Ebb Carbon has launched a marine carbon removal demonstration project in Port Angeles, deploying electrochemical technology designed to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide through ocean water chemistry.
The South San Francisco-based startup’s system creates alkaline seawater that can absorb carbon from the ocean while combating ocean acidification that threatens marine ecosystems. The technology has undergone two years of testing in Sequim Bay through partnership with the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Ebb Carbon published field study data last month in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Environmental Engineering, confirming the technology’s safety and effectiveness.
Project Macoma, located at the Port of Port Angeles on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, aims to remove and store up to 250 tons of carbon annually through approximately spring 2026.
“With Project Macoma, we’re proud to be creating a blueprint for how safe and responsible carbon removal can advance global climate goals while protecting local marine health,” CEO Ben Tarbell stated.
A company spokesperson characterized the effort as “still very much a learning pilot, setting the foundation on which we will scale our technology to the point where it can remove gigatons of CO2.”
Ebb Carbon, founded four years ago with 22 employees, has raised $40 million from investors. The company signed a carbon removal agreement with Microsoft last year to potentially sequester up to 350,000 tons of CO2 over the next decade, with Microsoft committing to fund removal of 1,333 tons with options to purchase more.
Multiple Pacific Northwest companies are developing carbon removal technologies, including Svante, Banyu Carbon, CarbonQuest, Myno Carbon, and Solid Carbon, each employing different capture and removal strategies. Oil and gas company Occidental acquired British Columbia-based Carbon Engineering for over $1 billion two years ago.
Carbon removal has faced skepticism about scalability and meaningful impact on atmospheric carbon levels. However, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledged the need for these strategies in its April 2022 report: “The deployment of carbon dioxide removals to counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions is unavoidable if net zero…emissions are to be achieved.”
The Port Angeles project represents growing efforts to deploy ocean-based carbon removal technologies as complementary approaches to emissions reduction in addressing climate change.
