Heirloom Carbon Technologies

Heirloom Carbon Technologies is the Direct Air Capture company profiled in The high cost of vacuuming carbon from the sky. Amy Scott visits its Brisbane, California site, where Christian Toya demonstrates a Limestone Loop Carbon Capture process that heats crushed limestone, separates CO2, stores or uses that CO2, and leaves calcium oxide powder to absorb more atmospheric carbon.

The source uses Heirloom as an operating proof point and a scaling problem. Its Tracy, California facility can remove about 1,000 tons of CO2 per year, while its planned Louisiana project could initially remove up to 200,000 tons per year. That makes the company central to Carbon Removal Cost Curve and Climate Startup Commercialization Gap because the episode says present capture costs are still in the high hundreds of dollars per ton.

Heirloom also matters politically. The episode says the company has pledged not to take fossil-fuel investment, a stance that distinguishes it from a Texas direct-air-capture hub backed by [[OccidentalPetroleum|Occidental Petroleum]]. Its customers include Microsoft, Meta, Shopify, and [[UnitedAirlines|United Airlines]], making corporate carbon-removal procurement part of its commercialization path.

Connections

• Christian Toya - Heirloom representative explaining the process and cost target.
• Direct Air Capture, Carbon Removal, Limestone Loop Carbon Capture, and Carbon Storage Permanence - technical category and storage pathway.
• Carbon Removal Cost Curve, Climate Startup Commercialization Gap, and Economic Climate Tech Adoption - economics and scaling frame.
• California and Louisiana - operating and planned project geography.
• Microsoft, Meta, Shopify, and [[UnitedAirlines|United Airlines]] - named customers.
• Carbon Removal Moral Hazard, Carbon180, and [[OccidentalPetroleum|Occidental Petroleum]] - policy and legitimacy context.