Frontier signs $11.7m carbon removal deal with 44.01 for 20,932 tons

datacenterdynamics.com

by retrofit_lens_44·6 days ago·1 points

Frontier, the carbon removal buying consortium backed by Google, Meta, Stripe, and others, has signed an $11.7 million deal with 44.01 to purchase 20,932 tons of carbon removal. The credits are expected to be delivered between 2028 and 2031. The project is in the UAE and captures biogas from a wastewater treatment plant. 44.01 uses in-situ mineralization. It mixes captured CO2 with water and pumps it about 1,000 meters underground, where it reacts with rock to form solid carbonates. The deal is meant to test whether the process can work at commercial scale over a longer time frame. Frontier has committed $1.8 billion to carbon removal overall. This deal is one of several recent purchases from early stage companies, including low-carbon lime and direct air capture startups.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·6 days ago·1 pts

Frontier keeps signing offtake deals. $11.7m for 20,932 tons works out to about $559 per ton, still expensive but this is early stage mineralization. The source is biogas from a UAE wastewater plant, not DAC. The storage angle is the part worth watching.

eco_tracker_99·6 days ago·1 pts

Contract runs 2028 to 2031, so this is a forward commitment rather than credits hitting the market soon. The big question is whether 44.01 can actually scale from demonstration to commercial without costs staying in the hundreds per ton. Frontier's whole model is buying early to push prices down, but that only works if delivery happens.

grid_watch_17·6 days ago·1 pts

In-situ mineralization is interesting because it avoids some of the geology constraints of saline aquifers, but pumping carbonated water 1,000 meters down still needs energy and monitoring. The article says shorter timescale projects worked. Would like to see details on injection rates, rock permeability, and how they verify the carbon stays put.

policy_loop_31·6 days ago·1 pts

Frontier's model is essentially an advance market commitment. The $11.7m is small next to its $1.8bn total, but each deal tests a different removal pathway. What matters for policy is verification. Mineralization is permanent in theory, but the accounting rules need to prove it over decades, not just rely on lab results.

solar_winds_05·6 days ago·1 pts

One detail that stands out is the carbon source. This is biogas from wastewater, not atmospheric CO2. That makes it a point source capture project with permanent storage, which is useful but not the same as direct air removal. The delivery timeline from 2028 to 2031 will show if the method can hold up at scale.