Halifax-based Gaia Refinery was founded in 2020 by Dr. Tammy Cai and Genny Shaw to scale up carbon removal systems that work in the real world. Dr. Cai earned the Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic excellence and leads the company’s development of scalable carbon capture systems combining air and biomass sources.
Bio-industrial sectors like biochar/bio-oil, pulp and paper, ethanol, and forestry contribute hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions annually, acting as a major industrial contributor to climate change. Decarbonizing, while also managing waste streams and increasing resource efficiency, is therefore an absolute imperative.
These industries often possess the bio-resources, infrastructure, and technical workforce needed to lead climate action. What they lack is the right tool. This gap presents a critical opportunity to equip existing industries with scalable, carbon-smart technology that turns waste into value and supports net-zero targets while unlocking new economic potential.
Enabling bio-industrial decarbonization through a scalable, drop-in carbon removal system.
Gaia Refinery’s Bio-Direct Air Capture (DAC) plug-in technology offers a novel, groundbreaking approach to carbon removal. It is a solution that’s designed specifically for industrial integration and bio-based waste streams. This modular system leverages underutilized biomass and industrial waste to enable cost-effective, permanent carbon removal with minimal disruption to existing operations.
Compared to traditional DAC technologies, Gaia’s system reduces energy requirements by 90% and captures twice as much carbon per ton of biomass as biochar which sequesters carbon while increasing agricultural yields by improving soil health. By turning bio-industrial waste into a climate solution, Gaia is enabling a new era of industrial decarbonization, where emissions reduction, resource optimization, and economic resilience go hand in hand.
How NorthX is helping: With NorthX’s investment, Project PATHFINDER – Gaia’s industrial pilot project – will demonstrate the technology’s commercial readiness and scalability. It will advance Gaia’s ability to deploy rapidly across multiple sectors in British Columbia and beyond.
