Cella has signed a research and technology collaboration with TotalEnergies to test its in situ mineralization platform for evaluating CO2 storage potential at industrial sites. The partnership covers the full workflow: site screening, injection design, and monitoring. It’s a notable signal that mineralization-based storage is getting serious attention from one of the world’s largest energy companies.
Why it matters
Most carbon storage conversations focus on injecting CO2 into deep saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas reservoirs, where the gas stays trapped but remains as CO2 for long periods. In situ mineralization takes a different approach. It aims to convert injected CO2 into solid carbonate minerals within the rock itself, locking the carbon away permanently. If Cella’s platform can reliably screen industrial sites for this kind of storage and then guide injection and monitoring, it could open up storage options that don’t depend on traditional geological traps. The fact that TotalEnergies, through its Carbon to Value (C2V) Initiative, is investing research effort here suggests the major energy players see mineralization as more than a lab curiosity. They want to know if it works at real industrial facilities.
The details
Cella describes itself as having a platform for in situ mineralization technologies. The collaboration with TotalEnergies will apply that platform across three stages:
- Site screening - Identifying which industrial asset locations have the right subsurface geology for mineral carbonation.
- Injection design - Planning how CO2 would be delivered into the subsurface to maximize mineral trapping.
- Monitoring - Tracking what happens after injection to verify that mineralization is occurring as expected. TotalEnergies is participating through its Industry Solutions arm and is a member of the Carbon to Value Initiative, also known as C2V. The C2V Initiative and its associated CO2 TechnoHub focus on developing and testing CO2 utilization and storage technologies. The announcement itself is light on specifics. There are no named sites, no tonnage targets, no timelines, and no financial details. What we do know is that this is framed as a research and technology collaboration, not a commercial deployment. Cella is positioning it as a step toward demonstrating practical use cases for its platform.
What mineralization brings to the table
The appeal of in situ mineralization for carbon storage is permanence. When CO2 reacts with certain rock types, particularly basalts and ultramafic rocks rich in calcium and magnesium, it forms stable carbonate minerals. Think of it as turning gas into stone. The most famous example of this approach is CarbFix in Iceland, which demonstrated that injected CO2 can mineralize within a couple of years under the right conditions. The challenge has always been figuring out where else this works. Not every site has the right rock chemistry, porosity, or water availability. That’s exactly the problem Cella’s platform appears to target: systematically evaluating whether a given industrial site could support mineralization-based storage. If the screening tools prove reliable, the implications are significant. Industrial facilities that produce hard-to-abate emissions, think cement plants, steel mills, or refineries, could potentially store CO2 right at or near the source, rather than piping it hundreds of kilometers to a dedicated storage hub.
Implications for CDR
A few things to watch here. First, this collaboration is about CO2 storage, not necessarily carbon dioxide removal in the strict sense. If the CO2 being stored comes from industrial point-source capture, that’s emissions reduction, not removal. For this to count as CDR, the CO2 would need to come from direct air capture or biogenic sources. The distinction matters. Second, TotalEnergies is a fossil fuel major. Any time a company like this invests in carbon storage, the moral hazard question comes up. Carbon storage technologies are meant for residual emissions that can’t be eliminated through other means. They are not a reason to slow down the transition away from fossil fuels. That constraint applies here as much as anywhere. That said, the technical work itself is valuable regardless of who funds it. Better site screening tools, better injection designs, and better monitoring protocols for mineralization would benefit the entire carbon storage field, including CDR projects that need permanent storage.
Caveats
This is a research collaboration, not a deployment announcement. There are no confirmed sites, no volumes, and no indication of when results might be available. The announcement is essentially a partnership press release with minimal technical detail. We also don’t know how Cella’s platform compares to other mineralization assessment tools, or what specific rock types and geologies it targets. The proof will come when they publish screening results and, eventually, injection data from real sites. In situ mineralization remains less proven at scale than conventional geological storage. The CarbFix project showed it works in Icelandic basalt, but extending that to diverse industrial settings around the world is a much bigger ask. That’s exactly what this collaboration aims to explore, and we’ll be watching for results.
Source: linkedin.com