Climate-tech company CarbonBlue has launched Midway—a pilot labeled as the world’s first synergetic carbon dioxide removal (CDR) integration into an operating water desalination plant.
The pilot, deployed at the Ma’agan Michael plant in Israel towards the end of May 2025, has been installed to operate continuously with the desalination plant itself, serving as proof of concept for the company’s ambition to integrate this solution into existing industrial processes.
Through its operations, Midway will tackle CO2 emissions via water-based carbon removal while also providing industrial benefits for the Ma’agan Michael facility.
In Phase 1 of deployment, Midway is projected to process a water volume of 15 m³/hr, removing 40 tons of carbon dioxide on an annual basis.
Phase 2 of operations is expected to up the processed water volume to 150 m³/hr, resulting in an annual carbon removal rate of 400 tonnes.
CarbonBlue has also pointed out that Midway operates with a 90% carbon removal efficiency, and it will contribute to an increased clean water production of up to 5.2 mL per year in Phase 1, with this number going up to 52 mL on an annual basis in Phase 2.
According to the company, beyond the improved recovery ratio, Midway also helps the hosting desalination plant by reducing the maintenance of membranes, reducing operational costs, and generating high-quality calcium carbonate through its water-based CDR mechanism.
The CDR system itself captures CO2 from the inlet water feed of the desalination facility, processing the carbon dioxide with green lime to transform it into solid particles of calcium carbonate.
Relevant: CarbonBlue Closes $10 Million Seed Round For Water-based CO2 Removal
Once the CO2 is solidified, it’s easily removed from the water, and the decarbonized water then gets released back into the source it was drawn from in the first place, where it will continue absorbing atmospheric CO2.
This successful pilot deployment at an actual desalination plant paves the way for larger-scale installations in the future, which are central to CarbonBlue’s impactful carbon removal vision for the future.
Read more: Capture6 Raises $27.5M In Funding For Its CDR And Clean Water Technology
