In the wake of successful testing with Dalhousie University last summer, Dartmouth climatetech startup Planetary Technologies is preparing to repeat the collaboration in the coming months.

Founded in Ottawa in 2019, Planetary is developing a process to reduce ocean acidification by releasing alkaline rock or sand into the water, accelerating a chemical reaction that already occurs naturally and enhancing the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink. The testing with Dalhousie was conducted with the help of a cold water outflow pipe owned by Nova Scotia Power.

Chief Executive Mike Kelland and CTO Greg Rau originally planned to process waste rock from mining operations into two byproducts: hydrogen, which could be sold, and an alkaline substance that could be added to the ocean. While the technology for that process is still part of Planetary’s intellectual property portfolio, Vice President Kelsey Cuddihy said it has taken a backseat to the work in Halifax Harbour.

“The ocean is the world’s largest carbon sink,” said Cuddihy in an interview. “Over time, it’s been accepting more and more carbon dioxide. Since we’ve been producing so much, the oceans have been accepting too much carbon, to the point that it’s actually starting to become more acidic. … The earth has a beautiful, natural geological cycle that will occur, in which rain will wash down on rocks that will (erode) into the ocean, and they’ll act kind of like an antacid.

“Because it’s so acidic at this point, that process is way too slow. It takes many thousands of years, and we don’t have that much time. The process of ‘ocean alkalinity enhancement’ is to find an alkalinity source … that we can add into the ocean ourselves and help speed up the process.”

The ocean acidification to which Cuddihy referred has been steadily worsening since the 1980s, according to researchers at the University of Hawaii and elsewhere. Adding alkaline substances, like some types of rock, shows promise for increasing the ocean’s pH level, thereby counteracting the effects of the carbon.

The collaboration with Dalhousie came about because researchers at the university had already been independently studying the same possible solution to ocean acidification.

Last year’s trial was relatively small in scope, lasting from the end of August until November. This year’s will last longer, from mid-July until December.

Planetary has also been running consultations with the help of $35,000 from cleantech industry group EfficiencyOne’s HCi3 Fund for climatetech innovation, receiving input from fishers, First Nations groups and other stakeholders. The HCi3 funding package recently completed, but Cuddihy said the consultations will continue in lockstep with the research and development work.

“A lot of people’s livelihoods depend on the ocean, so we expect people to be concerned and raise questions, and we want that to happen,” said Cuddihy. “We’re doing lots of monitoring above and beyond what’s currently required.”

Planetary tracks water quality at a range of locations around the outflow pipe, monitoring for potential signs of a problem, such as mineral buildups and water clouding. Dive teams also conduct surveys to monitor the ecological health of the surrounding waters.

And last month, the company cracked the top 20 finalists for the US$100 million Carbon Removal XPRIZE startup competition, building on a prior, $1 million interim award from 2022.

Inspired by the Orteig Prize that Charles Lindbergh won for completing the first transatlantic flight in 1927, the Carbon Removal XPRIZE is funded by Elon Musk’s foundation and drew more than 1,133 entrants.

So far, Planetary’s team includes 17 people, and Cuddihy said that figure is likely to reach about 25 by the end of this year. A funding round is currently in the works, with a lead investor already on board in the form of Vancouver-based Evok Innovations, a climatetech-focused venture capital shop.

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