What They Do

Worldwide, a huge shortage of CO₂ storage is looming. Cella are seeking to address this with a new approach to underground storage leveraging and accelerating the natural process transforming CO₂ into rock. They inject CO₂ captured from the atmosphere into porous and reactive basalt, where it mineralises and permanently traps CO₂. Their novel injection and mineralisation techniques increase storage efficiency while reducing water usage, costs and long-term liabilities. With a split team between the US and Kenya, Cella’s first deployment in the East African Rift Valley taps into the ideal basaltic geology, local geothermal resources and community knowledge to create the first DAC + mineralization hub in the Global South. Future projects are planned for the US and globally.

Why It Matters

Scaling carbon removal depends on a corresponding increase in permanent carbon storage capacity. Mineral storage presents a compelling alternative to traditional CO₂ storage, which is often geographically limited, used for enhancing oil recovery, and entails high long-term monitoring costs given the ongoing potential for leakage. The porous mafic (eg. basalt) and ultramafic (eg. peridotite and serpentinite) formations used by Cella are widespread and can store the equivalent of 700 years’ worth of global CO₂ emissions. The CO₂ mineralises rapidly, and when it does there is no chance of it leaking back. Utilising these geological formations can unlock new regions, with abundant renewable energy potential, for CDR.