Travertine logo

ZERO-WASTE

CARBON

NEGATIVE

LITHIUM

NICKEL

PHOSPHORUS

Critical elements such as phosphorus and lithium help drive decarbonization and feed the world. We partner with the mining and fertilizer industries to produce metals, chemicals, and building materials with zero waste and zero carbon.

THE TRAVERTINE
PROCESS

Travertine Process graphic showing inputs and outputs

ONE PROCESS, MULTIPLE BENEFITS

A large mound of phosphogypsum byproduct looms over a riverbank

ELIMINATE WASTE

Mining and fertilizer production produce billions of tons of gypsum waste. Our process eliminates this waste and instead produces material to blend into cements.
ELIMINATE GYPSUM WASTE >
Overhead view of tanks of sulfuric acid

INDUSTRIAL ACID

Our process produces sulfuric acid or purified phosphoric acid without the waste products.
SOURCE PHOSPHORIC ACID >
A massive pile of white calcium carbonate dwarfs a bulldozer

CARBON REMOVAL + SEQUESTRATION

Our process includes direct air capture (DAC) to remove CO2 from the air and permanently store it in building materials.
SOURCE CDR CREDITS OR BUILDING MATERIALS >

HOW IT WORKS

1. Electrolysis generates sulfuric acid and caustic solutions.

2. Direct Air Capture (DAC) uses caustic solution to pull carbon dioxide from the air.

3. Mineralization uses captured carbon dioxide to convert gypsum into carbon-negative building materials.

4. Phosphoric acid production uses sulfuric acid to digest rock phosphate and ultimately produce purified phosphoric acid.

DOWNLOADS

Reshoring Phosphate Production PDF
Travertine circular process for phosphoric acid

WHO
WE ARE

Travertine is based in Boulder, CO, USA with an amazing team of engineers and scientists dedicated to scaling practical solutions to climate change and cleaner critical element production.
JOIN OUR TEAM >
Travertine team photo standing outside their Colorado laboratory

MEET THE TEAM

Laura Lammers headshot
Laura Lammers, PhD
Founder & CEO
Owen Cadwalader headshot
Owen Cadwalader
COO
Jeff Mueller headshot
Jeff Mueller
VP of Commercial Development
Christine Parra headshot
Kristine Parra
Lab Director
Chris Komlos headshot
Chris Komlos
Director of Process Engineering
Winfield Greene headshot
Winfield Greene
Director of Electrochemical Stack Engineering
Chris Kim headshot
Chris Kim, PhD
Electrochemical Engineering Manager
Raef Sully headshot
Raef Sully
Advisor
Dave Summers headshot
Dave Summers
Technical Advisor
Tom Miller headshot
Tom Miller
Technical Advisor

OUR ORIGIN STORY

Travertine was founded by Laura Lammers, PhD, a former professor of geochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and leading expert in carbonate mineralization. Laura had been working on carbonates her entire career and wondered how we could clean up and decarbonize the materials we rely on for the energy transition. The Travertine Process was inspired by two key insights:

1. To utilize and sequester CO2 at the gigaton-scale, we need gigaton-scale products for the world’s largest industries, and

2. If we couple carbonate mineralization with critical element production, we can reduce cost while eliminating waste.

AWARDS &
MEDIA
ACCOLADES

BNEF award logoC&EN award logoThird Derivative First Gigaton Captured Award logo
Canary Media logo

A new demo plant will repurpose mining waste and also capture CO2

Travertine’s demo facility in Rochester, NY, will upcycle captured CO2 and discarded gypsum into sulfuric acid for use in a nearby metals company’s operations.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Waste 360 logo

Travertine makes sulfuric acid while sequestering carbon

Technology startup Travertine has developed a process to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and sequester it permanently, while also making sulfuric acid, reportedly the most used inorganic chemical in the world.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Forbes logo

Mining independence is the key to energy independence

Travertine has a circular economy play: capture carbon by upcycling sulfuric acid from mine waste and then use that acid for the extraction of lithium, nickel and cobalt.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE

INVESTORS
& PARTNERS

Holcim logo
Clean Energy Ventures logo
Grantham Foundation logo
Bidra logo
Builders Vision logo
ARPA-E logo
Frontier Climate logo
Third Derivative logo
4 Corners Carbon Removal Coalition logo
Talon Metals logo
Carbon Removal Alliance logo

LET'S
GET
STARTED

Interested in zero-waste, carbon-negative purified phosphoric acid, supplementary cementitious materials, or permanent carbon dioxide removal credits? Contact us!
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