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fortyfour – Capturing CO2 from air to boost plant growth

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Project data

  • Project no: GRS-059/24 
  • Amount of funding: CHF 25'000 
  • Approved: 20.09.2024 
  • Duration: 10.2024 - 06.2025 
  • Area of activity:  First Ventures, seit 2018

Project management

Project description

Our society still heavily relies on fossil fuels, causing significant environmental damage. Food production is a major contributor to this problem, accounting for approximately one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. This substantial impact comes primarily from intensive fertilizer use and the long distances food travels from farm to table.
Greenhouses and urban farming offer more sustainable alternatives by enabling local food production in controlled environments that optimize water use and nutrient management. However, their environmental benefits remain limited by depending on fossil fuels for heating and fossil CO to boost photosynthesis and plant growth. To achieve truly sustainable greenhouse operations, we need clean and renewable CO sources.
fortyfour addresses this challenge by capturing CO directly from the air. We've developed a fully electric system that transforms the atmosphere into our CO supplier. Our technology integrates seamlessly with existing greenhouse equipment, boosting crop yields by up to 30% while eliminating fossil fuel combustion and CO tank deliveries. The system delivers CO precisely when crops need it most, during sunlight hours when photosynthesis peaks and solar energy is abundant. This natural synergy allows to optimize operations to natural windows of low-price electricity, reducing energy costs while ensuring plants always have sufficient CO to thrive.
This innovative concept has been tested at laboratory scale, culminating in the creation of our latest prototype capable of capturing 10 kg of CO per hour. This approach, known as Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU), holds immense promise for reducing greenhouse gas emissions within the food industry, paving the way for abundant, sustainable, and profitable local agriculture.

Status/Results

Theoretical analysis, simulations, and lab experiments have produced highly promising results. Building on this foundation, we have developed a pilot plant designed to capture 10 kg of CO per hour, demonstrating the technology's performance under real conditions and serving as our proof-of-concept for commercial viability.
We've established the startup "fortyfour" (named after the molar mass of CO ) with support from various foundations and incubation programs to transition this technology from research to market. We're actively collaborating with greenhouse operators in Switzerland and other European countries to commission our first pilot installations and learn all about their operative needs. These partnerships will validate that our technology makes sustainability economically smart, not just environmentally responsible, turning CO supply from an unsustainable cost burden into a competitive advantage. By achieving cost parity with fossil CO sources and meeting emerging environmental regulations, we want to prove that sustainable agriculture can be both profitable and practical.

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Persons involved in the project

Pedro Reina, R&D, co-project leader
Henry Müller, Business, co-project leader

Last update to this project presentation  29.10.2025