Carbon dioxide removal has widely been acknowledged as a key piece in the climate change puzzle.

Travertine Technologies, a spin-off resulting from University of California research, has raised a seed round of $3 million to commercialize its process that captures and permanently sequesters ambient carbon dioxide while producing sulphuric acid. (International Mining)

The round was led by jointly led by Grantham Environmental Trust and Clean Energy Ventures. The funds will allow Travertine to advance towards its objective for a pilot scale implementation of its process.

Technology

In an electrochemical process, Travertine converts CO2 from the air into carbonate mineral solids that can be permanently stored (sequestered) away. Sulphuric acid, a co-product of the process, can be utilized to extract raw materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, while the output of green hydrogen may be used for generating renewable energy. Oxygen is a by-product from the process.

Carbon dioxide removal is essential to halt climate change and, according to the IPCC, it has to be progressed in tandem with decarbonisation if Paris climate goals are to be achieved.

Travertine Founder and CEO, a former University of California, Berkeley Professor, Laura Lammers, said: “For every tonne of sulphuric acid produced, half a tonne of CO2 is saved and sequestered.”

Lammers also said the output sulphuric acid could be used in extractive industries including mining and fertiliser production.

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