Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal

Organizations active in ocean carbon dioxide removal include Ebb Carbon, Captura and Equatic Ltd. Ebb Carbon’s patented process combines desalination with ocean alkalinity enhancement, while Captura is associated with direct ocean capture. In June 2026, Mitsubishi Electric and VTT Technical Research Center of Finland announced core development of a direct ocean capture system.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are prominent research organizations in this field. Their work includes ocean alkalinity enhancement, monitoring and assessment of marine effects. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is also active in direct ocean capture, including recent electrochemical research.

Recorded grant funding totals $161.4 million across 183 grants since 2020. This figure describes grants in the available funding data, not all investment in the field. Funding-round records are also present, but they include entries that appear unrelated or mismatched, so they should not be treated as a reliable sector-wide investment total.

Ebb Carbon leads the listed patent holders with 5 patents in the available data. X Development LLC and Captura each have 3, while Yale University, ExxonMobil, Kiverdi Inc., Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology and Knudsen each have 2. These figures identify holders in the dataset, not necessarily their complete patent portfolios.

Patent activity is down: 52 patents appear in the 24-month window, with growth of -32.3%. This contrasts with publication activity, which reached 927 publications last year and grew 24.4%. The divergence suggests research is expanding faster than patenting in the current period, though patent counts alone do not establish commercial readiness.

Recent developments include electrochemical carbon extraction, site-specific assessment of alkalinity enhancement and studies of ecological response. In September 2026, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers reported a sorbent-mediated electrochemical recovery process. October 2026 publications examined microbial responses to alkalinity enhancement and its potential combination with oyster farming.

The main approaches are ocean alkalinity enhancement, direct ocean capture, phytoplankton fertilization, macroalgae cultivation and coastal blue carbon restoration. They differ in mechanism: some alter seawater chemistry, some extract dissolved carbon, and biological approaches increase uptake or export. Each has distinct questions around storage durability, measurement and ecological effects.

Tracked applications include ocean acidification mitigation, carbon removal markets, coastal industrial sites, maritime shipping, and aquaculture and fisheries. The available data records 250 documents for ocean acidification mitigation and 327 for carbon removal markets. These uses reflect both potential carbon removal and efforts to connect interventions with coastal activity.

The United States leads by document count with 9,252, followed by the United Kingdom with 4,135 and China with 2,618. Germany and Canada are also among the countries with substantial activity. These document counts overlap across international research and should be read as indicators of recorded activity, not exclusive national shares.