# Calcarea

> Calcarea is a Caltech- and USC-born climate-tech company decarbonizing the shipping industry with onboard reactors that capture CO2 from ship exhaust and convert it into stable ocean bicarbonate. By speeding up the natural reaction between seawater and limestone - a process that normally takes over 10,000 years - down to about a minute, Calcarea aims to permanently and safely store roughly half of a cargo ship's emissions as slightly saltier seawater, at costs competitive with today's best carbon capture options.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** Los Angeles, California, United States
- **Founders:** Jess Adkins (Co-founder & CEO; Smits Family Professor of Geochemistry and Global Environmental Science at Caltech), Pierre Forin (Co-founder & CTO; mechanical engineer, formerly CO2 carriers and carbon capture at TotalEnergies Norway), Will Berelson (Co-founder & Scientific Advisor; Paxson H. Offield Professor of Marine Systems at USC), Melissa Gutierrez (Head of Pilots and Geochemist)
- **Team size:** ~14 employees
- **Products:** Onboard CO2 capture reactor, Accelerated limestone weathering, Marine carbon sequestration as a service
- **Notable:** Spun technology out of Caltech and USC based on decades of oceanographic and marine-engineering research, Raised ~$3M seed funding from climate investors including Azolla Ventures, the Grantham Foundation and Propeller Ventures, Signed a development agreement with lomarlabs (Lomar) in May 2024

## Products & services

- **Onboard CO2 capture reactor** — A reactor installed on ships that brings engine exhaust into contact with limestone inside seawater. The CO2 reacts to form dissolved bicarbonate, which is released overboard - avoiding the need to accumulate captured carbon and offload it in port.
- **Accelerated limestone weathering** — Calcarea speeds up the natural seawater-limestone reaction (normally >10,000 years) to roughly one minute, converting point-source ship CO2 into stable oceanic bicarbonate for durable storage on geologic timescales.
- **Marine carbon sequestration as a service** — A decarbonization pathway for shipowners aiming to cut roughly half of a vessel's CO2 emissions at costs competitive with existing carbon capture and storage technologies.

## Achievements

- Spun technology out of Caltech and USC based on decades of oceanographic and marine-engineering research
- Raised ~$3M seed funding from climate investors including Azolla Ventures, the Grantham Foundation and Propeller Ventures
- Signed a development agreement with lomarlabs (Lomar) in May 2024
- Featured by CNN, Caltech Magazine, IEEE Spectrum and USC as a leading marine carbon-removal startup
- Demonstrated a process that compresses a >10,000-year natural reaction to roughly one minute
- Targets cutting about 50% of a ship's CO2 emissions with a full-scale reactor

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — USC-affiliated research highlighted Calcarea's shipboard limestone-and-seawater system as potentially cutting shipping CO2 emissions by about half.
- **2024-05** — lomarlabs signed a development agreement with Calcarea to accelerate commercialization of onboard carbon capture.
- **2024-05** — Calcarea publicly detailed its team and technology; covered by CNN and Caltech Magazine.
- **2023-02** — Closed ~$3M seed round led by climate-focused investors.

## Links

- Website: https://calcarea.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/calcarea

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/calcarea
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-06