The modular approach to Direct Air Capture

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is often criticized for its massive energy requirements and the bespoke, expensive nature of the hardware involved. Noya, based in West Oakland, is attempting to solve this through a philosophy of modularity and hardware simplicity. Founded in 2020 by Josh Santos and Daniel Cavero, the company initially explored retrofitting existing industrial cooling towers to capture CO2. However, they have since evolved their model toward standalone, all-electric units that utilize abundant materials to keep costs low.

The core of the Noya technical approach is an interruptible system. In the industrial world, being interruptible is a significant advantage; it allows the system to power down when grid demand is high and electricity is expensive, and power up when renewable energy is in surplus. This flexibility is paired with a water-positive process, meaning the capture units generate clean water as a byproduct of the chemical reaction that pulls CO2 from the sky.

Shifting the economics of carbon removal

Unlike traditional carbon credits, which are often based on forest preservation or emission avoidance, Noya is selling permanent removal. This is a crucial distinction in the current climate market. Companies like Shopify and Watershed have signed on as early partners, signaling that there is high demand for removal technology that can scale. Noya raised $22 million in a Series A round led by Union Square Ventures and Collaborative Fund in mid-2023, providing the capital necessary to move from lab-scale prototypes to industrial deployments capable of capturing thousands of tons of CO2.

The business model is essentially a play on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its expanded 45Q tax credits. By driving the cost of capture down through material science and modular manufacturing, Noya intends to make DAC a viable commercial enterprise. Their primary competition includes well-funded incumbents like Climeworks and Carbon Engineering, as well as newer modular entrants like Heirloom. Noya's differentiator lies in its use of "abundant materials"—a shorthand for avoiding the rare or expensive sorbents that have historically acted as a bottleneck for the industry.

Industrial operations and data systems

While Noya is fundamentally a hardware and chemical engineering company, its operations rely on a sophisticated data and equipment management stack. The company hires for roles specifically focused on equipment and data systems engineering to manage the fleet of capture units. As they scale to multiple deployments, the challenge shifts from chemistry to logistics and autonomous system management. Each unit must be monitored for efficiency, grid price fluctuations, and material degradation. This requires a level of software integration that mirrors the complexity of modern data centers, albeit with chemical reactors instead of servers.