We accelerate mineral weathering by spreading basalt on croplands to increase dissolved inorganic carbon with eventual storage as ocean carbonates. Our technology uses novel soil models and machine learning to maximize CO₂ removal while boosting crop growth.
Removed carbon is tracked from the farm to rivers and the oceans, monitoring for permanence and additionality.
How it Works:
Basalt is applied to farmland with a spreader.
Basalt reacts with rainwater, converting atmospheric CO2 to dissolved bicarbonate and releasing macro- and micronutrients to the soil. Lithos measures this empirically with our high-accuracy proprietary approach.
Dissolved bicarbonate is transferred by rivers and streams to the coastal ocean, where it is stable for thousands of years. Lithos monitors for leakage in river networks and tracks the carbon in a cradle-to-grave lifecycle.
Eventually, dissolved bicarbonate reacts to form calcium carbonate minerals that are permanently deposited at the ocean floor.
The Team
Mary Yap
CEO & Co-founder
Ben Brodin
Head of Farm Community
Rob Hranac
COO
Jake Schneider, PhD
Head of Research Commercialization
Katie Hsia
VP of Finance
Matt LeBel
Chief of Staff
Elliot Chang, PhD
Head of Research Partnerships
Shane Gooding
Head of Growth Strategy
Bill LaPratt
Head of Strategic Operations
Ryan Ernst
Director of Software Engineering
The Lithos team.
Mary Yap, Dr. Chris Reinhard, and Dr. Noah Planavsky founded Lithos Carbon in 2022.
Founding team — Mary Yap, Dr. Noah Planavsky, and Dr. Chris Reinhard founded Lithos Carbon in 2022. Lithos' mission is to drive durable, best-in-class, and scientifically responsible carbon dioxide removal. Noah and Chris are professors at Yale University and Georgia Tech. Recognizing an industry need for more rigorous studies of measurement, reporting, and verification of carbon dioxide removal, Noah and Chris now lead research and industry efforts to drive a trusted and scientific push for CDR protocols aross pathways in a way that conscientiously avoids conflicts of interest.
