Rock On! Start-Up Plans to Use Rocks to Sequester CO2

Several large companies have committed to investing in a new start-up that aims to capture carbon dioxide by trapping it in rocks. This start-up, Lithos Carbon, says that they have developed a way to measure rocks’ ability to sequester carbon dioxide. Lithos is an agricultural technology startup that will spread crushed basalt rock over farmland, allowing the rock to capture carbon dioxide. Although the technique has yet to be tested at scale, several companies plan to spend a total of 57 million dollars on the tactic. 

Rocks have a natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide. This greenhouse gas contributes to global warming. By trapping carbon dioxide, rocks can help to remove it from the atmosphere.

As alkaline rocks break down over time, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Although this process can naturally take thousands of years, humans can speed it up. To do this, they grind rocks like basalt and spread them over a large area. This increases the amount of rock that is exposed to air. In turn, this increases the rocks’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

Lithos Carbon plans to give large quantities of ground basalt rock to farmers. The farmers will then spread it over their fields. There, it will sequester carbon before being washed away by groundwater. This method is expected to sequester carbon for at least 10,000 years. Crushed basalt can also help regulate the pH levels of farmers’ fields, making this tactic a win-win for everyone involved.

However, the difficult part of this equation is Lithos Carbon’s ability to measure the amount of carbon dioxide that is sequestered. Traditionally, measuring the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered by rocks has been difficult. But Lithos says that they have found a way to obtain reliable data using soil samples. This method has roots in research that was conducted at Yale University.

Although scientists have been studying rocks’ carbon-absorbing effects for decades, this method of carbon removal has lagged behind other technologies. In large part, this is due to the difficulty in measuring carbon sequestration. Now, this new partnership will move it towards more large-scale commercialization. 

More than a dozen companies are a part of the deal. These include Shopify, Stripe, Alphabet, McKinsey Sustainability, Autodesk, H&M Group, JPMorgan Chase, Workday, Zendesk, Canva, and Boom Supersonic. The deal was announced by the carbon removal initiative Frontier. This initiative is headed by Shopify, Stripe, Alphabet, and McKinsey Sustainability. 

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