Tacoma carbon conversion startup lands major investment from Saudi-based company

A Tacoma-based carbon-conversion startup has received international attention — securing a major investment from a Saudi Arabia-based company to continue turning carbon dioxide waste into much-needed materials.

Homeostasis was co-founded in 2022 by Makoto Eyre and Julien Lombardi, now CEO and chief science officer, respectively. The startup goes beyond carbon capture, taking the carbon dioxide and turning it into synthetic graphite to be used in lithium-ion batteries.

“There’s a lot of interesting technology out there that has the potential to make a big impact, but unless you’re able to wrap it in a strong business case, the likelihood of you being able to deploy the technology to the point where you make that impact is relatively small,” Eyre told The News Tribune.

The technology that makes Homeostasis’ mission possible revolves around the Lombardi Reactor, an electrochemical reactor that converts carbon dioxide into graphite.

After extracting carbon from different emission sources, the Lombardi Reactor splits carbon dioxide into its two components, carbon and oxygen. The reactor turns the carbon into crystalline graphite, while the oxygen is leftover.

Since Eyre and Lombardi first started the company a few years ago, graphite used to make lithium-ion batteries has continued to be one of the most profitable and sought-after materials on the market.

Homeostasis grabbed the attention of Saudi-based Lab7, the venture-building arm of Aramco, which is one of the largest oil companies in the world.

Eyre said Homeostasis is filling a gap in America’s supply chain — a growing dependence on foreign sources, especially Chinese suppliers, for battery-grade graphite. Lithium-ion batteries are often used to power electric vehicles, laptops and large-scale energy storage systems.

“The world is making a shift to electrification,” Eyre said. “Part of that is going to be a shift in what raw materials power the economy.”

While Eyre said he can’t disclose how much the Lab7 investment was, he said it will allow Homeostasis to send out more material and work with more customers.

In 2024, Homeostasis also received a $700,000 state grant as part of the Washington Climate Commitment Act.

Eyre said receiving the state grant was a “game-changing moment” for him and Lombardi, allowing them to scale up operations to service customers and widen their impact.

Homeostasis is based at an industrial warehouse at Petrich Marine Dock, right across from the Murray Morgan Bridge.

Eyre said it just made sense to set up shop in Tacoma, partly because he was there already, but also because “it’s got the right set of resources to build this kind of company.”

Tacoma also has a supportive community and the right talent to grow Homeostasis, Eyre said.

In the future, Eyre said he and Lombardi are looking to expand operations to Kent and Auburn, since the cities have lots of small manufacturing shops.

Homeostasis eventually might be looking at other uses for its graphite, like nuclear reactors. For right now, the focus is on the battery market. Eyre said the company is building relationships with other energy companies and EV manufacturers.

“Hopefully we’ll have some good announcements later this year,” Eyre said.