The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced 24 semifinalists for the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Purchase Pilot Prize. The CDR Purchase Pilot Prize offers up to $35 million in cash awards to teams that provide impactful CDR concept proposals, develop and refine these plans, and ultimately deliver their specified CDR credits. 

The semifinalists will each receive $50,000 in cash prizes for their winning Phase 1 concept submissions in their respective area of interest (AOI): direct air capture and storage (DAC), biomass carbon removal and storage (BiCRS), enhanced rock weathering and mineralization, and planned and managed carbon sinks. 

Congratulations to our semifinalist teams (listed by AOI)!

DAC with Storage:

  • Avnos, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA)
  • Carbon America (Arvada, CO) 
  • CarbonCapture, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA) 
  • Climeworks (Austin, TX)
  • Global Thermostat and Fervo Energy (Brighton, CO) 
  • Heirloom (Brisbane, CA)
  • 1PointFive (Houston, TX) 
  • 280 Earth (Palo Alto, CA) 
  • 8 Rivers (Durham, NC)

BiCRS Technologies:

  • Arbor Energy (El Segundo, CA) 
  • Carbon Lockdown and Mast Reforestation (Silver Spring, MD)
  • Charm Industrial (San Francisco, CA)
  • Clean Energy Systems (Rancho Cordova, CA)
  • Climate Robotics (Houston, TX)
  • Graphyte (Pine Bluff, AR) 
  • Vaulted Deep (Houston, TX)

Enhanced Rock Weathering/Enhanced Mineralization Technologies:

  • Alkali Earth (Northfield, MN)
  • CREW Carbon (New Haven, CT)
  • Eion (Princeton, NJ)
  • Lithos Carbon (Bellevue, WA)
  • Mati Carbon (Houston, Texas)

Planned or Managed Carbon Sinks:

  • Ebb Carbon (San Carlos, CA)
  • Equatic (Santa Monica, CA)
  • Vycarb Inc. (Brooklyn, NY)

The semifinalist teams will advance to Phase 2, where up to 10 winners will each be awarded $375,000. Phase 2 winners will progress to Phase 3, where they will sell and deliver their CDR credits to DOE. 

The CDR Purchase Pilot Prize is part of the American-Made DAC Prizes, a suite of separate but connected prizes that address the barriers to moving direct air capture innovations from idea to market. 

Read more about the finalists and learn about the CDR Purchase Pilot Prize competition, as well as other DOE carbon management programs, on energy.gov.