Vycarb is developing a first-of-its-kind technology to generate fully measured marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) for improved safety, efficacy, and transparency of mCDR at scale.
Vycarb’s sensing technology measures the entire dissolved inorganic carbon system directly, autonomously, and in real time. This is used in an mCDR deployment system to optimize and verify the conversion of carbon dioxide into stable, dissolved carbon molecules through the controlled addition of dissolved elements like calcium in a closed system. Altogether, Vycarb’s system measures water’s natural carbon cycle to detect excess CO₂, converts that CO₂ to stable carbon like bicarbonate and carbonate ions, and measures the resulting change in water carbon chemistry to demonstrate mCDR efficacy and safety.
Enhancing the ocean’s ability to store carbon is an exciting prospect for mitigating climate change. However, the ocean’s carbon cycle is dynamic, heterogeneous, and already altered, making the effectiveness of mCDR uncertain, and introducing the potential for a wide range of unintended consequences. Vycarb’s technology quantifies key carbon cycle components before, during, and after the mCDR processes to support safer, more effective, and more trusted mCDR at scale.
The ability to successfully measure and safely deploy mCDR necessitates careful and iterative testing. Yet the rate at which climate solutions are needed requires rapid scaling. Ocean Visions’ scientific advisory network across ocean and climate sectors can help strike the balance between scientific rigor and deployment speed. By providing expertise in areas such as robust sensor hardware development and ocean engineering, Ocean Visions will help to advance critical technology that may help to stabilize the climate and restore the ocean.
Founder & Principal, Lighthouse Innovation Advisors
Research Engineer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
(past advisor)
Each quarter Launchpad company advisors compile quarterly reports designed to track activities and highlight milestones.
Dan has an extensive background in at-sea operations, engineering, business development, and strategic partnership building in the marine science and technology field. He is currently the Founder & Principal of Lighthouse Innovation Advisors, a firm dedicated to helping startups and researchers chart their course from technology development to market. Previously, he served as a Technology-to-Market Advisor for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), where he guided commercialization strategies for dozens of project teams who are developing transformative, high-impact marine technologies to address our nation’s most critical ocean energy priorities. Additionally, Dan supported dozens of deep sea robotic missions across the globe as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) pilot and mechanical engineer and served as the technical lead for many of these missions. This included working with a 6,000 meter-rated ROV system aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, the premiere platform for federal ocean exploration and technology innovation. Dan holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He also holds a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Environmental Policy from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Dr. Ellen Briggs is currently a Research Engineer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and is the lead developer of novel sensing technologies for marine inorganic carbon dioxide system parameters. She is building the next generation of automated bench measurement systems as well as in situ probes for pH, total alkalinity, and dissolved inorganic carbon. She received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a M.S. in Earth Science and Ph.D. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Tom is a software engineer with an Earth sciences educational background. He is a member of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Standards Committee and participates in efforts to develop best practices for ocean-based carbon dioxide removal and monitoring applications. He currently works at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, developing applications for autonomous underwater, surface, and aerial vehicles, moorings and other sensor platforms. He has extensive experience developing software and standards to acquire, log and telemeter sensor data. Proficient in C++, Python, and Java.