Aramco signs MoU to explore direct air capture opportunities

Saudi Aramco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with climate tech company Spiritus to explore opportunities in the field of direct air capture, the companies shared in separate releases.

“Aramco has stated its ambition to achieve net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across its wholly owned operated assets by 2050 and sees opportunities to build potential lower-carbon new energy business,” said Ali Al-Meshari, senior vice-president of technology, oversight and coordination, Aramco.

With the MoU, Aramco will explore further collaboration aimed at further enhancing Spiritus’ technology; potential piloting and scale deployment of Spiritus’ technology; and localization of Spiritus’ supply chain in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“We believe direct air capture has the potential to play an important role in reducing carbon emissions from hard-to-abate sectors of the economy, and we see Spiritus’ approach to have the potential to scale globally, and specifically in the Middle East,” Ali Al-Meshari said.

Spiritus received an equity investment from Aramco Ventures in November 2023, it said in its release. The value was not disclosed.

Spiritus said its approach to direct air capture “could address the major cost challenges of current direct air capture approaches and includes reducing energy needs, passive air collection, and a proprietary sorbent material to potentially remove carbon from the atmosphere at up to a tenfold increase in adsorption efficiency compared to existing methods.”

The MOU was part of a trio signed by Aramco with American companies aimed at advancing the development of potential lower-carbon energy solutions. Aramco also entered into an MoU with Rondo Energy, a provider of lower-carbon industrial heat and power. Read more about the Rondo MoU at EnergyTech, an Endeavor Business Media partner publication.