Sharjah 24 – WAM: ADNOC and 44.01 have announced plans to expand their carbon-to-rock project in Fujairah after the successful completion of a pilot in partnership with the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation (FNRC) and Masdar. The announcement was made at ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi.
The pilot, which began in 2023, successfully mineralised 10 tonnes of CO2 within Fujairah's peridotite rock formations in under 100 days using 44.01’s Earthshot prize-winning mineralisation technology. Building on this success, the next phase will involve injecting more than 300 tonnes of CO2 to further demonstrate the technology’s scalability for deployment across the UAE.
Ali Qasem, Director-General of FNRC, highlighted the project's potential, saying, “This carbon conversion project is a significant step toward sustainability. Fujairah’s peridotite formations offer a unique opportunity to scale up carbon mineralisation, which will help reduce our carbon footprint and support environmental strategies.”
Fujairah was chosen for the pilot due to its abundant peridotite rock, which naturally reacts with CO2, mineralising it. On a larger scale, peridotite mineralisation could help eliminate billions of tonnes of carbon emissions, supporting global decarbonisation efforts.
Sophie Hildebrand, ADNOC’s Chief Technology Officer, added, “Technology is essential to ADNOC's decarbonisation strategy. The success of the pilot proves the effectiveness of 44.01’s mineralisation technology, and we’re excited to scale this project, which is critical to meeting climate goals."
44.01, alongside ADNOC and FNRC, is also competing for the Carbon Removal XPRIZE, with the project named one of the competition’s Top 20 projects in 2024.
Talal Hasan, CEO of 44.01, said, “The pilot proved carbon mineralisation is viable in the UAE. We’re excited to scale up and refine our technology to demonstrate its commercial potential.”
The initial pilot, powered by renewable energy from Masdar, involved capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, dissolving it in seawater, and injecting it into peridotite formations, where it mineralised permanently. The scale-up will follow this same process.
As part of ADNOC’s broader carbon management strategy, the company aims to capture 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, a capacity equivalent to removing over 2 million cars from the road. ADNOC is investing heavily in carbon capture, with plans to expand its carbon capture capacity to nearly 4 million tonnes per year.
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