Four years ago, Ben Slotnick was on the technical evaluation team for one of the largest carbon-capture-and-storage projects in the world, pumping CO2 under the North Sea. He came to the conclusion that spending over $1 billion in capex before sequestering any CO2 was the wrong path. And it was the wrong way to use our oceans. 

Lillianah is an extremely capex-light system, doing natural phytoplankton dispersal in the Louisiana bayou. In just six days, these phytoplankton multiply 5,000 times, storing and sinking organic carbon off the continental shelf. Each daily phytoplankton dispersal can store 1,000 tons of CO2. What’s more, Lillianah’s data shows a sudden revival of the hypoxic dead zones in these same waters, restoring marine life. Plans are underway in two additional locations.