Independent assessment of the Brilliant Planet microalgae carbon capture facility in Morocco

Note: This project was undertaken when Below280 was part of Decerna

The Problem with Carbon Dioxide Removal Claims

Any carbon dioxide removal technology can claim to be carbon negative. Proving it requires an independent, ISO-compliant life cycle assessment that accounts for every emission from construction through operation, not just the CO₂ going into the ground. Investors, regulators and carbon credit buyers are requiring that verification more often.

Brilliant Planet spent five years developing and operating a 3-hectare demonstration facility in Morocco, growing marine diatoms (Skeletonema pseudocostatum) in seawater raceway ponds, spray-drying the biomass and burying it. The system was a distinct approach to CDR, ocean-based and biological, with a claimed storage permanence of over 1,000 years. The question was whether the system sequesters more carbon than it emits across its full lifecycle.

Brilliant Planet commissioned Below280, as part of Decerna, to answer it, with the results feeding into engineering decisions for the planned scale-up.

Scope of the LCA

The assessment followed ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 and LCA4CCU, using five years of primary operational data from the existing facility as the basis for modelling a scaled 30-hectare system. The functional unit was sequestration of 1,000 kg CO₂ for a minimum of 500 years, matching the permanence claim underpinning Brilliant Planet’s carbon credit proposition. For background on how practitioners define functional units in carbon capture LCA, see our LCA knowledge base.

The system boundary covered the full facility: HDPE intake pipeline, GFRP raceway ponds, concrete channels, pumping station, seawater intake and discharge, harvesting, spray-drying, burial and ongoing storage.

Early analysis showed electricity was the dominant operational variable, so three sources were modelled: the Moroccan grid, a dedicated solar farm and wind power. Below280 rejected the standard Ecoinvent solar dataset because it still carried outdated manufacturing assumptions from an earlier generation of PV technology, including ozone-depleting chemicals no longer used industrially. Instead, Below280 built a bespoke model from Müller et al. (2021), validating real-world output using PVSyst and Meteonorm weather data for the Akhfennir site. Below280 ran each electricity scenario twice: once as-is, and once with engineering improvements including lower-carbon nutrients, alternative intake pipeline materials and replacement GFRP, giving six scenarios in total.

Working with the Brilliant Planet Team

The LCA ran in parallel with Brilliant Planet’s internal research and engineering programme. Where it identified impact hotspots, those findings fed into active design decisions.

The HDPE intake pipeline was the largest single construction impact. Nutrients were the second largest operational impact once renewable electricity was in place. Both findings aligned with directions Brilliant Planet’s engineering team was already investigating; the LCA gave them the quantitative basis to confirm those priorities and rank them against each other.

We also trained Brilliant Planet’s in-house LCA practitioner in openLCA and the modelling methodology used throughout the study.

Results

Under renewable energy the system functions as a significant carbon sink. Under Moroccan grid electricity it is a net emitter. Dedicated renewable energy was therefore the first design requirement to resolve.

With renewable electricity in place, the remaining impacts split between construction and nutrients. The intake pipeline was the dominant construction hotspot, and engineering work on pipeline-free intake alternatives followed from that finding. Burial and long-term storage contribute almost nothing to the lifecycle total, supporting the permanence claim and carbon credit eligibility for the project.

The Brilliant Planet system performs within the range of the best-performing published carbon dioxide removal technologies, including geothermal-powered direct air capture and enhanced weathering.

The full methodology, detailed results, and life cycle inventory are intended to be published as a peer reviewed paper

What Carbon Capture Due Diligence Requires

Below280 had no stake in the outcome. The assessment used primary data from a functioning facility. Six scenarios gave Brilliant Planet a clear view of which engineering changes would reduce emissions most and by how much, turning the LCA into a design tool. The full methodology and supplementary data were published so the results could be checked by anyone with the relevant expertise.

About Below280

Below280 is a specialist LCA, EPD and carbon due diligence consultancy. We conduct ISO 14040/44-compliant life cycle assessments for carbon dioxide removal technologies, sustainable materials and low-carbon energy systems, including independent verification of carbon capture claims for investors, developers and regulators.

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