44.01’s and Aircapture’s Project Hajar in the UAE was announced as the strongest performer in the Air category of the XPRIZE’s carbon removal competition and awarded a $1 million XFACTOR prize.

The award recognises 44.01’s ground breaking carbon dioxide removal technology that the judges believe warrant further exploration, potentially leading to significant breakthroughs in the field. 

More than 1,300 teams from nearly 80 countries competed and Project Hajar was declared one of the 20 finalists in May 2024 with the winners announced in New York on Wednesday.

The project, supported by ADNOC and the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation, is being implemented in the emirate of Fujairah, uses Aircapture’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to capture CO2 from the air, which 44.01 then mineralises, ensuring it can never escape back into the atmosphere providing a permanent and safe solution for CO2 sequestration.

After successfully converting 10 metric tonnes of CO2 to rock within 100 days, Project Hajar is now targeting conversion of 300 metric tonnes of CO2 under the first phase.

44.01 has raised a total of $42 million in A series funding within a year with proceeds aimed at developing and commercialising its technology, and enabling its international expansion targeting a potential removal of gigatons of CO2 in the future.

The Omani company has received backing from very high profile technology pioneers like Sam Altman and Bill Gates.

(Writing by Sowmya Sundar; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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