Alumnus Matt Lee Starts Groundbreaking Carbon Capture Company

(This article was originally published on December 5, 2023 and has been updated)

Dec. 16, 2024 - Matt Lee ’12, Ph.D., invented a game-changing carbon capture solvent that catches one thousand more times carbon than a forest for less than $100 a ton - a goal set by the U.S. Department of Energy. Current costs range between $250 to $600 today, according to the World Resources Institute.

With his revolutionary technology, Lee and prominent entrepreneur Charles Cadieu founded the new company Spiritus and are now on the cutting-edge of reducing carbon for the U.S. and major companies around the world.

While competing technologies use giant fans to suck up air, Lee’s solvent is brilliantly modeled after alveoli - the air sacs in the lungs where carbon dioxide and oxygen is exchanged when we breathe.  The solvent is shaped like round balls which will be laid out like fruit in a carbon-capture orchard. They’ll then passively absorb carbon from the air in just a few hours without making a sound.  

The sorbents are then taken back into a capsule, what Spiritus calls a “tree,” to remove the CO2 so it can be transported and injected underground. The whole desorption process is powered by clean energy and the sorbents are reusable.

“We have multiple innovations that reduce energy costs,” Lee said. “We utilize passive air contacting that doesn’t use fans and we have a novel desorption process that releases the CO2 from the sorbent with reduced energy needs.”  This technology makes Spiritus, which means “breath” in Latin, a remarkable innovator in the carbon capture industry.

Lee invented the technology and is chief technology officer and co-founder of Spiritus. He began working on synthesizing porous materials at UC Irvine, where he received a master’s degree and a doctorate in chemical engineering.

“Matt was truly a superstar,” said Ali Mohraz, UCI professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, who mentored him. “He had a keen eye to unveil exciting and unexpected science in our journey, a high standard of scientific excellence and an uncanny drive to reach it.”

While at UCI, Lee developed a new method of making porous materials with unique pore connectivity and internal surface geometry, using bijels as templates, an expertise the research group is still known for today.

“My experience at UCI was inspirational in that the faculty, staff and my fellow students always encouraged collaboration and the value of new perspectives that come from working alongside experts in technical areas different from my own,” Lee said. “The carbon capture problem can only be addressed with a multidisciplinary approach.”

In December 2021, Lee began his new venture with Cadieu, after working for 10 years as a specialist in colloid science at Los Alamos National Lab. Cadieu also founded IQ Engines and Caption Health. IQ Health was acquired by Yahoo!/Flickr while Caption Health developed new medical technology that was named a 100 Best Invention by TIME Magazine in 2021.

Spiritus had a $11 million funding raise led by prominent venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and is one of 12 companies that Stripe, Shopify and H&M Group have selected for carbon captures. “We've partnered with some incredible companies who are serious about advancing their net zero goals,” said Lee.

Lee is also working with the world’s largest oil company Aramco which is set to make a major investment in Spiritus. The Saudi Arabian company signed a memorandum of understanding with Spiritus as it aims to transition to low-carbon technology.

Central Wyoming will also host one of the world’s largest carbon capture facilities built by Spiritus. “Our first facility, which we're calling Orchard One, is coming along well and on track to begin carbon removal operations in 2026,” said Lee. “That's a major milestone we're all looking forward to.”

Orchard One will be able to capture megatons of carbon from the atmosphere and send 2 million tons of CO2 underground every year. That’s the equivalent of removing emissions from 340,000 pickup trucks annually. Spiritus will be able to receive tax credits to the tune of $180 for every ton of CO2 captured and stored in the ground. 

“Our vision is a future world where carbon removal becomes a pillar of civilizational infrastructure, similar to waste disposal and wastewater treatment,” Lee said. “If we can establish carbon removal as such a pillar, then the reversal of global warming truly becomes viable for future generations.” 

- Natalie Tso