Alithic is tackling two issues in one process, scaling CO₂ removal from the air while decarbonizing emissions from the cement industry. Its two-step process permanently stores captured CO₂ as solid carbonates, which it uses to manufacture a cement replacement product (called a supplementary cementitious material) to generate an additional revenue stream and avoid CO₂ emissions from cement manufacturing.

Alitihic’s technology was born from research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The original inventors of the Alithic, formerly Earth Repair, process remain scientific advisors to the company and are actively involved in helping commercialize this revolutionary chemistry in scaled industrial deployments. The technology is an integrated system built around concepts pioneered by Bu Wang, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, Rob Anex, a professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and a dozen undergraduate and graduate students in engineering, CALS, the College of Letters and Science and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

Based at Newlab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, Alithic brings together senior published scientists, with industrial and commercial leaders who have long track records of commercialising large-scale industrial projects.