Carbon removal system to be installed at Port of Los Angeles

Captura, a carbon removal company founded at Caltech, has partnered with AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles to install its newest ocean carbon removal system.

The latest system is a 100x scale-up from the company’s first pilot that has been operating at Newport Beach, California since August 2022. It will be able to capture 100 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the ocean annually.

The system was funded by a third Californian company, Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), as part of an ongoing relationship with Captura to support the demonstration and scale-up of the technology.

Captura will use AltaSea’s campus as the site for technology testing, research, and analysis to validate, scale and improve its Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology.

Captura’s DOC technology leverages the ocean’s natural capacity as a carbon sink to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Powered by renewable energy, the process uses proprietary electrodialysis technology to capture CO₂ directly from seawater and deliver it as a measurable stream that can be permanently sequestered or utilized.

When the CO₂-depleted seawater is returned to the ocean, it has the capacity to absorb the same quantity of CO₂ from the air that was originally removed, according to the company.

Furthermore, Captura emphasized that its solution creates no by-products and doesn’t add anything to the ocean.

“Captura’s technology is progressing rapidly through our piloting program towards large-scale commercial deployment,” said Captura CEO Steve Oldham.

“Now, our work with AltaSea means we can further accelerate our technology and monitor how our system interacts with the ocean…”

As an ocean science, business, and education hub, AltaSea provides a platform for community engagement and industry collaboration across the blue economy ecosystem.

At AltaSea, Captura’s team will conduct technology development and ocean modeling work that will enable the company to validate and improve the efficiency of the pilot DOC system and guide feasibility studies for commercial facilities.

It will provide a semi-contained environment to measure and monitor the resulting atmospheric CO₂ drawdown and evaluate the effects of DOC on the marine ecosystem, including its potential for helping to mitigate ocean acidification.

“This is what AltaSea is all about – bringing together key players from across the blue economy to scale ground-breaking technologies, forge new partnerships, and convene important conversations on topics critical to the fight against climate change,” AltaSea President & CEO Terry Tamminen said.