Carbon removal upstart Captura Corp., born in Caltech, testing in Newport Beach

Captura Corp., a Pasadena-based carbon removal company, is beginning testing in the California Institute of Technology Kerkhoff Marine Lab in Newport Beach.

The company, whose technology originated at Caltech, is partnering with Southern California Gas Co. to deploy its carbon removal initiative that uses renewable energy and ocean water to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. Captura aims to remove millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the air to help California more quickly achieve its climate goals, the company said. The state’s recent climate proposal issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom sets a carbon removal target of 20 million metric tons by 2030.

The company’s process removes a “measurable stream of carbon dioxide from the ocean,” Captura CEO Steve Oldham said in a statement. “We then return that decarbonized water back into the ocean, which then absorbs the same quantity of carbon dioxide from the air. The carbon dioxide stream we produce can then be permanently sequestered or utilized in products.”

Captura, founded last year, has raised $1 million to date. The funding comes from a grant awarded by Elon Musk’s Musk Foundation and from tech development nonprofit XPrize.

Oldham, the company’s CEO, previously led clean energy company Carbon Engineering Ltd. He also served as the general manager of satellite missions and robotics and space mission company MDA.