Charm Industrial is on a mission to return the earth’s atmosphere to 280 parts per million of CO₂, the level it sat at before the Industrial Revolution. They aim to do this by storing bio-oil deep underground.
Charm’s approach is unique. They asked, what would be possible if bio-oil didn’t need to be refined for fuel, and could stay dirty instead?
The thing is, bio-oil is rich with carbon from the product it came from—in Charm’s case, sawdust and corn remnants. Instead of converting that oil into a usable product, Charm opts to permanently sequester it in the earth. Where? In industrial disposal wells and salt caverns underground.
Bio-oil is easy to sequester permanently. It’s denser than water and sinks to the bottom of the rock formation it’s injected into—it wants to stay underground permanently. It’s a better candidate than the CO₂ used for traditional carbon sequestration which is less dense than water, rising to the top of its injection site and seeking a path back out to the atmosphere.
For every ton of bio-oil sequestered, 1.35 tons of CO₂ are removed (and this takes into account the energy emitted during production, transport, and injection). It’s early days for Charm, but they’re ramping up fast and will begin injection this year. Shopify is Charm’s second-ever customer. Our purchase will bring their cost curve down by 10% and help them prove and scale their technology.
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Founded
2017