Vycarb pilot incorporates 99% of low-purity CO2 into water

At the Brooklyn Navy Yard, tanks and sensors are turning a difficult industrial waste stream into something that can be held in water. Vycarb, a startup founded in 2022 by CEO and founder Dr. Garrett Boudinot, is running a small pilot that sends its output into the East River. The company says the system incorporated 99% of CO2 gas even when the gas was only 50% CO2.

The mechanism is designed to avoid one of the costliest steps in conventional carbon capture and storage (CCS): purifying CO2 before it can be stored. Vycarb uses inexpensive alkaline minerals and real-time sensors to dissolve the gas in water and convert 85% of it into bicarbonate, HCO3-, a soluble form that the company says remains stable after discharge. Geological storage, by contrast, often involves compressing and transporting purified CO2 to suitable underground formations.

The result is promising, but it is not yet a commercial system. Vycarb’s next field trials aim to validate 99% CO2 incorporation at 10% purity, while the startup has tested gas as low as 1.5% purity only in the laboratory. The current pilot uses supplied CO2, and Vycarb is working on independent validation. Those steps matter because the headline measurements currently come from the company’s own testing.

The water chemistry adds another possible benefit—and another testing burden. Vycarb reports an output pH around 7.5, slightly more basic than surrounding water, without mineral concentrations high enough to cause precipitation or negatively affect wildlife. The chemistry was studied for potential use in supporting shell formation in oyster farms, although interactions with other gases from industrial emissions are still being examined.

So what changes in practice? If the pilot result survives independent checks and larger field trials, emitters could potentially send exhaust gas into a storage process without first paying for a separate purification stage. That could widen the range of facilities able to consider CCS, especially in coastal areas. The commercial case is not guaranteed, but U.S. support includes an $85 per metric ton 45Q tax credit for captured and stored CO2, alongside voluntary credits that can reach ~$300/ ton. Vycarb is still at pilot scale, not in production.