Balanced News: Khosla Ventures backs effort to make orchards of lung-like material to absorb CO2 from air

A startup called Spiritus has developed a direct air capture technology that mimics the architecture of a human lung to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. The lung-like material, called a “sorbent,” is shaped into round balls and arranged in a carbon-capture orchard. After the “fruit” is collected, low heat is applied to remove the CO2, and the sorbent can be reused. Spiritus recently raised $11 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures and has been selected by Frontier, owned by Stripe, to remove carbon for several companies. The company aims to achieve carbon capture for less than $100 per metric ton.