Frontier buyers including Google sign $11.7 million carbon removal deal with 44.01

Frontier buyers including Google have signed an $11.7 million carbon removal agreement with 44.01, ESG News reported on Oct. 15. The contract covers 20,932 tons of CO2 removal between 2028 and 2031 and, per the outlet, is Frontier's first offtake agreement involving in-situ mineralization.

The approach injects CO2 dissolved in water into underground peridotite formations, where magnesium-rich rock reacts with the dissolved gas to form stable carbonate minerals over one to three years. That differs from conventional geological storage, which holds compressed CO2 in deep sedimentary formations and relies on long-term containment. Mineralization could shorten post-injection monitoring requirements.

At $11.7 million for 20,932 tons, the agreement prices removal at roughly $559 a ton. ESG News reports the funding will help 44.01, which has demonstrated the process in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, move from short-duration pilot projects to continuous commercial operations. The next phase will test injection rates, water requirements, operating costs and mineralization performance.

Conventional storage requires pipelines, injection wells and permitting that can take five to ten years. The report says this makes smaller projects economically challenging. In the UAE, industrial CO2 sources near 44.01's existing operations sit within 50 kilometers of suitable peridotite; conventional alternatives are more than 300 kilometers away. The report says similar geology exists in Japan, Oman, Finland, Norway and along the U.S. Pacific coast, and that Frontier estimates more than 50 million tons of UAE industrial emissions could be stored this way.