says can trap carbon for at least 10,000 years. These materials could be deposited on the ocean floor or potentially repurposed as construction materials.
In addition to carbon removal, the process will produce around 300 kilogrammes of hydrogen daily, providing a clean source of energy that can be used to power the plant or for other industrial applications.
The project has drawn investor interest. On 12 August, Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H) and Singapore-based Kibo Invest co-led a US$11.6 million (S$14.9 million) Series A funding round for Equatic. The financing will support the engineering scale-up of Equatic’s first commercial plant in North America and further development of the technology.
The Singapore facility is jointly funded by PUB, the National Research Foundation, and the University of California, Los Angeles’ Institute for Carbon Management.
