• Captura is now selling carbon credits from its first commercial Direct Ocean Capture facilities, with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines signing the first large-volume offtake agreement for 30,000 tons
• Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has also invested in Captura through its venture capital arm, MOL Switch LLC, and entered a strategic partnership to explore deploying commercial Captura plants

TOKYO and PASADENA, Calif., March 25, 2025 – Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), a global shipping leader, has become the first company to sign a large-volume offtake agreement for the permanent removal of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere using Captura’s Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology. Under the agreement, MOL has purchased 30,000 carbon removal credits, to be delivered by one of Captura’s first commercial DOC facilities before the end of 2030. The commercial agreement will support MOL’s 2050 net zero target.

Captura’s DOC technology offers a highly scalable and efficient form of carbon removal by combining innovations in electrochemistry with the natural carbon removal capability of the world’s oceans. It works by extracting a measurable stream of CO₂ from seawater, creating capacity for the ocean to absorb more CO₂ from the atmosphere. The technology has already been demonstrated in three operational pilot plants, and early design work is now underway for Captura’s first commercial facility, expected to capture 30,000-50,000 tons of CO₂ per year.

In addition to the carbon credit purchase, MOL and Captura have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter a strategic partnership aimed at deploying commercial DOC plants. Captura’s business model is to license its technology to deployment partners who will build, own and operate large-scale DOC facilities around the world.

Furthermore, MOL Switch, MOL’s corporate venture capital firm, has invested in Captura as part of its work to support the development of new technologies and business models to decarbonize the energy sector.

Tomoaki Ichida, CEO of MOL Switch, stated, “At MOL, we are dedicated to advancing innovative decarbonization solutions that align with our sustainability goals. DOC technology offers a cost-effective and durable approach to carbon removal, and we are excited to collaborate with Captura—both by purchasing high-quality carbon credits to support our net-zero efforts and by strategically investing and partnering to help scale and deploy this high-potential technology. We see this as a crucial step in our sustainability journey and a significant business opportunity in the rapidly growing carbon removal market.”

This announcement follows the start of successful operations at Captura’s third DOC pilot plant in Hawaii, unveiled two months ago. This pilot is now operating at the rate of 1000 tons of CO₂ captured annually and marks the final step in Captura’s technology development program, building on its earlier 1-ton and 100-ton systems in California. This third pilot demonstrates Captura’s modular technology at a scale and performance level that can be repeated to build large commercial facilities.

Steve Oldham, CEO of Captura, said, “Our go-to-market strategy has always focused on proving that our technology can scale sustainably and affordably before bringing it to market. We’ve achieved this through a diligent pilot and scale-up program, successfully increasing capacity by a factor of 1,000 while meeting all key performance indicators. With the successful operations of our 1000-ton pilot, we have validated the readiness of our technology for large-scale deployment and are now actively securing offtake agreements for commercial facilities.

“This partnership and first offtake agreement with MOL marks a major milestone in bringing our technology to market. We are excited to collaborate with MOL as we rapidly advance towards commercial deployment and expand access to high-quality carbon removal solutions.”

Captura’s DOC technology also previously secured a carbon removal pre-purchase from Frontier Climate, acting on behalf of Stripe and Shopify. Signed in 2022 with a standard value of $500,000, the pre-purchase agreement supported Captura’s early technology development, with the carbon removal to be delivered from a forthcoming Captura facility.

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About Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.:
Founded in 1884, MOL is a leading company in the shipping industry that operates various social infrastructure businesses, centering on the oceangoing shipping business with a fleet of over 900 vessels. It is one of the first in the shipping industry to set a target of achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050, and is committed to reduce GHG emissions including involvement in Carbon Dioxide Removal industry through concerted efforts as the group.

About Captura:
Captura is a Direct Ocean Capture company headquartered in Pasadena, California. Captura combines innovative technology with the natural carbon removal powers of the ocean to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere at large scale and low-cost, providing a critical capability in the fight against climate change. Captura was founded at Caltech and its solution has been supported by the Carbon Removal XPRIZE, the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, and Frontier Climate.

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Capable of capturing 1,000 tons of CO₂ annually, the facility readies Captura’s technology for large-scale deployment

LOS ANGELES, February 6, 2025 — Captura, a California-based carbon removal company, today announced the start of operations at its latest pilot plant, capable of capturing 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) annually.

Located in Kona, Hawaii, and developed in partnership with multinational energy company Equinor, the facility marks a major milestone in the commercialization of Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology – a process that leverages the ocean to remove excess CO₂ from the atmosphere. As the third and final pilot in Captura’s technology development program, this facility readies the company’s DOC technology for deployment in large, commercial systems worldwide.

The ocean is one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing approximately 30 per cent of global CO₂ emissions. DOC technology works by extracting CO₂ directly from the upper ocean, thereby enhancing the ocean’s natural ability to absorb additional CO₂ from the atmosphere. By leveraging natural oceanic processes, requiring no feedstock, and generating no waste, the DOC approach to carbon removal offers an inherently scalable and efficient way to remove vast quantities of atmospheric CO₂.

Captura’s DOC technology achieves this by combining innovations in electrodialysis and gas extraction with widely available water and gas handling systems. These modular technologies have been successfully demonstrated at two prior pilot plants in Los Angeles, and the Hawaii pilot will now validate them at the scale and performance level that can be replicated in larger plants. Captura is proceeding with initial design work for its first large-scale commercial facility, with an expected annual capture capacity of tens of thousands of tons of CO₂.

“Captura’s journey from lab-scale testing to our third technology demonstration in just three years is a testament to the scalability of our solution,” said Steve Oldham, CEO of Captura. “This facility in Hawaii is the last milestone before we move to widespread commercial deployment of DOC technology. Its rapid installation and commissioning in just over two months demonstrates how our simple, modular design is ready to be scaled quickly to help address the urgent climate and energy challenge.”

DOC is a flexible technology that can serve a variety of climate and industrial use cases. The CO₂ extracted at DOC facilities is delivered as a measurable stream of pipeline-purity CO₂ gas, which can then be directly sequestered to create carbon dioxide removal, used as a feedstock to produce renewable fuels, or utilized by industries that require CO₂. In Hawaii, the CO₂ captured at the Captura plant will be provided to a range of local industries, such as aquaculture operators, to help reduce the carbon intensity of their operations.

Captura’s facility is operating at the Hawai‘i Ocean Science and Technology (HOST) Park, a leading ocean research facility run by the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA). NELHA has administered the park in Kona for more than 50 years, generating almost $150 million annually for Hawaii’s economy and creating over 600 jobs statewide. NELHA runs a comprehensive environmental monitoring program at HOST Park, which complements Captura’s own practices and research on ocean health.

Captura’s technology is designed to be highly scalable and cost-effective while prioritizing the protection of the ocean ecosystem. The process produces zero waste or by-products and introduces nothing new into the ocean—it simply removes excess CO₂, which the atmosphere then naturally replaces.

Captura advances Direct Ocean Capture commercialization efforts in Los Angeles and Hawaii

• Company News
• 10.11.2024

In the world of cleantech, the journey from lab innovation to real-world application is crucial. The greatest single challenge with scaling any new technology is making the leap from the development phase to mainstream commercial viability. Captura understands this challenge and is taking bold steps to bridge the gap. In an exciting move to fast-track the commercialization of our Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology, Captura is advancing our research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) efforts in Los Angeles and Hawaii. This expansion aims to accelerate the completion of our piloting program and ready our technology for deployment in large-scale commercial plants.

Hawaii: A technology deployment testbed
Following the successful operations of our first two pilot systems in California, Captura and Equinor are working together to build the third system in our technology pilot program. With the capacity to capture 1000 tons of CO₂ from the ocean annually, the pilot will be installed at the Hawai‘i Ocean Science and Technology (HOST) Park – a leading ocean research facility run by the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority.

Originally targeted for Norway, the system is being relocated to HOST Park to increase the speed of technology demonstration and rapidly advance DOC towards commercial deployment. As a dedicated ocean research and technology demonstration facility, HOST Park offers the ideal combination of natural resources, existing infrastructure, and services to accelerate our piloting program while ensuring environmental sustainability. With more than 50 companies in aquaculture, decarbonization, and other sectors of the blue economy finding a home at HOST Park, Captura is excited to join this thriving ecosystem.

Installation of the pilot is expected to begin in November, with operations targeted for early 2025. Following the successful demonstration of our technology at kiloton-scale, Captura plans to launch commercial plants worldwide, with first plants expected to remove tens of thousands of tons of CO₂ annually.

Hawai‘i Ocean Science and Technology Park. Image credit Tetrachrome

Los Angeles: A hub of innovation and MRV
Captura is also expanding our RD&D efforts at the site of our 100 ton-per-year pilot facility at AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles. New equipment and systems are being installed to test key process upgrades developed by our team, including innovative new breakthroughs in our electrodialysis and gas extraction steps that have the potential to deliver significant process efficiencies. Captura’s oceanography team is also expanding our ongoing ocean health and Monitoring, Reporting & Verification (MRV) program, progressing a range of environmental monitoring protocols, ocean modeling, and biological impact studies at this site.

Captura’s 100 ton-per-year pilot system at AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles

The insights and operational data generated in Hawaii and Los Angeles are critical for the diligent demonstration and scale-up of DOC technology. This work paves the way for both the initial commercial deployment of Captura’s technology, and its ongoing optimization to reach climate-relevant scales of carbon removal.

Deep dive: Learn about our RD&D focus areas
To take a detailed look at the proprietary technologies being demonstrated in Los Angeles and Hawaii, and to learn how these innovations are increasing the efficiency of DOC while reducing costs, read our recent white paper: Innovations and cost reductions in Direct Ocean Capture.

For a deeper look at Captura’s ocean health and MRV approach, read our Protocol. Published in October 2023, this document details Captura’s practices for ensuring our ocean operations are safe for the marine ecosystem.