Groundbreaking Carbon Removal Technology By Startup With CSE Ties

Invention could reshape our climate future

Paul Dauenhauer has never been one to shy away from a challenge. And today the Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering (CSE) is taking on a big one: inventing a low-cost, scalable technology for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Looking for climate solutions is more than just the right thing to do, he emphasizes—it represents one of the biggest economic opportunities of the century.

Dauenhauer, who holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from CSE, and his business partner Andrew Jones, a chemical engineer and fellow CSE alumnus, believe they have invented a way to trap emitted carbon and return it to the earth, effectively undoing some of the damage.

The proprietary process, developed through their startup company Carba, converts biomass (plant-based, low-value waste material) into biochar—a stable material that sequesters carbon and can be buried underground for more than 1,000 years.

“I think scientists can dream up all sorts of different ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere, but the metric that matters is the cost of removing enough carbon to have an impact,” said Dauenhauer.

“Engineers need to design and evaluate large-scale processes to really understand the economic viability of new climate technologies,” added Dauenhauer, who holds the Zsolt Rumy Innovation Chair and previously held the Lanny and Charlotte Schmidt Endowed Chair.

Carba’s approach, according to him, is simple, low-cost, and designed for wide deployment—an important advantage as the world looks for viable ways to draw down atmospheric carbon.