Tech Update: Carbon capture designed for Canadian weather and Toronto AI firm gets backing from Al Gore’s fund

There’s growing interest in direct air capture technologies to mitigate climate change. But there’s a problem: most existing systems capture carbon with liquids that freeze easily.

“In Canada, they can’t run for most of the year,” says Vida Gabriel, co-founder of TerraFixing, an Ottawa-based company working on an alternative.

TerraFixing is developing a system specifically designed for cold climates and is planning a pilot in Fermont, Que. The tech is contained in a box about the size of a shipping container where a fan continually draws air in.

Instead of using liquids, the system catches carbon dioxide by passing the air over a mineral called zeolite. Once collected, the carbon could be sequestered below ground (the company is eyeing potential sites in the Arctic). The system will run on renewable power and have on-site carbon sequestration.

Gabriel points out that the Great White North is an excellent location for carbon capture with cold-proofed technology. Heat makes molecules in the air move faster, “but as soon as you start to cool things off, they move less and they’re easier to capture.”

This work has garnered the attention of Klarna, a fintech company that’s contributing a total of US$2.35 million toward new and promising climate solutions around the world. TerraFixing is planning to use the funding to accelerate its tech development and compete in the high-profile $100-million XPRIZE for carbon removal, where it is one of the top 60 finalists.

Toronto’s BenchSci has closed a $95-million fundraising round led by Al Gore’s investment firm Generation Investment. BenchSci uses AI to speed up drug discovery and is used by 16 of the world’s 20 biggest pharma companies.

Victoria, B.C.-based Pani has received the distinction prize in the Breakthrough Technology Company of the Year category at the Global Water Summit in Berlin. The company analyzes data from water treatment plants to optimize their performance.

A Guelph company is looking to expand across Canada after raising $2.3 million from investors. Friendlier makes reusable takeout containers and manages their return, sterilization and handling the deposit from users. So far, it has expanded into more than 200 restaurants, supermarkets and food shops in Ontario and operates a pilot program with Guelph-area Zehrs.

Two Ontario-based non-profits, Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre and Flemington Health Centre, have won the Innovating for Everyone: The Colorectal Cancer Early Detection Challenge. Niagara Folk Arts operates a program that focuses on increasing health literacy and promoting colon-friendly diets. The Flemington Health Centre was runner up with its strategy to expand its ambassador program to educate communities about colorectal cancer.

440GW: The International Energy Agency says the world will add a record-breaking 440 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity this year in response to the energy crisis. That’s more than the total power output of Spain and Germany combined.

156%: Everyone’s jumping on the AI bandwagon. Registrations of .ai domain names are up 156 per cent over last year.

34%: According to BDC Capital venture capital investment declined by 34 per cent last year, returning to pre-pandemic levels.