2.47 Million Tonnes Ordered, 1,186 Delivered: The $16 Soda That Could Fix Carbon Capture

The Misan Launch: AirMyne's Bet on Consumer DAC

AirMyne has put a can of sparkling water on the market carbonated with CO₂ pulled straight from the atmosphere — a $16 six-pack of lychee soda that funds the expensive business of direct air capture while proving air-captured carbon can enter a supply chain dominated by industrial byproduct gas.

Misan joins vodka, beer, perfume, and yoga pants on the short list of DAC-branded consumer goods, niche products that serve as marketing vehicles more than emissions math.

AirMyne launched from Y Combinator in May 2022, founded by Mark Cyffka and Sudip Mukhopadhyay. The pair bring 40-plus years of experience inventing, commercializing, and scaling chemical solutions across EV, solar, and semiconductor manufacturing. The Berkeley team has grown to roughly 20 engineers, scientists, and operations professionals after a $6.9 million seed round, TechCrunch reported, backed by Alumni Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Impact Science Ventures, and others. A strategic investment from ENEOS Holdings, parent of Japan's largest energy firm, followed in 2026.

AirMyne's core technology is a liquid direct air capture system that regenerates at 100–130 °C — low enough to run on waste heat, geothermal energy, or electricity. That flexibility distinguishes it from solid-sorbent systems needing higher-temperature heat. Internal pilots have captured over one kilogram of CO₂ per day and cut energy requirements more than 100-fold. The company holds three patents. It has delivered captured CO₂ to utilization partners CarbonBuilt (low-carbon concrete) and Rubi Laboratories (textiles from CO₂), and won selection in two Department of Energy DAC Hubs: Fervo Energy's Red Rocks hub in Utah and the CALDAC hub in California's San Joaquin Valley.

Utilization deals and government hubs yield long-horizon revenue. Misan creates a direct consumer revenue stream today (however modest) while proving this. The drink is a sweetened soda with 14.6 grams of added sugar per can, not a zero-calorie seltzer. A reformulated lychee flavor with less sugar and a second flavor arrive winter 2026.

The next sections unpack the economics of that $16 six-pack and what it signals for DAC commercialization.

Why Liquid Beats Solid at Scale — If You Solve the Heat Problem

AirMyne bets that liquid beats solid at industrial scale, if you solve the heat problem. Most direct air capture runs on solid sorbents: fans push air through coated filters, then high-temperature steam (often 300–900 °C) bakes the CO₂ loose. That heat is expensive, carbon-intensive, and hard to source cleanly. AirMyne's liquid chemistry releases CO₂ at that temperature range, low enough for waste heat from a refinery, brewery, or geothermal well.

The process moves in two steps. Fans pull ambient air into modular contactors where a proprietary liquid (an inorganic ionic base with promoters and a phase-transfer catalyst, not the quaternary ammonium compounds earlier reports assumed) binds CO₂. The loaded solvent then pumps to a centralized stripping column where low-pressure steam strips a high-purity CO₂ stream ready for use or storage. Cyffka, who designed similar columns at BASF, says the hardware resembles standard chemical-plant equipment: modular collectors feeding a large, centralized regeneration column.

Why liquid? At scale, fluids are easier to move, meter, and heat than tons of solid media cycling through temperature swings. The chemical inputs are benign, low-cost, and globally available — no rare minerals, no single-source supply chain. A 2024 review found regeneration energy for liquid and solid systems overlapping broadly, from roughly 0.5 to 18 GJ per tonne; system design, not chemistry, decides the winner.

AirMyne's low-temperature requirement changes the siting calculus. "At pilot stage, you can use low-temperature heat from electricity, industrial waste, or geothermal," Cyffka told TechCrunch in March 2024. That flexibility is the strategic lever. The company is pairing its capture system with Fervo Energy's Cape Station geothermal project in Utah, 24/7 carbon-free heat and power at one site. It also won selection in two DOE DAC Hubs, including Fervo's Red Rocks hub.

The trade-off is water. The system evaporates one to seven tons of water per ton of CO₂ captured in dry air, ruling out the American Southwest unless water rights are secured. Cyffka acknowledges the efficiency penalty: low-temperature regeneration can be less thermodynamically efficient than high-temperature cycles, but argues deployment speed and site flexibility outweigh it. "Geothermal is a really promising pathway for where DAC needs to go."

Three granted patents cover the chemistry and process. A 20-person team of mechanical design engineers, mechatronics engineers, lab technicians, and a staff scientist is building toward a commercial pilot and demonstration plant with California Energy Commission support. The first field test, "Pilot 1," will validate the system under real atmospheric conditions while the core chemistry iterates.

Solid-sorbent incumbents (Climeworks, Global Thermostat, Heirloom) have operating plants and deeper capitalization. But they're locked into high-grade heat or electricity-heavy regeneration. AirMyne wagers that the first company to make low-temperature heat work at scale unlocks the broadest map of deployable sites. The next section shows how that map translates into a consumer product that pays for the learning curve.

The Precedent: Climeworks Proved the Beverage Model Works

Misan is not the first beverage carbonated with air-captured CO₂. That distinction belongs to Valser, a Swiss sparkling mineral water owned by Coca-Cola HBC Switzerland, which began receiving CO₂ from Climeworks' Hinwil plant near Zurich in 2017. The partnership grew from the CAPDrinks project, launched in 2013 when two presenters at a green-fuel workshop realized modular, containerized CO₂ plants could serve industrial users directly. By 2016, Climeworks had partnered with Pentair Union Engineering to design a food-grade CO₂ purification system that fits inside a 40-foot shipping container, compact enough for a bottler's lot.

The Hinwil plant, Climeworks' first commercial DAC facility, captures 600 tonnes of CO₂ per year, TechCrunch's data shows. Martin Kathriner, public affairs manager at Coca-Cola HBC Switzerland, confirmed that figure in 2019 and stated the bottler's ambition: over time, one in four tonnes of CO₂ for Valser would come from Climeworks. Valser became Switzerland's first CO₂-neutral mineral water, backed by substituting fossil-sourced CO₂ (a byproduct of ammonia and hydrogen production) with atmospheric carbon pulled from the air next door.

The economics were blunt. In 2019, Climeworks co-founder Jan Wurzbacher told Business Insider the company spent about $600 per tonne to remove CO₂, according to TechCrunch, targeting $200 within three to four years and $100 long-term. At that price, beverage carbonation is not a profit center; it's a revenue stream that amortizes capital while the technology scales toward permanent storage. Climeworks frames the beverage market as a "pioneer market" that provides early demand, operating hours, and a cost-reduction pathway before the larger carbon-removal market matures.

The playbook shows in the numbers. Climeworks expanded from Hinwil to 14 European sites, including the Orca plant in Iceland (launched 2021, targeting 2,600 tonnes per year, TechCrunch reported) and the Mammoth plant (designed for 36,000 tonnes annually, TechCrunch found). Each iteration doubled capture performance in upgraded collector containers, the company says. The beverage partnership proved two things: DAC output meets food-grade purity standards, and a multinational bottler will sign offtake agreements at volumes that, while small, de-risk the technology for investors and future industrial customers.

AirMyne's founders studied this template. Cyffka, who previously worked on large-scale chemical plants at BASF, has said the liquid-sorbent approach (regenerating at 100–150 °C on waste heat) was chosen partly because it mirrors the thermal integration Climeworks demonstrated. The difference is vertical integration: Climeworks sells CO₂ to Coca-Cola HBC; AirMyne bottles Misan itself. That shift captures the full retail margin (roughly $1–2 per can) instead of the wholesale CO₂ price around $200–300 per tonne. The precedent proves demand exists; the innovation is the business model.

What a $2 Can Buys That Carbon Credits Don't

The voluntary carbon market totaled roughly $2 billion in 2022 — a rounding error against the $1 trillion EU-dominated compliance market. Nature-based removal credits trade around $20 per tonne; avoidance credits sit below $5. DAC credits need $200–300 per tonne to reach megatonne-scale demand without subsidies, per CDR.fyi's 2025 snapshot. Above $500, demand evaporates. Thirty-one DAC companies have made sales, but volumes stay small and pricing aggressive. Enkiai's 2026 analysis identifies the market's primary weakness as "complete dependence on subsidies, as current costs are not commercially viable in an open market."

The Inflation Reduction Act's enhanced 45Q tax credit (up to $180 per tonne for projects meeting prevailing-wage and apprenticeship rules) materially improves modeled cash flows for geological storage. But 45Q is a policy instrument, not a market. The DOE's October 2025 cancellation of $8 billion in clean-energy funding, including DAC Hubs awards, showed how fast that policy floor can disappear. Capex, not energy, decides DAC's fate: installed-capacity cost per annual tonne and financing cost dominate, with energy a distant third, CDR.fyi says.

Against that backdrop, a $1–2 can of sparkling water looks like a different offtake agreement. Beverage companies are among the world's largest CO₂ users. Coca-Cola HBC Switzerland has bought Climeworks' air-captured CO₂ for its Valser brand for years — proof that food-grade DAC CO₂ commands a premium over commodity merchant gas, which wholesales at $100–300 per tonne. A 12-ounce can holds roughly 2 grams of CO₂. Even at $200 per tonne, the CO₂ cost per can is under half a cent. The rest of the retail price (water, flavor, packaging, distribution, margin) flows directly to the DAC operator, no credit buyer or tax-equity partner required.

AirMyne's $6.9 million seed round bought runway for its waste-heat-regenerating system. Six salaried roles reflect a typical early-stage hard-tech burn rate. Misan's retail revenue, however small, is non-dilutive, recurring, and uncorrelated to carbon-policy cycles. It also generates operating data: each can sold means CO₂ passed through AirMyne's contactor, was purified to food grade, and held pressure in a sealed container — a real-world validation loop no pilot plant can replicate.

Unit economics hinge on two variables: the marginal cost of capturing each tonne at pilot scale, and the share of retail price returning to the capture facility. Climeworks' Mammoth plant in Iceland has slashed operating costs by more than half versus Orca, but nameplate capacity is 36,000 tonnes per year, still pilot scale by market definitions (sub-1,000-tonne plants accounted for nearly half the 2024 market). AirMyne's liquid-sorbent approach targets lower regeneration temperatures, so waste heat from industrial sites or geothermal can supply the energy. If that drops capture cost toward $100–150 per tonne, the spread between commodity and food-grade air-captured CO₂ becomes a sustainable R&D budget. The beverage market doesn't need megatonnes; it needs consistent, food-grade supply at a predictable price — a market DAC can serve today, not in 2030.

A Revenue Model That Doesn't Wait for Policy

Misan does more than put air-captured CO₂ in a can. It proves a revenue model that doesn't wait for a compliance market. That matters because the DAC sector's financing is built on a bet: corporate buyers will keep writing checks for $600–$1,000-per-tonne removal credits long enough for someone to build a megatonne plant and drive costs down. The numbers show that bet fraying. As of mid-2025, 2.47 million tonnes of DAC credits had been contracted since 2022, yet only 1,186 tonnes (0.05 percent) had been delivered. Three companies account for 80 percent of all DAC credits sold; Microsoft alone bought 833,000 tonnes. The market is deep but narrow, and entirely policy-dependent.

A consumer product changes the counterparty risk. Beverage companies buy CO₂ by the truckload (millions of tonnes annually in the U.S. alone) at prices that make $100-per-tonne DAC a rounding error on a $2 retail can. If AirMyne sells Misan at $1–$2 and keeps even a fraction of that margin, it generates operating cash flow at pilot scale. That cash funds the next iteration of its liquid DAC system, which runs on waste heat and targets capex below the $1,000-per-tonne threshold for first-of-a-kind plants. Energy intensity (7–9 GJ per tonne) is manageable with waste heat; high capex is not.

The precedent exists. Climeworks has supplied Coca-Cola HBC's Valser brand in Switzerland for years. But Valser is a niche mineral water in a small market. Misan targets the U.S. functional-beverage aisle, a channel with faster velocity, higher margins, and consumers who already pay premiums for "clean label" stories. If the playbook scales, every DAC developer with a liquid-solvent or electrochemical pathway gets a new de-risking lever: sell the gas, not just the credit. That could widen the investor pool beyond climate funds into consumer-goods strategics and food-and-beverage conglomerates who understand distribution, not just carbon accounting.

Deployment acceleration depends on whether product revenue can bridge the valley between pilot and commercial scale. The DOE's DAC Hubs program was designed to do that with $3.5 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. In October 2025, the department cancelled $8 billion in clean-energy project funding, hitting several planned hub awards. The reversal followed industry and Louisiana political pressure, but the signal was clear: federal support is no longer a reliable timeline anchor. Companies are responding. Some are relocating to Canada for generous tax rebates. Others are clustering in California, New York, and Washington, where Low Carbon Fuel Standards and state procurement targets provide clearer demand signals. AirMyne's Berkeley base puts it in the latter camp.

Supply-chain hurdles remain brutal. The DOE's 2025 analysis counts 142 DAC companies globally; two-thirds use solid sorbents, one-quarter liquid solvents. AirMyne's liquid approach avoids the sorbent degradation and slow uptake kinetics that plague solid systems, but introduces its own material challenges: corrosion-resistant alloys, high-surface-area contactors, pumps and heat exchangers to move fluid at scale. Few DAC technologies have detailed process designs for large-scale deployment. Integration with energy systems, heat storage, and geological storage is in early stages. Class VI well permitting for permanent storage remains a federal bottleneck — the EPA's backlog is measured in years. The same utilities struggling to power AI data centers are the ones DAC developers need for firm, clean electricity.

The STRATOS facility (Occidental's 500,000-tonne-per-year plant in Texas, 94 percent complete as of August 2025, Carbon Herald's figures show) is the sector's real stress test. If it commissions on budget and reports operational costs at or below $400–$600 per tonne with a credible path to sub-$300, the investment thesis for modular, product-coupled DAC strengthens. If it slips into 2026 or reports costs above $700, the bear case hardens: the leap from pilot to megatonne is harder than modeled, and private capital will freeze. AirMyne bets it doesn't need to wait for STRATOS. It needs to sell enough lychee sparkling water to fund the next 1,000-tonne module, then the 2,500-tonne one. The consumer product is not a stunt. It is a revenue stream in the sector that doesn't require an act of Congress to exist.

Who's Watching: Incumbents Track the Consumer Wedge

The direct air capture field has split into technology providers (Sustaera, Mission Zero, RepAir) and project developers like Deep Sky and 1PointFive, a specialization Sylvera flags as a maturing value chain. AirMyne's Misan launch arrives in that fracture, and incumbents are tracking it for different reasons.

Carbon Engineering, now absorbed into Occidental Petroleum's 1PointFive subsidiary, is betting everything on the STRATOS megaproject in Texas. The plant is 94 percent complete, scheduled to lift global DAC capacity from 59,000 to 569,000 tonnes per year, Carbon Herald's data shows. The liquid-sorbent process CE pioneered posts energy consumption of 5–9 GJ/tCO₂ and capture costs of $94–712/tCO₂ in peer-reviewed modeling — attractive on paper but unproven at commercial throughput. An Occidental executive admitted the current DAC model isn't yet "bankable" without subsidies. 1PointFive needs STRATOS to hit cost targets so the next wave of final investment decisions can proceed. A consumer product generating revenue at pilot scale (even modest revenue) is a data point they cannot ignore.

Climeworks already proved the beverage route works. Its multi-year deal with Coca-Cola HBC Switzerland put air-captured CO₂ into Valser, but Climeworks stayed upstream, selling gas to a bottler. Misan flips the model: AirMyne owns the brand, the margin, and the customer relationship. That distinction matters. Schneider Electric's record carbon-removal purchase from Climeworks signals corporate buyers want verifiable credits, not marketing stories. Yet Climeworks' Mammoth plant has done so, proving the learning curve is real. If AirMyne's lychee water shows a startup can turn pilot-scale CO₂ into a shelf-stable SKU without a multinational partner, Climeworks' technology-provider model faces a new question: should it build downstream revenue streams to de-risk its own scale-up?

Global Thermostat has taken a quieter path. With over a decade of patents, it positions itself as an intellectual-property licensor. Its solid-sorbent approach targets higher-temperature regeneration — a different thermodynamic bet than AirMyne's low-temperature liquid. The company hasn't announced a consumer product. Whether it pursues that route depends on whether licensors can capture enough value from downstream deployment to justify the overhead.

Charm Industrial operates in an adjacent category. It converts agricultural residue into bio-oil for geological storage and biochar for soil amendment — a removal pathway that bypasses atmospheric capture entirely. Corporate biochar purchases and Charm's claimed path to low-cost, permanent removals give it a cost structure DAC players envy. But Charm's feedstock is geographically constrained; DAC's feedstock is everywhere. The two approaches compete for the same corporate CDR budgets, and buyers are already building diversified portfolios. Misan doesn't change that calculus, but it adds a data point: a DAC company generating product revenue while its sequestration permits are pending.

Newer entrants are watching closely. Aircapture raised $50 million Series A for modular deployment. Spiritus secured $30 million; Origen Power $13 million. RepAir Carbon landed a Shell-Mitsubishi partnership for what they bill as the world's largest DAC plant in Louisiana. Avnos generates water as a co-product. Neocarbon and Capture6 embed capture into existing industrial sites. Each is searching for a wedge (waste heat, modular design, co-product revenue, industrial integration) that lowers the effective cost of the first tonnes. AirMyne's wedge is geothermal compatibility and a consumer brand. The market has space for several niches, as TechCrunch noted, but the niches are defined by heat source, water access, and offtake certainty.

Misan alone won't force a strategic pivot at 1PointFive or Climeworks. Their capital commitments and offtake pipelines are too large, their timelines too long. But it sharpens a question the sector has avoided: can a DAC company survive on product revenue before it sells a single credit? If AirMyne's answer is yes, the next funding round for every early-stage DAC startup will include a slide on "consumer offtake strategy." The incumbents won't copy the flavor. They'll copy the logic — and the lychee can on the shelf becomes the proof that the logic works.

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