How It Works
Traditional carbon comes from petroleum extracted from below the earth's surface. But there is a great untapped carbon ocean—atmospheric CO2—just waiting for us. Trees and plants capture CO2 through photosynthesis and package it up as cellulose. It's the original carbon-capture technology.
![It begins with air, not petroleum.](/assets/uploads/icon-trees.png)
Woody biomass is Origin's feedstock. Our focus is sustainably harvested wood, but agricultural waste, wood waste, and even old cardboard may be used. Since non-food (“gen-2”) plant-based feedstocks don't compete with food production, it's a triple-win for companies, people, and the environment.
![Any cellulose will do.](/assets/uploads/icon-paperplane.png)
The Origin platform converts C-6 cellulose into four isolated building-block chemicals, in one chemo-catalytic step with almost zero carbon loss. Our catalyst is 100% recovered and we don’t rely on expensive sugars or fermentation. Because our process sequesters carbon, we're making materials that aren't just sustainable—they're restorative.
![Core chemistry.](/assets/uploads/icon-container.png)
The majority of our output is the versatile furan CMF (chloromethyl furfural), plus HTC (hydrothermal carbon), an equally versatile resin. We create levulinic acid and furfural, too. All carbon-negative.
![Four building blocks.](/assets/uploads/icon-chemistry.png)
Our customers, including Nestlé Waters, Danone, and PepsiCo, have agreed to purchase recyclable, 100% plant-based PET, made possible by converting Origin CMF into para-xylene. HTC is being developed for applications in several markets including tire filler, carbon black, agriculture, and activated carbon. And we're just getting started.
![Markets.](/assets/uploads/icon-applications.png)