MATI CARBON

XPRIZE TRACK
ROCKS

CDR PATHWAY(S)
Rocks - Ex-situ mineralization of mined rocks

PHYSICAL PRODUCTS
None

FOUNDED
2022

GET IN TOUCH

Mati Carbon
Houston, Texas, USA
www.mati.earth

Shantanu Agarwal
[email protected]

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Mati Carbon is a Delaware registered Public Benefit Corporation that is controlled by a US 501(c)(3) with a mission to enable smallholder farmer climate resilience. Mati durably removes carbon from the atmosphere using basalt based Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) in smallholder rice paddy farms. This process removes atmospheric CO₂ while adding key nutrients in the soil helping to restore degraded soils to benefit smallholder farmers. Mati has developed robust monitoring and verification methodologies by partnering with Yale University to quantify and validate carbon removal through ERW. Mati is currently operational in India, Zambia and Tanzania and is in the process of expanding to other southeast asian countries.

CORE INNOVATION

Mati has developed a software platform to handle the logistical complexities of working with large numbers of smallholder farmers in remote areas of India. Mati’s relationship with the non-profit Swaniti provides inroads with local government and stakeholders in remote farming regions of India. Additionally, Mati providing best-in-class Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) for ERW. Our MRV tech-stack includes novel methods for soil monitoring coupled with sophisticated mass-balance and interpolation calculations to determine bulk CO2 removal.

CO2 CAPTURE

ERW is the practice of applying crushed rocks and minerals to agricultural land. Mati uses basalt as a mineral feedstock for this process. When the dissolution of Mati’s feedstock occurs, base-cations liberated from the basalt react with carbonic acid (CO2 dissolved in water) from rainwater and root respiration. This converts atmospheric CO2 to bicarbonate. Effectively, ERW stoichiometrically rearranges the dominant dissolved species of carbon to a new form that does not revert to CO2.

CO2 SEQUESTRATION

Once bicarbonate is formed by ERW reactions, conversion to carbonic acid (dissolved CO2) is not chemically favoured because the porewater must maintain charge balance with base-cations released by basalt feedstock. The bicarbonate ions then percolate into streams and rivers, and then to oceans. Bicarbonate ions may reside in groundwater within the soil column for decades to centuries. The eventual transport of these bicarbonate ions to oceans sequesters the carbon for >10,000 years.

CO-BENEFITS OR PRODUCTS

Mati’s mission is to enable climate resilience for millions of smallholder farmers in the global south. Basalt dust enriches soil with macro-nutrients like silicon, calcium, and magnesium essential for plant structure and growth, and micro-nutrients like manganese and zinc for enzyme function and disease resistance in crops. As per our initial trials results, adding basalt dust to rice paddies has led to ~20% improvement in crop productivity, lowered diseases and increased water retention capacity.