Carbfix

Carbfix is an Icelandic carbon sequestration company that stores captured carbon dioxide (CO2) permanently underground. During the pilot phase of Carbfix, findings revealed that over 95% of the injected carbon dioxide mineralized within two years, in contrast to the previous understanding that it would take several hundred or thousands of years. Carbfix began as an academic-industrial research project in 2007 and was established as a subsidiary of Reykjavik Energy (OR), an Icelandic geothermal company, in 2019. Carbfix was spun out of OR in January 2020.

As the technology requires vast amounts of water to dissolve carbon dioxide, in June 2021, Carbfix’s technology was validated to be used with seawater—applicable in regions where fresh water is scarce. The use of seawater with Carbfix’s technology is experimental, with a field pilot project scheduled in Iceland for 2022.

Key customers and partnerships

In August 2020, Climeworks, a Swiss company specializing in direct air capture (DAC) technology, along with ON Power, a Swiss geothermal energy provider, signed an agreement with Carbfix to scale up CO2 removal and storage. From September 2021, the new facility, located in Iceland, is expected to remove 4,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year. In 2017, Climeworks and Carbfix also partnered to operate a small-scale DAC and storage facility of 900 metric tons per year, also in Iceland.

In July 2021, Aker Carbon Capture, a Norwegian carbon capture company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Carbfix to collaborate on cost-efficient carbon capture and storage solutions. Elkem, a Norwegian environmentally responsible manufacturer of materials, has also partnered with Carbfix to reduce emissions of its alloys plant in Grundartangi, Iceland.

In August 2023, the company partnered with the University of Edinburgh (UoE) and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre to evaluate CO2 mineralization in Iceland. In November 2023, Carbfix injected dissolved CO2 in seawater underground in partnership with the universities of Geneva and Switzerland, Iceland GeoSurvey (ISOR), and University College London.

In April 2024, Carbfix partnered with Deep Sky, a Canadian carbon removal project developer to explore potential CO2 mineral storage options in Canada.

Funding and financials

In July 2022, Carbfix was awarded a grant of ISK 16 billion (USD 117 million) from the EU Innovation Fund for the deployment of its Code Terminal project (a CO2 transport and storage hub) to capture 3,000,000 tons of CO2 per annum by 2031.