Lance Dostie is an interdisciplinary scientist, engineer, and entrepreneur working on climate change mitigation, with a focus on the development and scaling of technologies that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) gas from the atmosphere and permanently return CO2 into geological reservoirs. As a Trent Environmental Chemistry major, Lance is passionate about helping others and through innovation, making the world a better place.
He has worked at Environment and Climate Change Canada, carried out research at Trent University, and recently worked at a start-up, Ebb Carbon.
"Creating a sustainable environment requires the fostering of a world-changing mindset. As students, we need the resources to understand the world around us and opportunities to unleash our potential. Making the world a better place stems from a community that teaches compassion and lives their vision for the future. Trent University is a place where contagious passion from faculty and advanced knowledge in chemistry and environmental science courses seeded in me a mindset that my abilities can help mitigate the worst effects of climate change and increase the quality of life globally. Classes provided by the Trent School of the Environment encourage exploration into global problems, allowing students to utilize our skills and passions to identify areas of research to find our purpose.
From this, I have developed limestone and nature-inspired electrochemistry approaches that remove carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air to capture a substantial portion of global emissions that cannot become emissions-free (i.e., aviation and cement). With guidance from the faculty, I was challenged to think critically about designing effective experiments and communicating the importance of my research. These opportunities led me to Silicon Valley, California, where I worked as a chemistry/mechanical/chemical engineer at a start-up company trying to deacidify the world’s oceans. Now I work at a Venture Capital company that invests money into innovative ideas to mitigate climate change… and this is only the beginning."
Lance will complete his Honours Bachelor of Science in the spring of 2024. His website is www.lancedostie.com
Passive direct air capture using calcium oxide powder: The importance of water vapor
Journal of Cleaner Production 457(40):142394 April 2024 DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142394 License CC BY-NC 4.0
Lance Dostie, Kwon Rausis, Ian M Power