- “Project Monarch” is expected to save the District in lifetime brine management costs from the first-of-its-kind facility.”
Capture6, a provider of water positive carbon removal, celebrated the groundbreaking of the Pure Water Antelope Valley (AV) Demonstration Facility that will house its new “Project Monarch” water management and carbon capture equipment during an event on Thursday. The Palmdale Water District (PWD) facility will enable water recovery from effluent brine while removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Speakers at the event included:
- Dennis D. LaMoreaux, General Manager of the Palmdale Water District
- Kathy Mac Laren-Gomez, Palmdale Water District Board President
- Ethan Cohen-Cole, CEO of Capture6
- Nancy Vogel, Deputy Secretary of Water
- Gwendy Brown, Senior Policy Advisor for Elemental Excelerator
“Pure Water Antelope Valley will help the state achieve its recycled water targets while generating data to inform future carbon capture and brine disposal technologies,” said Nancy Vogel, deputy secretary for water at the California Natural Resources Agency. “It advances Newsom Administration climate goals and helps drought-proof Palmdale homes and businesses.”
Water supply is critical to PWD in the face of water insecurity across California. While drought severity has subsided over the past year due to El Nino conditions, the state still faces chronic water shortage risks. Recycled water is too precious to waste and can be used to meet future water demands of the region. Moreover, water treatment processes often result in brine, an excessively salty and toxic wastewater that is often dumped back into oceans.
“We’re thrilled to work with Palmdale Water District on this innovative project that addresses PWD’s local needs in terms of brine management and freshwater production, while drawing carbon out of the atmosphere,” added Ethan Cohen-Cole, CEO of Capture6.
Capture6 solves these issues using a unique process that takes effluent brine as an input — a byproduct of the existing water treatment process — in order to recover additional freshwater and extract mineralized carbonates. This process results in zero discharge of brine while recovering a new source of clean water for communities that meets stringent drinking water quality standards by using advanced treatment processes like membrane bioreactors, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection.
For Palmdale, the full-scale project will save the district up to 40% in lifetime costs of their new water management facility and eliminate the need for up to 100 acres of brine ponds.
“This groundbreaking facility represents a major milestone in our mission to develop a drought-proof water supply and reduce our carbon footprint,” said Dennis D. LaMoreaux, General Manager of the Palmdale Water District. “By reusing water and capturing greenhouse gas emissions, we’re paving the way for a more sustainable future.”
Beyond the water benefits, the mineralized carbonates from Capture6’s process represent an innovative direct air capture (DAC) solution to permanently reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. This approach allows for easy measurement and verification as opposed to carbon offsets, and it effectively stores carbon durably for geological timescales of 10,000+ years.
Capture6 received a grant valued at over $8 million from the California Energy Commission under the Commercialization Industrial Decarbonization (CID) Program to help fund the project. Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit investor focused on scaling climate technology for deep community impact, provided funding for the first phase of project development, construction, and community engagement.
“Elemental invests in projects that make communities cleaner, healthier, safer, and more affordable. Project Monarch delivers on all of the above by removing carbon from the atmosphere while providing a new source of clean water, removing a harmful waste stream, and reducing costs for Palmdale,” said Danya Hakeem, Vice President of Portfolio at Elemental Excelerator. “This project can serve as a proof point for an entire industry.”
Project Monarch is one of four water positive carbon capture facilities announced to date by Capture6. The facility is expected to be operational by 2026 with the plan of an expanded full-scale facility to be operational by 2030. The company is developing a global pipeline for integrated carbon removal and water recovery projects.
About Palmdale Water District
Since 1918, the Palmdale Water District has provided high-quality water at a reasonable cost. We pride ourselves on providing great customer care; advocating for local water issues that help our residents; educating the community on water-use efficiency; and leading our region in researching and implementing emerging technologies that increase operational efficiency. For more information about PWD, visit www.palmdalewater.org.
About Capture6
Capture6 is a climate technology and services company operating at the intersection of carbon removal, clean water, and green chemicals. The company develops and commercializes highly scalable approaches to remove CO2 from the atmosphere at the market’s lowest carbon dioxide removal (CDR) prices, while simultaneously producing other climate positive, revenue-generating outputs such as clean water and critical minerals. Capture6 currently offers cost-effective, environmentally-friendly brine elimination solutions, implemented via joint ventures with desalination plants, water treatment facilities and other brine-producing processes. By utilizing existing, well-characterized technologies that already operate at scale, Capture6 mitigates technology and supply chain risk. Capture6’s mission is to advance projects that result in multiple benefits including emissions reduction, climate adaptation and permanent carbon removal. To learn more about Capture6, visit www.capture6.org.