CDR Innovator Interview - Captura

'Unbound Showcase' is a globe-spanning series of interviews with pioneers of carbon dioxide removal (CDR). We’re questioning innovators, business leaders, policymakers, academics, buyers, and investors taking on the challenge of our lifetime—gigaton-scale carbon removal from the earth's atmosphere.

Today’s interview is with Steve Oldham , the CEO of large-scale Direct Ocean Capture company Captura .

“What is Captura?”

Steve Oldham - Captura is a carbon removal company. We remove CO2 from the atmosphere via the ocean. The ocean is our greatest ally in the fight against climate change. It absorbs about 30% of the world's emissions today. So, it is a fantastic resource for us, but is there a way to utilise its natural ability to draw down carbon from the atmosphere without negatively impacting the ocean? We know about ocean acidification and blanching of the coral reefs - these are climate change's impacts on the ocean. So, Captura's solution is to remove CO2 out of the ocean so that the ocean can remove it from the air for us. The net effect is removal from the atmosphere without impacting the ocean itself.

Captura's process is a closed-loop process. So, all we use is renewable energy and ocean water. There are no chemicals needed, no absorbents needed. We produce no waste products. The carbon removal industry has to reach gigaton-scale and if you want to develop a large-scale industry, you must minimise the resources you require. No additives, no chemicals, no by-products. We pull ocean water into our plant and then use electrodialysis to dissociate salt water molecules into an acid and a base. We then take the acid and react it with the ocean water, which frees the carbon dioxide. So, we produce a measurable stream of CO2. Then, we add in the alkali that we had created at the same time - so that we re-neutralise the ocean water, which then goes out of the back of the plant, and that decarbonised ocean water can now absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere. Captura has a very straightforward, elegant closed-loop process based upon electrodialysis technology, which we have licensed from CalTech (where our company was formed.)

We’re a relatively young company founded in August of 2021, but we have already fully demonstrated our system. We have two pilot plants operating; a third is under construction, so we're moving quickly.

The great thing about ocean-based power and removal is that the ocean is extensive, covering 70% of the world's surface. Our process works with any ocean water, so we're not restricted to one location or another. Our first pilot plants are in California, where our company is. We're in Pasadena just north of LA, and the next pilot will be on the West Coast of Norway.

“Can you provide some background into your role in driving CDR businesses?”

Steve Oldham - Some people have referred to me as a veteran of the industry, and you never want to hear that, but I started in carbon removal in 2018. I took over as CEO for Carbon Engineering , a direct air capture company which recently sold to Occidental Petroleum. So, when I joined, the recognition of the need for carbon removal was not widespread; there wasn’t the level of IPCC assessment or the support of entities like Carbon Unbound, so a large part of the job was about raising awareness that CDR is needed and feasible. I enjoyed my time at Carbon Engineering, developing the solution there with the team and advocating for carbon removal as a sector that the planet desperately needs. Then Captura really appealed; its approach offers significant benefits, just fundamental scalability - the ocean is already there, we don’t need to build it, we don’t need chemical absorbents, and we don’t have any waste products. I was attracted to Captura because of the technology and what I see as a potential for it to be the most scalable form of engineered carbon removal.

"What was the inspiration that led to Captura’s Direct Ocean Capture removal business?"?

Steve Oldham - I think it’s the economics and the elegant feasibility of DOC as a solution for carbon removal. When you look at the cost of decarbonising the planet and stopping every emission at its source, it is exceptionally challenging financially. We don’t have all the technologies for those things. You see resistance from some elements of the public to the process of decarbonisation. I think if we have an affordable way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere permanently, safely, clearly measurably, and a way to put it back underground again, that's a tool that will be enormously beneficial for the climate. So, Captura is scalable and offers that potential. You see, pretty often, you'll get pushback about carbon removal: ‘It needs too much power,’ ‘It needs too much land,’ ‘We could use the power for other things.’ You can overcome many of these opposition points by using the ocean.

"That’s a great point about energy - that is often the elephant in the room regarding CDR scalability and cost."?

Steve Oldham - It's not just the volume of energy. It's the way in which you need the energy. Our volume of energy use is smaller, but we're also able to deal with intermittent energy. So, we don't require continuous energy. We can work with peaks and valleys. And also, of course, we can be offshore. There is enormous potential to generate renewable energy offshore, but not many customers offshore, and transporting energy back to the mainland is expensive. So we're not just using less energy, we’re not just intermittent energy compatible, but we can also use offshore energy when nobody else wants that. I see that as another beautiful part of Captura’s.?

"Can you share that 'aha' breakthrough in your journey that excited you about its potential?"

Steve Oldham - It’s a technical ‘aha,’ I had no idea that the ocean was such an efficient carbon removal device. In the direct air capture space, you spend a lot of time engineering whatever touches the air because it has to be as large, cheap and efficient as possible. The ‘aha’ moment to me was understanding Henry's Law, which governs the absorption of CO2 gas by the ocean and realising that that meant that the largest air contactor in the world already exists and covers 70% of the planet's surface. So that made me think, wait a minute, why aren’t we using that instead of trying to build enormous air contactors on the ground? If you can utilise the ocean, it's already there. Second, I don't need a chemical absorbent; not only is the ocean the air contact, the thing that touches the air, but it's also the chemical that absorbs the CO2. And all of that's happening already. We don't have to invent any of that, so leveraging that, Captura is a solution that marries the natural and technical worlds.

We're familiar with nature-based approaches to everyday life, which undoubtedly have that place. We're familiar with nature-based solutions to carbon removal, which undoubtedly have their place, and we’re familiar with engineered approaches. Captura does the best of both; it provides the quality that engineered solutions provide, that uses nature but doesn't harm nature.?

"What have you found the best way of garnering investor or buyer attention?"

Steve Oldham - We just announced the US$21.5m plus raise in January and we've raised about $33m in our series A. The best way to do this goes back to my time at Carbon Engineering when I advocated for carbon removal through the DAC lens. There are a couple of messages, and there is some hope that climate solutions can be compatible with our lifestyle as a society today. I see a lot of resistance to addressing climate change because the general public wants to continue flying, they don't want to give up beef, and don’t want to give up using a car, which has created resistance. So, I hope for a feasible, less disruptive solution.?

The other thing is opportunity. Many people combine climate change with threats, not just, of course, to our way of life, but economic threats. But if we're going to do carbon removal at the scale needed, that's an opportunity to build an industry the size of the energy sector today. And the great news is, you don't need the raw material of fossil fuels that happen to be sitting underneath your country. This is a technology in its various forms: direct air capture in some places and ocean capture in others. Different forms can be built in lots of different locations. So when I talk to politicians and other companies, I talk about opportunities, not threats associated with climate change. Here's an opportunity for countries and companies to become true leaders in this sector and enjoy all the benefits that come from that.

“When it comes to demand, getting more buyers into the industry to buy more reputable carbon credits. What do you think needs to be done by the CDR industry to try and attract more of those big brands into this particular sustainability sector.”

Steve Oldham - The work that the trailblazers at Frontiers, the Climate Vaults, and others are doing in this area is fantastic. I greatly respect them, the company's backing them, and their willingness to be a first adopter. However, the number one issue is that when I talk to senior executives at large corporations, they are terrified of being on the wrong side of a front-page headline. ‘You’re greenwashing,’ ‘You bought carbon credits that didn't result in any benefit (or, actually, even worse) created a negative impact.’ So, the carbon removal industry has to demonstrate quality and credibility, and if we can prove that, then it is just pure economics.

There are many instances where it is cheaper, more accessible, less disruptive, and faster to remove your emission rather than try and stop it. But you need to know that that won't get you criticised. Hence, we need to provide that quality assurance. So we’re very focused on that, Captura produces a measurable stream of CO2, which is essential. I think the monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) discussions and focus areas there are also significant, and our philosophy is an open book. People can look at our test data and our results; there are no secrets - building credibility and building trust.

"How are you approaching scalability, and what tools or strategies have proven most effective in levelling up your solution?"?

Steve Oldham - Start with a really, really, big raw material, the ocean. Secondly, eliminate everything else. As I mentioned, we don't need any chemicals. We don't require any absorbents. We produce no byproducts. That's the second thing associated with scaling. The third thing is the business model. We do not want to be an owner, an operator, or a builder of Captura plants around the world. That's too much to ask for; it's too much to do. This industry needs to be much, much bigger. Plus, there are many companies that can contribute towards addressing climate change with the skills, workers, and knowledge they have, so our business model is licensing. We have the core technology. We've licensed the technology and provide the equipment to anybody worldwide. They build the plants. They understand their local criteria. They understand permitting, politics, public buy in and receptivity. They know all that. They're already operating in those communities and countries. So that's the third part.?

In summary, use something big, the ocean, don't use anything else, and then have a business plan that allows others to join you, gain economic benefits and opportunities from it, and deploy it in parallel in many locations around the world.

“What problem is the industry and Captura is facing in 2024, and what is required to solve it?"

Steve Oldham - I think the wider carbon removal industry's challenge is in convincing the general public that this is a solution that makes a huge amount of sense for the climate problem and making it feasible, making them see that this is doable. The industry is not there yet. Many articles say there might be a carbon removal industry, but it still needs to be proven and hence can't be relied upon. So the biggest challenge for us as a sector is demonstrating that we can be relied upon to get this done, and it's happening.

For Captura, it’s the uniqueness of using the ocean. DAC, perhaps due to guys like me, has got a lot of attention, a lot of interest, and has a very significant role to play, but solutions like Marine CDR have not yet made it into the public awareness or even the policymaker awareness. So, the biggest challenge for Captura is, I want ocean capture to have all the same visibility, incentives, and opportunity that DAC has. So we’re DOC, direct ocean capture - we've actually seen receptivity to that. The Department of Energy's carbon credit procurement plan, allows for removal from the atmosphere or the shallow ocean. That's fantastic, recognising it's one biosphere, one ecosystem. You have this air-sea gas exchange - so wherever you take the CO2 out of, you get the same benefit as long as we take it out of that biosphere.

Unbound Summits’ mission focuses on unrivalled connections, new insights and unbound CDR opportunities. You can learn more about Captura here.