Remora: capturing CO2 from trucks and trains at the source

Executive overview

Transportation is the largest emissions sector in the US, producing 29% of all CO2. Electrifying long-haul trucks and freight trains is decades away. Remora retrofits those vehicles with a carbon capture device that extracts CO2 from the exhaust before it enters the atmosphere, then sells that captured CO2 as a revenue-generating product to food, beverage, and industrial customers.

The core insight: capturing CO2 at a concentrated point source is far cheaper and more efficient than pulling it from dilute ambient air.

Capture emissions where they're most concentrated — and turn them into a product.

How the device works

• Exhaust flows through a cylinder packed with pea-sized pellets; CO2 binds to microscopic pores, other gases pass through
• Captured CO2 is offloaded as a liquid into an onboard tank
• Distributor customers collect the liquid CO2 and deliver it to food/beverage companies, greenhouses, and water treatment facilities
• Truck systems reduce vehicle emissions by at least 80%; some configurations remove up to 90%
• Train version is a dedicated rail car that attaches to the locomotive's exhaust stack

Why point source capture, not direct air capture

• Atmospheric CO2 concentration is only 0.04% — requires massive energy to extract
• Point source exhaust is highly concentrated, making capture far more efficient and lower-cost
• Traditional liquid solvent capture has been used for decades but is corrosive, volatile, and can add carcinogens to exhaust — a key reason it hasn't scaled
• Remora's solid-pellet approach avoids those downsides

Founding and team

• Founder Paul Gross had no engineering background; his co-founder Christina Reynolds had just completed a PhD on this exact topic at University of Michigan
• Applied to YC with no product, no incorporation — just an idea
• YC applied: "going to the gym with Olympians" — set the pace and risk tolerance early
• Built in Wixom, Michigan (near Detroit) to access mechanical and electrical engineering talent; 43 people
• Ambitious problems attract the best engineers, advisors, and investors

Hardware iteration and manufacturing

• Built a diesel engine simulator in a shipping container, connected to a dynamometer, to test under varied road conditions without on-road testing
• Simulation loop enabled rapid improvements to energy efficiency, system size, capture efficiency, and purity
• Manufacturing is fully in-house: laser cutting, welding, electronics, machining — enables a tight engineering-to-production feedback loop
• Modularity is a core design constraint: kits must fit different trucks and locomotives without custom engineering each time
• Own a 4,400-horsepower GE locomotive as a test platform, parked at headquarters

Scale and commercial traction

• Raised $117 million in venture backing
• Signed evaluation agreements with Ryder and Union Pacific
• Target: capture 1 billion tons of CO2 per year
• Technology is transferable beyond trucks and trains: generators, oil and gas, container ships, cement plants, refineries, natural gas turbines