Established chemistry.
New engineering.
AIR-ROCK is not claiming to have invented mineral carbonation. The company is being built around a simpler question: can established atmospheric mineralisation chemistry be engineered into ultra-low-cost modular hardware?
1. The underlying pathway
Mineral carbonation converts atmospheric CO₂ into stable carbonate minerals through reaction with alkaline calcium- or magnesium-bearing material. Frontier describes mineralisation as accelerating the natural carbonation of alkaline materials, and notes that well-designed surficial mineralisation can have minimal energy needs.
2. Direct-air evidence on cementitious material
A 2023 peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology tested wet carbonation of hydrated cement paste as a proxy for concrete waste fines using natural-air bubbling. The study reported approximately 11.75 g CO₂ per 100 g cement after 120 hours under the air-wet carbonation condition and described the approach as a potential direct-air-capture method for concrete waste fines.
AIR-ROCK has not yet replicated this result in AIR-BRICK hardware. The research is evidence for the chemistry and potential capacity, not evidence of AIR-ROCK production.
3. What Frontier is asking for
Frontier's 2026 Innovation programme explicitly targets improvements in surficial mineralisation, including better architectures for delivering air through large volumes of mineral, more reactive pretreatment, and scalable measurement. AIR-ROCK's R&D programme is designed around those same bottlenecks: pressure drop, moisture, reactivity, passivation and measurement.
4. A pathway to independent crediting
Isometric's Open System Ex-situ Mineralization protocol covers Enhanced Air Capture through accelerated absorption of atmospheric CO₂ into alkaline feedstocks. The protocol includes cement kiln dust, waste cement and demolition waste among potentially applicable feedstock categories, subject to project-specific requirements including additionality, net negativity, monitoring and durable storage.
5. What AIR-ROCK still has to prove
| Question | Evidence required |
|---|---|
| Actual capture rate | Measured inlet/outlet CO₂ across known airflow over time. |
| Where the carbon went | Independent inorganic-carbon / TGA / XRD analysis of mineral before and after treatment. |
| Additionality | Untreated control material and baseline-carbonation comparison. |
| Energy | Measured fan, pumping and material-processing energy per net tonne. |
| Durability | Carbonated-material characterisation and compliant final storage/use pathway. |
We are selling the build, not pretending the proof is finished.
Founders 1,000 lets early buyers finance the evidence programme and reserve the first future independently verified tonnes.