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Ocean-based Climate Solutions, Inc. www.ocean-based.com
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-231-7508
Contents.
Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………… 1
Summary of Scientific Findings………………………………………………………. 4
Pump Design…………………………………………………………………………… 5
Upwelling modeling, testing, data, and efficiency…………………………………… 6
Comparison of Wave-driven Upwelling Flow Rates………………………………… 7
Upwelling/Downwelling Estimated Annual Volumes……………………………….. 7
Downwelling Mechanics and Efficiencies……………………………………………. 8
Nutrient Conversion and Net Carbon Sequestration From Upwelling……………. 8
Dissolved Organic Carbon……………………………………………………………. 9
Optimization: Projected Net CO2 Sequestered For Different Pumping Depths….. 10
Microbial Carbon Pump and Redfield Ratio……………………………………….. 11
Safety Strategy………………………………………………………………………… 12
Environmental risk……………………………………………………………………. 12
CO2 Sequestration Estimate, Data Acquisition and Verification………………….. 12
Geographic Locations and Numbers of Pumps…………………………………….. 13
Long-term Impact on Cumulative CO2 and Temperature Rise…………………… 13
Phased Installation and Cost Per Ton………………………………………………. 14
Funding Negative Emission Technologies With “Stock For Carbon”……………. 15
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….. 18
References…………………………………………………………………………….. 19
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The magnitude of cumulative atmospheric CO2, and increasing rate of emissions, are warming Earth and
changing entire life-zones as both the heat and the CO2 enter the oceans. Sequestering CO2 already emitted, as
well as eliminating / sequestering future CO2 emissions, are needed to restore ocean ecosystems and re-stabilize
our climate. The combined volume to be removed is estimated at 3,200 gigatons CO2 by 2100 – 40 gigatons per
year for 80 years if we start today.
According to Professor Ulf Riebesell at German Marine Research Institute-Kiel (GEOMAR): “in times of
climate change artificial up/downwelling can serve as a conservation and/or restoration measure. This relates to
- among other factors - the projected decline in ocean productivity due to enhanced water column stratification
via surface ocean warming. As declining primary production will likely be amplified via the food web, those
changes will be felt much stronger at higher trophic levels. Artificial upwelling can contribute to counteracting
this trend.”
Our innovations include:
1. The Oxygenator: our technology that restores the ocean ecosystem while naturally sequestering CO2 in the
deep ocean for millennia.
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2. Big Data From Ultra-High-Density Ocean Sensing: with widespread deployment of biogeochemical
ARGO robotic floats, we achieve an affordable big-data network of ocean data.
3. Stock For Carbon: An alternative funding mechanism about 20-times larger than attainable from global
imposition of carbon taxes, to fund negative emissions technologies such as The Oxygenator.
4. Sustainable Per-Capita Annual CO2 Emissions: A program which achieves sustainable global per capita
annual CO2 emissions by enabling corporate responsibility for employees/dependents’ emissions.
1. The Oxygenator:
Using endless free ocean waves as the energy source, our “Oxygenator” upwelling/downwelling pumps bring
up nutrient-enriched water to the sunlit upper ocean, triggering
blooms of phytoplankton (single-cell plants) which must absorb
dissolved CO2 to metabolize the nutrients. Forming the base of the
ocean food chain, phytoplankton are consumed by higher trophic
species, with the carbon-rich detritus sinking by gravity with some
converted into long-term “recalcitrant” CO2 by the microbial carbon
pump - isolated from the atmosphere for thousands of years.
When scaled-up across the open oceans far from land, up to 1,800
gigatons can be naturally sequestered by 2100 using this technology.
2. Big Data From Ultra-High-Density Ocean Sensing.
To measure the outcomes and enable early warning of unintended
consequences, we will install one “BGC-ARGO” per nine square
kilometers of open ocean where Oxygenators are deployed.
BGC-ARGO’s are programmed to descend 2,000 meters then slowly
rise to the surface while measuring ocean biogeochemistry (see
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00502/full.).
Reaching the surface, this data is up-linked to the open-access data
center in France.
3. Stock For Carbon.
Even if negative emissions technologies achieve the hoped-for but not-yet-demonstrated price of $100 per ton
CO2, the aggregate cost to remove 3,200 billion tons by 2100 is still a staggering $320,000,000,000,000
($320,000 billion = $320 trillion).
Raising this amount from a global tax on carbon is politically impossible, administratively impractical, and
economically unsound as it directly and indirectly reduces current income. A funding mechanism other than a
carbon tax is critically needed.
Our "Stock For Carbon" taps into the public equity markets whose value is about 20-fold larger than aggregated
current income (e.g. price to earnings – P/E ratio). Coming off balance sheets rather than income statements,
this is the big pot of money needed to fund negative CO2 emissions and restore a stable climate and ocean
ecosystem.
By subscribing to Stock For Carbon, public corporations fund the deployment of negative emissions
technologies such as The Oxygenator - gaining strategic, financial, and marketing benefits in the process.
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2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100
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O2
(Gig
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Cumulative CO2, PPM, and Temperature
Gigatons with fossil phase-out, no CO2 removalGigatons with fossil phase-out and Ocean-based BGC CO2 removal2 degree C1.5 degree CAtmospheric cumulative gigatons: do-nothingPPM - do nothingPPM with fossil phase-out and Ocean-based BGC CO2 removalPPM with fossil phase-out, no CO2 removal
3
Stock For Carbon enables the corporation to redress its historic CO2
emissions and become cumulatively net-negative in about 15 years. Not
being paid in cash, the corporation maintains its working capital,
preserving jobs, R&D, and growth.
Shareholders initially are diluted but the improved sustainability results in
higher stock price, P/E ratio, and shareholder ROI. Our case study using
3M public data is shown.
4. Sustainable Per-Capita Annual CO2 Emissions.
To compensate for excess consumption
by their employees and dependents
who live in “high CO2” countries,
corporations which subscribe to Stock
For Carbon to become net-negative
CO2 should apply this same funding
approach to achieve workforce
sustainability. For example, in 2019
3M Corporation (St. Paul, MN)
employed 96,000 persons worldwide. We estimate their employees’ CO2 emissions totaled 1,054,000 tons –
about 765,000 tons above sustainable (annual 3 tons per capita). Assuming average two dependents per
employee, this amounts to 2.3 million tons excess CO2 in addition to 3M’s 6.2 million tons (2019) scope 1 and
scope 2 corporate emissions to be removed and funded under our Stock For Carbon mechanism.
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Ind
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Ton
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Per Capita Annual CO2 Emissions From Fossil Fuels
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/co2-emissions-by-country/
Sustainable = 3 t
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
4.0%
-80,000,000
-60,000,000
-40,000,000
-20,000,000
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Actual data Trend data
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reak
eve
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Cu
mu
lati
ve T
on
s C
O2
3M Employees+Dependents' Net Negative CO2 By 2035
Employees + dependents cumulative CO2 emitted Oxygenator cumulative CO2 removed
Employee net CO2 balance Price increase for shareholder breakeven
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
9.0%
(175,000,000)
(150,000,000)
(125,000,000)
(100,000,000)
(75,000,000)
(50,000,000)
(25,000,000)
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25,000,000
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75,000,000
100,000,000
125,000,000
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Actual data Trend data
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3M Ambition: NegativeCumulative CO2 2015 - 2035
3M Cumulative Tons CO2 Emitted Oxygenator Net Cumulative Tons Removed3M Net Cumulative Emissions Price increase for shareholder breakeven
4
SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS.
• “…a new study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that the efficiency of the
ocean's "biological carbon pump" has been drastically underestimated, with implications for future climate
assessments. By taking account of the depth of the euphotic, or sunlit zone, the authors found that about
twice as much carbon sinks into the ocean per year than previously estimated.” [1]
• Mathematical analysis and fluid dynamic modeling concludes that upwelled deep water mixes and remains
in the sunlit zone above the thermocline where the nutrients accumulate to trigger a bloom. [2]
• Modeling also demonstrates when the warm, salty surface water is pumped down the tube, it cools and
becomes denser below 300m, then sinking by gravity as it mixes into the deeper ocean. [3]
• This downwelling flow rate is nearly identical for pipe diameters ranging from 1m to 3m, as the added
cooling from larger surface area makes the water more dense and increasing flow, offsetting higher
frictional loss inducing less flow [3].
• Wave-powered upwelling flow rate test data is sparse and highly variable. In 2008, White et.al. [10]
documented 45 m3/hour for a 0.75m diameter, 300m deep tube, but tube twisting during deployment
reduced initial upward flow, whereas a 0.75m diameter, 150m deep test conducted by Atmocean, Inc. in
2007 showed 371 m3/hour. In their 1995 paper, Liu & Jin [11] modeled 1,600 m3/hour in regular waves and
3,400 m3/hour in random (real world) waves for 1.2m diameter by 300m deep tube.
• Mixing ratio of upwelled nutrients reaching the euphotic zone must be >5% to trigger a bloom, according to
ocean upwelling tests conducted by Prof. Ulf Riebesell (personal communication, March 2020).
• Deep water contains more nutrients as well as higher levels of dissolved CO2 compared to the surface ocean.
Water upwelled from below about 300m contains surplus phosphate, enabling a second phytoplankton
bloom that absorbs more CO2 than originally contained in the upwelled seawater. [4]
• “Our models indicate that induced downwelling may be ~3 to 102 times more efficient than bubbling air,
and 104 to 106 times more efficient than fountain aerators, at oxygenating hypoxic bottom waters.” [5]
• The upper ocean contains about twice the level of dissolved organic carbon as the mid ocean, suggesting
downwelling will directly sequester this excess surface carbon. [6]
• Microbes living in the mid and deep ocean efficiently convert dissolved organic carbon (DOC) into
“recalcitrant DOC” – radiocarbon dated at 5,000 years. [7]
• “…BGC-Argo…measure six additional properties in addition to pressure, temperature and salinity
measured by Argo, to include oxygen, pH, nitrate, downwelling light, chlorophyll fluorescence and the
optical backscattering coefficient. The purpose of this addition is to enable the monitoring of ocean
biogeochemistry and health, and in particular, monitor major processes such as ocean deoxygenation,
acidification and warming and their effect on phytoplankton, the main source of energy of marine
ecosystems.” [8]
5
PUMP DESIGN.
Powered by ocean waves, our upwelling and downwelling pump technology [9] naturally amplifies ocean
biogeochemical processes to store more CO2 in the deep ocean and counteract climate change. Each pump
upwells nutrient-enriched seawater from 500-m to the sunlit surface, triggering a phytoplankton bloom which
absorbs dissolved CO2. This CO2-enriched water is concurrently downwelled below 600-m and sequestered for
1000’s of years.
With the long tubes made from extra-strong nylon ripstop fabric spooled onto the buoy and valves, each pump
is compact for shipping and deploys automatically when offloaded at sea.
A 2-ton counterweight attached to the bottom of the downwelling tube provides the gravity-sinking force and
keeps the fabric tubes oriented vertically
once deployed. This weight (and attached
tubes) sinks as the surface buoy slides off a
passing wave, closing the top-mounted 1-
way valve and efficiently forcing water
down the tube. As the buoy rides up the
next wave, this downwelled water is
released while the 1-way valve at bottom
of the upwelling tube closes, forcing water
up the tube where it is released on the next
wave cycle.
Fig. 1. Sketch of upwelling/downwelling wave-powered pump
and CO2 removal/sequestration.
Fig 2. (a) Design sketch of pump. (b) CEO Kithil with 1/3 scale prototype, December 2018. (c) Pump loaded
onto deployment vessel, Morro Bay CA. (d) Buoy converts to raft-shape upon deployment.
a
b
c d
6
UPWELLING MODELING, TESTING, DATA, AND EFFICIENCY.
Mathematical analysis [2] by Professor
Isaac Ginis from the University of
Rhode Island Graduate School of
Oceanography in 2008 concluded:
1) When more-dense deep cold water
parcels are pumped into the warmer
surface layer, they sink and mix
becoming neutrally-buoyant, “piling-
up” on top of the thermocline. Fig 3. Sketches of upwelling water parcels mixing above thermocline.
2) Variations in wave height/period deliver variable flows – mimicking natural ocean upwelling processes.
These conclusions indicate the nutrient-enriched deeper water will accumulate above the thermocline in the
sunlit zone, achieving critical nutrient ratios needed to trigger and maintain a bloom.
We documented wave-powered upwelling from 500 feet
depth in Bermuda in 2005, with tube diameter 0.3m.
We subsequently tested a 152m depth, 30" (0.75m)
diameter pump in 2007. The pump was instrumented with
temperature sensors top and bottom and with a triaxial
accelerometer on the valve flapper, to record open/close
cycles. In this test, the pump reached full depth at
08:29:37 (right graph in Fig. 5). Cold water reached the
top temperature sensor at about 08:44:00, an elapsed time
of just under 11 minutes, giving a flow rate of 371
m3/hour. The wave heights averaged 1.3m per nearby
NDBC data buoy #46232.
Fig. 4. Test data showing temperature change at top
of upwelling tube – Bermuda Dec 2005.
Fig. 5. Test data showing valve open/close cycle and temperature change at top of upwelling tube – San Diego,
March 2007
18.018.519.019.520.020.521.021.522.022.523.0
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/11
/05
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Deg
rees, C
.
Test Results 12-11-05 Bermuda: Atmocean's Wave-Driven Pump
Brings Up Cold Water From 500' Deep
Bottom Temp Inside Tube At Top Outside Tube At Top Surface Temp
Confidential
Horizontal Spread of the “Cold Pool” at
Bottom of Mixed Layer From Gravity
3T
2T
1T h
R
Confidential
Atmocean Pump Efficient In Mixing
Because Water Is Released In Parcels
*
*Atmocean is parent company.
7
COMPARISON OF WAVE-DRIVEN UPWELLING FLOW RATES
Wave-powered upwelling flow rate test data is sparse and highly variable. In 2008, White et.al. [10]
documented 45 m3/hour for a 0.75m
diameter, 300m deep tube, but tube
twisting during deployment (seen in
right-side photo) reduced initial upward
flow, whereas a 0.75m diameter, 150m
deep test conducted by Atmocean, Inc. in
2007 showed 371 m3/hour (data above).
If the unobstructed flow was constant for
300m vs 150m depth, the difference is
about 4-fold higher flow rate for an
unrestricted tube.
In their 1995 paper, Liu & Jin [11]
modeled 1,600 m3/hour in regular waves
and 3,400 m3/hour in random (real
world) waves for 1.2m diameter by 300m
deep tube. Adjusting these values for
diameter and assuming all else equal,
they correspond to 623 and 1,323
m3/hour, respectively. Fig 6. Picture of UH deployment.
UPWELLING/DOWNWELLING ESTIMATED ANNUAL VOLUMES
Analysis of data from National Data Buoy Center (www.ndbc.noaa.gov) wave heights and wave periods from
their buoy #51001 located 100nm north of Oahu Hawaii allows calculation of nominal annual pumped volumes.
In the Atlantic, we use NDBC data from #41049, 300nm SSE of Bermuda. To estimate both upwelling and
downwelling volumes, we cutoff waves over 3m height and disregard pumped volume from waves under 0.5m.
Pacific waves deliver about 10% more upwelling volume annually than Atlantic waves.
Table 1. Projected upwelling and downwelling annual volumes based on data from National Data Buoy Center
#51001 north of Hawaii.
Comparing wave-driven upwelling flow rate to theoretical gives upwelling pump efficiency of 73.3%. For
downwelling, gravity-driven sinking of the heavy bottom weight gives estimated efficiency of 94.9%.
Applying these estimated upwelling and downwelling volumes to nutrient stoichiometries at depth determines
CO2 sequestration (see below).
2016 2017 2018 Average Efficiency Annual Volume
Upwelling 24,428,009 23,055,034 24,283,096 23,922,046 73.3% 17,545,907
Downwelling 24,428,009 23,055,034 24,283,096 23,922,046 94.9% 22,707,561
Nominal Pumped Volume (m3) Data Buoy 51001 - Hawaii
8
DOWNWELLING MECHANICS AND EFFICIENCIES.
In 2017-18, we
coordinated
computational fluid
dynamics
downwelling studies
by Sandia National
Laboratories [3]
which found density
of downwelled
surface water inside
a tube became equal
to external water
density at ~300m
depth, due to greater
density (by cooling)
of the downwelled
water combined
with its unchanged
surface salinity-
density.
The mixing model is
seen here for
outflow at 1,000m
depth:
Figure 7. Modeling by Sandia National Laboratories of gravity-induced down-flow
mixing at 1,000m.
A recent paper by David Koweek et.al. “Evaluating hypoxia alleviation through induced downwelling” [4]
verified downwelling efficiency: “Our models indicate that induced downwelling may be ~3 to 102 times more
efficient than bubbling air, and 104 to 106 times more efficient than fountain aerators, at oxygenating hypoxic
bottom waters.”
NUTRIENT CONVERSION AND NET CARBON SEQUESTRATION FROM UPWELLING
Net C export via a dual bloom was hypothesized by University of Hawaii Professor David Karl et.al. in their
iconic 2008 paper “Nitrogen fixation-enhanced carbon sequestration in low-nitrate, low-chlorophyll seascapes”
[5]. Table 1 provides estimated volumes sequestered per m-3 upwelled, for depth-measured nutrient
concentrations:
9
Table 2. Copy of table 1 from [4].
DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON.
In 2010 Dennis Hansell et.al. published “Dissolved Organic Matter In The Ocean - A Controversy Stimulates
New Insights” [6] suggesting vast ocean reservoirs of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), previously not well
characterized, with levels of ~80 mmol/m-3 found in the upper ocean.
Their abstract reads “Containing as much carbon as the atmosphere, marine dissolved organic matter is one of
Earth’s major carbon reservoirs. With invigoration of scientific inquiries into the global carbon cycle, our
ignorance of its role in ocean biogeochemistry became untenable. Rapid mobilization of relevant research two
decades ago required the community to overcome early false leads, but subsequent progress in examining the
global dynamics of this material has been steady. Continuous improvements in analytical skill coupled with
global ocean hydrographic survey opportunities resulted in the generation of thousands of measurements
throughout the major ocean basins. Here, observations and model results provide new insights into the large-
scale variability of dissolved organic carbon, its contribution to the biological pump, and its deep ocean sinks.”
10
Fig. 8. Copy of Fig. 2 from [5]
As seen above, the estimated quantity of DOC sequestered via downwelling: 80 umol/kg at surface vs 40
umol/kg at 500m (net of 40 umol/kg).
OPTIMIZATION; PROJECTED NET CO2 SEQUESTERED FOR DIFFERENT PUMPING DEPTHS.
Combining Karl and Hansell with our estimated
annual pumped volumes and converting C to CO2,
we calculate net sequestration at different depths,
and index this to tube cost – determining that
upwelling from 500m and downwelling to 600m
is optimum.
Fig. 9. Upwelling/downwelling pump cost/depth optimum.
$350
$400
$450
$500
$550
$600
300 /400 350 /450 400 / 500 450 / 550 500 / 600 550 / 650 750 / 850
Co
st In
de
x
Depth
Pump Depth Optimization: Cost Index vs Depth
11
Calculating the combined net CO2 sequestered using inputs from Karl and from Hansell, we estimate annual net
of 139.4 tons per pump.
Table 3. Projected gross export of CO2 for different upwelling/downwelling pump depths.
MICROBIAL CARBON PUMP AND REDFIELD RATIO.
In 2015 Jiao et.al. published “Microbial production of recalcitrant dissolved organic matter: long-term carbon
storage in the global ocean” [7], outlining the role of the microbial carbon pump which converts DOC into long-
lived recalcitrant DOC - radiocarbon dated at over 5,000 years.
The abstract reads “The biological pump is a process whereby CO2 in the
upper ocean is fixed by primary producers and transported to the deep ocean
as sinking biogenic particles or as dissolved organic matter. The fate of most
of this exported material is remineralization to CO2, which accumulates in
deep waters until it is eventually ventilated again at the sea surface.
However, a proportion of the fixed carbon is not mineralized but is instead
stored for millennia as recalcitrant dissolved organic matter. The processes
and mechanisms involved in the generation of this large carbon reservoir are
poorly understood. Here, we propose the microbial carbon pump as a
conceptual framework to address this important, multifaceted
biogeochemical problem.”
The paper hypothesizes a dramatic increase in the ratio of C:N:P from the
conventional Redfield Ratio of 106:16:1 to recalcitrant DOM ratio of
3,511:202:1 (“Redfield ratio or Redfield stoichiometry is the consistent
atomic ratio of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus found in marine
phytoplankton and throughout the deep oceans” Wikipedia).
Fig. 10. Copy of Fig 2 from [7].
Amount (mmol
C per m-3 ) Source
Percentage
applied to
downwelling
volume Source
Downwelling
300 40 Hansell Fig 2 22,707,561 100% Sandia study 10.90 - 40.0 40.0
Upwelling / (downwell depth)
200 / 300 2.0 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 90% 0.38 1.4 36.0 37.4
250 / 350 15.7 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 95% 3.14 11.5 38.0 49.5
300 /400 32.7 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 100% 6.89 25.2 40.0 65.2
350 /450 41.2 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 101% 8.76 32.1 40.4 72.5
400 / 500 54.5 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 102% 11.70 42.9 40.8 83.7
450 / 550 101.1 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 103% 21.93 80.4 41.2 121.6
500 / 600 121.8 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 104% 26.67 97.8 41.6 139.4
550 / 650 125.7 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 105% 27.80 101.9 42.0 143.9
750 / 850 141.5 Karl Table 1 17,545,907 109% 32.47 119.07 43.6 162.6
Upwelling
CO2
sequestered
tons/yr
Downwelling
CO2
sequestered
tons/year
Up and down
combined
CO2
sequestered
tons/year
Downwelling depth-volume
adjustment factorNet C sequestered
Author
estimate based
on Sandia
study
Direction/depth (m)
Efficiency-
adjusted annual
pumped
volume (m3)
C
sequestered
(mmol/m-3)
12
SAFETY STRATEGY.
To minimize adverse side effects, our safety strategy is to induce small changes (under 10%/year) over large
areas (millions of square kilometers), far from land (beyond the 200nm country boundary), for long time
periods (decades). Given the five-year life expectancy of each pump, and recovery capability, in the event we
find adverse side effects the program either can terminate slowly (pumps stop working) or quickly (pumps
removed, region-by-region).
ENVIRONMENTAL RISK.
Professor Andreas Oschlies writes:
“There is essentially no environmental risk associated with small-scale field trials. For hypothetical large-scale
deployment, local oxygenation of subsurface waters by translocation of surface waters and deeper waters will
be accompanied with a translocation of nutrients and heat, likely leading to a cooling and enhanced biological
productivity of surface waters. Enhanced productivity will eventually be followed by enhanced respiration and
oxygen consumption that may to some extent offset the initial oxygen gain. Enhanced biological productivity
will likely enhance the productivity of higher trophic levels including fish. There will be shifts in the ecosystem,
the valuation of which is difficult, but with higher productivity in normally not over-productive waters, these
will most likely be viewed positively. It cannot be ruled out that species of little commercial value or possibly
even toxic algae may benefit more than others. Mechanisms of such ecological shifts are poorly understood and
based on current knowledge there is little expectation that shifts will differ from natural shifts observed when
moving from oligotrophic to more eutrophic conditions, such as usually found further onshore.”
(Andreas Oschlies is Professor of Marine Biogeochemical Modelling at GEOMAR and the University of Kiel,
Germany. He leads the Collaborative Research Centre "Climate-Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical
Ocean" and the Priority Program “Climate Engineering: Risks, Challenges, Opportunities”).
CO2 SEQUESTRATION ESTIMATE, DATA ACQUISITION AND VERIFICATION.
Estimated annual CO2 sequestration is 139.4 tons per pump, based on projected upwelling/downwelling
volumes derived from measured wave heights/periods in the subtropical north Pacific. With a CO2 footprint
(from production, assembly, shipping, deployment, maintenance, and business overhead) of about 3.7 tons, and
a life expectancy of five years, our efficiency factor (net CO2/gross CO2) is 99.5%.
To measure actual tons sequestered, we will deploy one drifting biogeochemical (BGC) ARGO robotic float
centered within every 18 pumps (across nine square kilometers) and a reference BGC ARGO remote from the
array. Programmed to descend 2,000m then resurface each ten days, each BGC-ARGO collects verification data
which is uplinked via satellite to the France data center.
According to Dr. Ian Walsh, Senior Oceanographer at Seabird Scientific:
“The [Seabird] NAVIS BGC floats include a sensor package that measures the bulk properties of the most
significant oceanic carbon pools that will be affected by the enhanced vertical exchange of water across the
thermocline from the pumping technology.
Temperature, salinity and pressure yield the density field and will be used to generate a mixing model of the
pumping effect on vertical transport of the quasi conservative heat and salt budgets. This constrains the entire
system.
13
The carbon dynamic response to the vertical exchange is measured by the rest of the sensors. The chlorophyll
fluorescence and backscattering sensors measure the particle load of particulate organic carbon (backscattering)
and the viable phytoplankton (chlorophyll). The FDOM fluorometer measures the concentration of the
fluorescent fraction of the dissolved organic matter pool. The pH sensor measures one component of the pCO2
equilibrium and with the backscattering and FDOM sensors monitors net transfers of carbon between the
dissolved and particulate pools through autotrophic and heterotrophic activity. The dissolved oxygen sensor
constrains net community production of fixed carbon and the impact of gas exchange kinetics on pCO2, Finally,
the nitrate concentration measurement monitors the effectiveness of the exchange of nutrient rich deep water
with nutrient depleted surface water through the pumping process and therefore the net increase in autotrophic
carbon production potential achieved by the pumps.
The floats will be deployed in a near field/far field manner with one float within the pumping volume and the
other deployed outside the pumping volume. The float mission profiles (park depth, profile interval, the rate and
ratio between deep and shallow profiles) will be adjusted during the initial trial period and subsequently during
roll out to optimize modeling of the effect of the pumps.
As the system scales, a network effect of
increasing data from the floats relative to
the governing scales across time and space
will decrease the carbon flux measurement
uncertainty between any pair of near and
far field floats, resulting in a measurement
system that asymptotically approaches a
fixed structural relationship between the
pumping and the net sequestration of
carbon.”
Fig. 11. Sketch of BGC ARGO and pump distribution.
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS AND NUMBERS OF PUMPS.
Geographic
locations will be the
“ocean deserts” –
low nutrient sunlit
surface waters
between 40 degrees
N-S in the Pacific,
Atlantic, and Indian
Oceans.
As seen in this
recent paper by
Buesseler et.al.
these regions are
optimum. Fig. 12. Carbon sequestered when considering full depth of sunlit zone, from [1].
1 BCG ARGO per 9 km open ocean (18 units).
1 km
1km
Bloom seen from space.
Animation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
BsAUmTPcc7c&feature=youtu.be
14
LONG-TERM IMPACT ON CUMULATIVE CO2 AND TEMPERATURE RISE.
When fully scaled-up, our
technology can sequester
nearly 1,800 gigatons, which
together with fossil fuel phase-
out can return earth to pre-
industrial CO2 of 280 PPM by
2100. Early phase-down of
pump deployments can
achieve a less aggressive
target level of atmospheric
CO2 while still benefitting the
ocean ecosystem, fisheries,
oxygen levels, ocean pH, etc.
Fig. 13. Estimated impact on cumulative CO2 (gigatons), atmospheric parts-
per-million, and global temperature increase, 2020-2100.
PHASED INSTALLATION AND COST PER TON.
Under an aggressive deployment scenario, we could reach maximum pump deployments of just over 200
million by 2042 which will achieve the goal of removing about 1,800 cumulative gigatons CO2 by 2100.
The current-dollar cost declines to $6.30 per ton in 2044 then gradually increases by inflation to $14.50 by
2100.
Figure 14. Cost per ton CO2 removed. Fig. 15. Deployments and tons removed.
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
-
50,000,000
100,000,000
150,000,000
200,000,000
250,000,000
2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100
Cu
mu
lati
ve C
O2
Re
mo
ved
(gi
gato
ns)
Pu
mp
s in
op
era
tio
n
2020 to 2100: Planned Operating Pumps & Cumulative CO2 Removed
Cumulative Gigatons removed Total operating
$-
$50.00
$100.00
$150.00
$200.00
$250.00
$300.00
$350.00
$400.00
20
25
20
29
20
33
20
37
20
41
20
45
20
49
20
52
20
56
20
60
20
64
20
68
20
72
20
76
20
80
20
84
20
88
20
92
20
96
21
00
Co
st p
er
ton
re
mo
ved
Long term cost per ton - current dollars
280
330
380
430
480
530
580
630
680
730
780
2,000
2,250
2,500
2,750
3,000
3,250
3,500
3,750
4,000
4,250
4,500
4,750
5,000
5,250
5,500
5,750
6,000
2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100
PP
M
Cu
mu
lati
ve C
O2
(Gig
ato
ns)
Cumulative CO2, PPM, and Temperature
Gigatons with fossil phase-out, no CO2 removalGigatons with fossil phase-out and Ocean-based BGC CO2 removal2 degree C1.5 degree CAtmospheric cumulative gigatons: do-nothingPPM - do nothingPPM with fossil phase-out and Ocean-based BGC CO2 removalPPM with fossil phase-out, no CO2 removal
15
FUNDING NEGATIVE EMISSION TECHNOLOGIES WITH “STOCK FOR CARBON”.
Stock For Carbon^™ (SFC) is our business model to directly fund the scale-up of our ocean-based CO2
sequestration technology “The Oxygenator”, avoiding the inherent flaws in carbon pricing schemes. We
illustrate SFC by evaluating the impact of SFC versus a carbon price, using 3M Corporation as our example.
3M is a well-respected global firm whose
2018 CDP rating was “B” – having reduced
its CO2 scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by
>70% since 2002. Since 2014 3M’s
emissions have plateaued at 6 million tons,
with slight upward trend since.
3M 2019 annual sales were $32 billion, with
96,000 employees spread across 200
facilities in 70 countries.
Fig. 16. 3M GHG Emissions from 2020 Sustainability Report
To evaluate the impact of paying cash (in form of a carbon tax or equivalent), we use the 2030 carbon price of
$75 per ton proposed in October 10, 2019 by International Monetary Fund (IMF), reduced by 5% per year to
2015 and increased 10% per year after 2030. We assume no tax recovery via higher prices paid by customers
and likewise no change in sales volume due to higher prices.
Fig. 17. 3M actual data from annual reports.
Figure 18. 3M trendline data if it paid the IMF tax on its CO2 emissions.
3M Data units 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Cash + equivalent with "free" CO2 millions 1,798$ 3,053$ 2,678$ 3,083$ 3,968$
Cash + equivalent IMF $75/ton by 2030 millions 1,602$ 2,639$ 2,039$ 2,174$ 2,810$
Change in cash vs free CO2 (196)$ (414)$ (639)$ (909)$ (1,157)$
Working capital with "free" CO2 millions 5,932$ 4,791$ 6,625$ 6,099$ 6,996$
Net Sales millions 30,300$ 30,100$ 31,700$ 32,800$ 32,100$
Actual data
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Cash + equivalent with "free" CO2 millions 4,227$ 4,493$ 5,122$ 5,559$ 5,897$
Cash + equivalent IMF $75/ton by 2030 millions 2,786$ 2,753$ 3,065$ 3,174$ 3,154$
Change in cash vs "free" CO2 millions (1,441)$ (1,739)$ (2,056)$ (2,385)$ (2,743)$
2025 2026 2027 2028 2029
Cash + equivalent with "free" CO2 millions 5,932$ 4,791$ 6,625$ 6,099$ 6,996$
Cash + equivalent IMF $75/ton by 2030 millions 30,300$ 30,100$ 31,700$ 32,800$ 32,100$
Change in cash vs "free" CO2 millions (3,118)$ (3,515)$ (3,937)$ (4,387)$ (4,860)$
2031 2032 2033 2034 2035
Cash + equivalent with "free" CO2 millions 9,011$ 9,460$ 9,897$ 10,331$ 10,773$
Cash + equivalent IMF $75/ton by 2030 millions 3,090$ 2,921$ 2,675$ 2,351$ 1,953$
Change in cash vs "free" CO2 millions (5,921)$ (6,539)$ (7,222)$ (7,980)$ (8,819)$
Trend data
16
3M’s cost in 2015 would have been $196 million to offset all its CO2 emissions at the assumed IMF price of
$34.75, increasing to $270 million in 2020, $499 million in 2030, and $1.2 billion by 2035. Deducting these
annual amounts from 3M reported cash balances would result in nearly $9 billion less cash by 2035, requiring
substantial new debt, risking insolvency and 96,000 jobs.
Under SFC, 3M pays in stock, not cash,
to drawdown its emissions using our
Oxygenator technology. This maintains
crucial cash and working capital and
avoids excess debt – preserving 3M’s
business operations, growth,
employment, and ultimately its value to
society. Initially shareholders are
diluted but the market cap recovers
because investors now bid up stock
prices of more sustainable (higher
“ESG”) companies compared to peers
with lower ESG ratings.
Applying 3M’s projected cumulative
CO2 emissions, balance sheet data, and
stock prices, we can estimate 3M
shareholder breakeven. The stock price
increase needed for shareholders to
breakeven is about 8.4% by 2035 Fig. 19. Projected Breakeven for 3M to Achieve Net Negative CO2
(percent dilution being equivalent to
share price increase for breakeven).
Even if we assume 3M adopts this highly ambitious program to drawdown 100% of its scope 1 and scope 2
cumulative emissions going back to 2015, its carbon footprint remains excessive when scope 3 (indirect,
product full life cycle) emissions are factored in.
This can be addressed by utilizing SFC to drawdown its employees’ and their dependents’ per capita emissions.
Based on regional annual per capita emissions compared to sustainable lifestyle, we estimate 3M employees
need to drawdown 765,000 tons per year to achieve sustainability. Allowing for two dependents per employee,
this becomes 2.3 million tons annually excess CO2 emissions.
Table 4. 3M Employee annual excess CO2 emissions.
Under SFC, 3M can accomplish this volume of cumulative drawdown with a modest 3.4% shareholder
breakeven price increase.
Region 3M Revenues
Estimated 3M
Employees
CO2 annual
tons per
capita
3M employees
CO2 emissions
Sustainable
emissions
3M
employees'
excess CO2
Americas 16.1$ 39,662 16 634,592 118,986 515,606
Asia Pacific 9.8$ 34,545 8 276,362 103,636 172,726
EU MidEast Africa 6.2$ 21,956 6.5 142,712 65,867 76,845
Total 32.1$ 96,163 1,053,666 288,489 765,177
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
9.0%
(175,000,000)
(150,000,000)
(125,000,000)
(100,000,000)
(75,000,000)
(50,000,000)
(25,000,000)
-
25,000,000
50,000,000
75,000,000
100,000,000
125,000,000
150,000,000
20
15
20
16
20
17
20
18
20
19
20
20
20
21
20
22
20
23
20
24
20
25
20
26
20
27
20
28
20
29
20
30
20
31
20
32
20
33
20
34
20
35
Actual data Trend data
Pri
ce In
cre
ase
Fo
r B
reak
eve
n
Cu
mu
lati
ve T
on
s C
O2
3M Ambition: NegativeCumulative CO2 2015 - 2035
3M Cumulative Tons CO2 Emitted Oxygenator Net Cumulative Tons Removed3M Net Cumulative Emissions Price increase for shareholder breakeven
17
Taking both corporate cumulative excess emissions
and employees’ and dependents’ cumulative excess
emissions, 3M can “unwind its CO2 clock” back to
2015 under SFC with shareholders’ reaching
breakeven at a combined 11.8% increase in stock price
by 2035 – 15 years hence!
Under a less-ambitious plan to adopt 2022 as the initial
year, the share price increase needed for breakeven is
just 8.1% by 2035.
Figure 20. 3M employees’ and dependents’ CO2 drawdown.
Table 5. Summary of 3M ambition levels and stock price breakeven to reach 100% sustainability.
Many advantages become evident when comparing SFC to governmental-instituted carbon prices.
1. By not impacting business operations, SFC enables a corporation to scale up its commitments much sooner.
In this example 3M achieves net-negative cumulative CO2 emissions by 2035.
2. For startup companies needing financing to develop and commercialize their negative emissions technology,
SFC offers the benefit that their company value (retained earnings) is held in the form of public-traded
sustainable corporations, so venture investors can exit simply by redeeming their startup shares for some of
those public-traded shares. This eliminates the cost, time delay, uncertainty, and complexity of an IPO.
3. The contract is directly between the corporate CO2 emitter and the negative emissions CO2 “remover” –
eliminating intermediaries.
4. As a direct contract, SFC can be implemented as soon as the emitter and remover reach agreement.
2015 2022
2035 cum. net negative CO2 (t) (3,394,446) (3,385,444)
Breakeven stock price 8.4% 5.7%
2035 cum. net negative CO2 (t) (2,924,823) (1,081,223)
Breakeven stock price 3.4% 2.4%
Breakeven Total 3M+Empl/Dep 11.8% 8.1%
3M Corporation CO2e Emissions Reduction Opportunities
3M Employees' and Dependents' CO2e Emissions Reduction Opportunities
Ambition (lookback year)
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
4.0%
-80,000,000
-60,000,000
-40,000,000
-20,000,000
0
20,000,000
40,000,000
60,000,000
20
15
20
16
20
17
20
18
20
19
20
20
20
21
20
22
20
23
20
24
20
25
20
26
20
27
20
28
20
29
20
30
20
31
20
32
20
33
20
34
20
35
Actual data Trend data
Pri
ce In
cre
ase
Fo
r B
reak
eve
n
Cu
mu
lati
ve T
on
s C
O2
3M Employees+Dependents' Net Negative CO2 By 2035
Employees + dependents cumulative CO2 emitted Oxygenator cumulative CO2 removed
Employee net CO2 balance Price increase for shareholder breakeven
18
5. SFC spans the global operations of the corporation, avoiding issues with different prices across political
jurisdictions.
6. Verification is achieved by public disclosure of the corporation’s CO2 sequestered data.
7. The tons sequestered are not fungible (tradeable), further reducing transaction complexity.
8. The arithmetic is straightforward: each year, the parties determine tons to be sequestered and how many
Oxygenators are needed; multiply by the unit cost of Oxygenators and apply the stock price to determine
how many shares are issued. We will then sell shares as costs are incurred to produce and deploy the
Oxygenators.
9. Given the Oxygenators’ projected five-year life and almost no ongoing operating costs, tons removed
cumulate which geometrically decreases cost per ton.
Thus for public-traded corporations, SFC may solve the economic dilemma posed by carbon taxes – namely,
when the price per ton of CO2 is high enough to massively incentivize energy switching, the economic outcome
is reduced income, loss of jobs, and political backlash against the high tax. SFC taps into the public equity
markets which globally are a multiple of over 15 times corporate annual net income. Given that corporations
have received CO2 disposal for free up until now, their balance sheets are overvalued by the implied cost of this
free disposal. So, SFC acts to re-balance corporate balance sheets.
CONCLUSION.
Wave-powered upwelling/downwelling pumps leverage known ocean biogeochemistry, with potential to
sequester massive tons CO2 in the deep ocean at very low long-term cost.
Stock For Carbon is an equitable non-cash funding mechanism which makes massive CO2 removal affordable.
19
REFERENCES.
[1] Ken O. Buesseler el al., "Metrics that matter for assessing the ocean biological carbon pump," PNAS (2020).
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1918114117
[2] Professor Isaac Ginis – University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography - unpublished report
““Investigation Of The Possibility Of Limiting Hurricane Intensity By Locally Reducing The Upper Ocean
Heat Content Using Wave-Driven Deep-Ocean Pumps”, 2008.
[3] Sandia National Laboratories unpublished report “Model-based Assessment of ‘Down-welling’ Carbon
Relocation Concepts”, 2019.
[4] Koweek, David A, Clara Garcia-Sanchez, Philip G. Brodrick, Parker Gassett, Ken Caldeira “Evaluating
hypoxia alleviation through induced downwelling” https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137334.
[5] Karl, David M., Ricardo M. Letelier, “Nitrogen fixation-enhanced carbon sequestration in low nitrate, low
chlorophyll seascapes” MEPS 364:257-268 (2008) https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07547
[6] Hansell, Dennis A., CA Carlson, DJ Repeta, R Schlitzer “Dissolved organic matter in the ocean: A
controversy stimulates new insights” Oceanography, 2009.
[7] Jiao, Nianzhi, Gerhard J. Herndl, Dennis A. Hansell, Ronald Benner, Gerhard Kattner, Steven W. Wilhelm,
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Microbiology Volume 8 | August 2010 doi:10.1038/nrmicro2386
[8] Bittig HC, Maurer TL, Plant JN, Schmechtig C, Wong APS, Claustre H, Trull TW, Udaya Bhaskar TVS,
Boss E, Dall’Olmo G, Organelli E, Poteau A, Johnson KS, Hanstein C, Leymarie E, Le Reste S, Riser SC,
Rupan AR, Taillandier V, Thierry V and Xing X (2019) A BGC-Argo Guide: Planning, Deployment, Data
Handling and Usage. Front. Mar. Sci. 6:502. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00502.
[9] International patent pending PCT/US2019/046292.
[10] Angelique White et.al. “An Open Ocean Trial of Controlled Upwelling Using Wave Pump Technology” J.
Atmos. Oceanic Technol. (2010) 27 (2): 385–396. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JTECHO679.1
[11] Clark C. K. Liu and Qiao Jin “Artificial Upwelling In Regular And Random Waves” Ocean Engng, Vol.
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