Capture6 and Palmdale Water District to Build a First of Its Kind Facility for Water Recovery and Carbon Removal
Capture6’s Project Monarch carbon removal facility in California showcases the integration of water recovery and carbon removal
BERKELEY, CA – Capture6, a direct air capture startup, and Palmdale Water District (PWD) announced they plan to build a joint pilot facility to produce freshwater resources and simultaneously increase carbon removal in California. The facility, named Pure Water Antelope Valley Demonstration Facility which includes Capture6’s Project Monarch, will be the first fully integrated water management and carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal facility of its kind. This partnership will provide an opportunity to engage surrounding communities and to deliver additional co-benefits, such as green jobs and economic development, in the future.
“We’re excited to complement PWD’s cutting-edge water treatment project with our technology to help alleviate the impacts of climate change on Palmdale. Our technology can do much more than just remove carbon from the air and this partnership will allow us to bring this synergistic approach to scale and meet the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Dr. Ethan Cohen-Cole, CEO and co-founder of Capture6.
PWD covers a growing urban area in Los Angeles County that is preparing for its population’s future water needs. PWD is building a demonstration facility to validate its advanced water treatment system. Capture6 will co-locate the pilot carbon removal facility, Project Monarch, within the PWD facility to showcase the ability to boost water recovery and remove atmospheric CO₂ in an integrated process. The demonstration facility will feature a visitor center to provide educational resources for the public to learn about PWD’s advanced water purification process and Capture6’s cutting-edge process.
California has been struggling with chronic drought and increasingly scarce water resources, as reservoirs and groundwater are running dry, even with short-term increases in water in 2023. This water scarcity is exacerbated by climate change and threatens the local economy, jobs, and livelihoods.
Capture6 uses saltwater to create its carbon removal solvent. By partnering with water treatment facilities, like the one PWD is building, Capture6’s technology can increase the volume of water recovered for agricultural uses and consumption and provide affordable carbon removal. Capture6’s system will reduce the traditional operational and financial burden associated with disposing of excess brine while enhancing water recovery and permanently removing CO₂ from the atmosphere in the process.
“With Capture6, there will be zero discharge of brine,” said PWD Engineering Manager Scott Rogers. “This provides us with a lot of resiliencies. It looks like our savings will be about 20% to 40% for the lifetime of the cost of the project.”
Project Monarch is a two-phase project with the ultimate ambition to develop a large-scale commercial facility pending community support and successful outcomes from the demonstration facility. In the second phase, Project Monarch can recover more than 50% of the input brine as freshwater, while removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. Capture6 seeks to demonstrate large-scale carbon removal as soon as possible, not just decades into the future.
Water scarcity is exacerbated by climate change and threatens local economies, jobs, and livelihoods. One of the most recent examples is the shrinking Colorado River which prompted the Biden administration to propose unprecedented cuts in water supplies to California, Arizona and Nevada, reducing the water delivered to these states by as much as one-quarter. Capture6’s approach can be replicated anywhere in the US and around the world to deliver high-value environmental and financial outcomes: pure water for agricultural uses and consumption and affordable carbon removal.
About Capture6
Capture6 is a direct air capture start-up based in California and New Zealand leveraging its technology to support climate resilience and industrial decarbonization. The company develops and commercializes highly scalable approaches to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Capture6 is pioneering an approach that can be deployed today by repurposing existing industrial-scale technologies. Additionally, when coupled with desalination facilities, Capture6 can recover over 50% of freshwater from desalination waste brine for drinking and industrial purposes in the process of capturing CO₂. This creates a meaningful synergy between carbon removal and water security. Learn more at capture6.org.
About Palmdale Water District
Since 1918, the Palmdale Water District has provided high-quality water at a reasonable cost. They pride themselves on providing great customer care; advocating for local water issues that help our residents; educating the community on water-use efficiency; and leading their region in researching and implementing emerging technologies that increase operational efficiency. For more information about PWD, visit www.palmdalewater.org.
