Some call it “the startup that pumps poop underground”. But for Vaulted Deep, the company that just took in $58,3 million from an investor pool led by Frontier Climate, this is more than just a play on words. It's a mission to save the planet by transforming organic waste like manure and sewage sludge into an innovative solution to capture carbon dioxide. A bold bet, which divides experts but which according to the Californian startup could represent a turning point in the fight against climate change.
Poop? A hidden treasure!
Yes, you have understood correctly. That smelly stuff we usually try to avoid could be the key to solving one of the most pressing problems of our time. At least according to Vaulted Deep, which has developed technology to inject manure, sewage sludge and other organic waste underground, trapping carbon they contain and preventing them from contributing to the greenhouse effect. A bit like hiding dust under the carpet, but on a global scale and with a decidedly more intense aroma.
Don't be fooled by the apparent simplicity of the idea. Vaulted Deep certainly wasn't born yesterday. Indeed, according to the CEO Julia Reichelstein, the company was “born as a teenager”, thanks to mature technology derived from the oil industry. Basically, the startup uses the same techniques used to get rid of drilling muds, those disgusting concoctions full of heavy metals and radioactive materials that are left after oil and gas extraction. Except instead of burying poisons, Vaulted Deep buries carbon. The thing has its own poetry.
Organic waste, via tens of thousands of SUVs
If this seems like a crazy idea to you, friends, you're wrong: apparently, the big names in Silicon Valley agree. Frontier Climate (a group supported by giants such as Stripe, Alphabet, Meta and Shopify) decided to bet $58,3 million on Vaulted Deep. The target? Sequester 152.480 tonnes of CO2 by 2027. It's like taking you off the street approximately 36.000 SUVs that consume like vacuum cleaners, but without having to give up the pleasure of driving a beast. A deal, in short.
Of course, not everyone is convinced that this is the ultimate solution to climate change. The first, however, is me. There are those who wonder whether it's really a good idea to bury "a lot of good things along with some bad things that will end up in a hole forever," as he says Brian Roe, professor of agricultural management at Ohio State University. And some point out that manure and other organic waste could be used more intelligently, for example as natural fertilizers in regenerative agriculture. In short, poop is a precious resource, and not everyone agrees that its place is "exiled" underground.
Omar Abou-Sayed, the executive chairman of Vaulted Deep, has no doubts. For him, this technology represents the future of carbon capture, thanks to its scalability and relatively low costs. “There's no technological magic that has to happen,” he says. “It's not a science fair experiment.” In short, while others are racking their brains about how to filter CO2 from the air or water, Vaulted Deep is preparing to bury mountains of poop. And who knows, maybe one day we will thank this "resource" for saving us from climate disaster. Or maybe we'll all end up up to our necks in poop. Time will tell.
