Engineering:Mati Carbon
Mati Carbon is a Houston-based carbon removal organization. It uses enhanced rock weathering, a process in which crushed basalt is applied to farmland so that carbon dioxide reacts with water and minerals and becomes bicarbonate.[1][2]
In 2025, Mati Carbon received the $50 million prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition.[1][3]
History
Mati Carbon was founded in 2022 by Shantanu Agarwal.[4][5]
The organization is structured as a nonprofit.[3][6]
Mati Carbon's work is connected to research by Yale geochemist Noah Planavsky.[6]
The organization developed its carbon removal work around enhanced rock weathering on farmland.[1][2][5]
Technology
Mati Carbon uses enhanced rock weathering to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.[7] The process involves applying crushed basalt to cropland.[1][2][5]
When basalt interacts with water and carbon dioxide, the carbon dioxide is converted into bicarbonate.[3][5][8] The bicarbonate can move through water into rivers, aquifers, or oceans.[3][5] The process also releases minerals from the rock into the soil.[5][8]
Mati Carbon uses soil sampling, geotagging, transport data, and software-based tracking to measure and document its carbon removal process.[5][8]
Operations
Mati Carbon began by applying basalt to rice paddies in India.[5]
By 2025, Mati Carbon had work involving farms in India, Zambia, and Tanzania.[3][5] Farmers do not pay to have basalt applied to their fields.[5]
Mati Carbon's revenue model is based on the sale of carbon removal credits.[5][8]
XPRIZE Carbon Removal
In April 2025, Mati Carbon received the $50 million prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition.[1][2][3][6][9]
The competition was launched in 2021 and included 1,300 teams from 88 countries.[1][6]
The competition required teams to demonstrate a system for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or oceans and storing it.[5][6]
Mati Carbon and three runner-up teams met the competition requirement of removing at least 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide during the final year of the competition.[2][10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "$50 million prize funded by Musk foundation goes to carbon-removal company that helps Indian farmers" (in en). 2025-04-23. https://apnews.com/article/xprize-climate-carbon-removal-musk-31d41e402fd5386bd564d7145e84e9db.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Musk-backed XPrize gives $100 million to carbon removal start-ups" (in en). The Washington Post. 2025-04-23. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/04/23/xprize-mati-carbon-removal-musk/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "How XPrize Winner Mati Carbon Is Helping Farmers—And the Planet". https://time.com/7279701/xprize-winner-mati-carbon-interview/.
- ↑ Guzmán, Andrea (2025-04-24). "Houston startup wins $50M from Elon Musk-funded contest" (in en). https://www.chron.com/culture/article/xprize-mati-carbon-houston-climate-change-20291227.php.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 "Mati Carbon Wins $50M XPrize for Carbon Removal - IEEE Spectrum" (in en). https://spectrum.ieee.org/xprize-carbon-removal.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Yale-related nonprofit wins global carbon removal prize | Yale News" (in en). 2025-04-23. https://news.yale.edu/2025/04/23/yale-related-nonprofit-wins-global-carbon-removal-prize.
- ↑ Peters, Adele (2025-04-23). "This Houston startup just won $50 million from Elon Musk’s XPrize for Carbon Removal" (in en-US). Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/91321351/this-houston-startup-just-won-50-million-from-elon-musks-x-prize-for-carbon-removal.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Giles, Jim (2025-04-23). "$50 million XPRIZE winner has a plan to help small farmers remove carbon" (in en-US). https://trellis.net/article/50-million-xprize-winner-wants-to-help-smallholder-farmers/.
- ↑ "Elon Musk bankrolled a $100M climate contest. Now critics say it's ‘tainted.’" (in en). 2025-04-23. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/23/musk-bankrolled-100-million-climate-contest-now-its-tainted-00304093.
- ↑ Patel, Prachi (2025-01-21). "And the XPrize Carbon Removal winners are . . ." (in en). https://cen.acs.org/environment/greenhouse-gases/XPrize-Carbon-Removal-winners/103/web/2025/04.
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