Paul Dauenhauer, PhD (left), and Andrew Jones, PhD, with Carba’s proprietary reactor. (Photo by Scott Streble)
Paul Dauenhauer, PhD, has never been one to shy away from a challenge. And today he’s taking on a big one: inventing a low-cost, scalable technology for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Looking for climate solutions is more than just the right thing to do, he emphasizes—it represents one of the biggest economic opportunities of the century.
“The cost of doing nothing to address climate change is enormous,” says Dauenhauer, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering (CSE) and a 2020 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship. “It’s so large that the cost of mitigating climate change is significantly cheaper to society.”
Carba’s unique reactor converts biomass (such as wood chips) into biochar. (Photo by Scott Streble)
The problem looms large indeed. Climate change has been more than 150 years in the making, driven by the buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere from generations of fossil fuel use—and the situation is only getting worse.
But today Dauenhauer and his business partner, chemical engineer and University of Minnesota alumnus Andrew Jones, PhD, believe they have invented a way to trap emitted carbon and return it to the earth, effectively undoing some of the damage.
Dauenhauer and Jones have been working together for more than 20 years, having first met as student researchers at the University of Minnesota in 2005. Through their startup company, Minneapolis-based Carba, they have now developed a proprietary process that converts biomass (plant-based, low-value waste material) into biochar, a stable material that sequesters carbon and can be buried underground for more than 1,000 years.
“Removing carbon and sequestering it forever—this is a big deal,” says Keith Steva, a CSE alumnus and philanthropic supporter of Dauenhauer’s research. “What Carba is doing can be used to show others that an economically viable, financially positive, and impactful approach to climate change exists.”
How it works
Dauenhauer and Jones have developed a unique reactor that uses pyrolysis—a process that applies heat without oxygen—to convert wood and other plant-based materials into stable black carbon. One of their reactors is currently operating at a sanitary landfill in Burnsville, Minnesota, where the resulting biochar is buried to prevent it from breaking down. Researchers believe the biochar could function like an activated carbon filter, capturing harmful substances such as PFAS, lead, and mercury before they leach into the surrounding environment.
Carbon dioxide removal is a critical piece of the climate solution, but current technologies are often too costly, too complex, or too limited to scale effectively. By contrast, Dauenhauer says, Carba’s approach is simple, low-cost, and designed for wide deployment—an important advantage as the world looks for viable ways to draw down atmospheric carbon.
“I think scientists can dream up all sorts of different ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere, but the metric that matters is the cost of removing enough carbon to have an impact,” says Dauenhauer, who holds the Zsolt Rumy Innovation Chair and previously held the Lanny and Charlotte Schmidt Endowed Chair. “Engineers need to design and evaluate large-scale processes to really understand the economic viability of new climate technologies.”
Dauenhauer has worked with the University of Minnesota Office of Technology Commercialization to launch several startup companies, including Lakril Technologies to manufacture plastics from corn and Sironix Renewables to manufacture detergents from plants. He also teaches a class to introduce students to entrepreneurship for chemical, energy, and materials technologies.
“That’s what’s great about being at the University,” he says. “We have all of these skills and people around us that help us develop new technologies that work for society.”
Climate action meets economic growth
According to the World Economic Forum and other experts, meeting global climate goals may require removing up to 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year by 2050. At even a conservative cost estimate of $100 per ton, that adds up to a $1 trillion annual market—highlighting not just the urgency of the challenge, but the enormous economic opportunity ahead.
Dauenhauer reports that Carba is on track to be the first climate-focused company to achieve over a billion tons of carbon dioxide removal per year by 2035.
“After that, our technology can continue to scale around the world with application in every corner of the globe, eventually reaching our overall climate targets,” he says.
Developing innovative and actionable carbon dioxide removal technologies requires time, money, and the freedom to investigate and test novel ideas. According to Dauenhauer, traditional funding sources don’t always allow for such free exploration. That’s where philanthropy can be transformative.
“The beauty of philanthropy is it gives us the ability to aggressively pursue breakthrough technologies and rapidly implement them in a way we cannot with conventional funding,” he says. “It’s exciting to be a part of that process.”