Repurposing proven oil & gas technology​

What it is

Slurry injection technology is a type of geological fracturing commercialized in the oil and gas sector in the 1980s to manage oilfield waste. It’s been safely and successfully implemented in hundreds of facilities worldwide. ​

Vaulted pioneered applying bioslurry injection to carbon removal. Our technology has been operating in Los Angeles at TIRE since 2008 with an exemplary safety record.

What it does

We securely inject excess organic waste deep underground, into the natural formations with the same features that have safely stored hydrocarbons for millions of years. Our wells extend nearly a mile beneath the surface where our target formations are found. These formations permanently dispose of the waste and protect groundwater.

Why it’s safe by design

We only accept nonhazardous waste and monitor our sites 24/7 for safe storage. Our wells use a pipe-in-pipe design that’s reinforced with a cement layer from the surface to our injection formation for complete containment.

How we streamline

Vaulted’s facilities are compact, require minimal equipment for processing, and operate with streamlined logistics. This efficiency reduces infrastructure needs, minimizes impact to the subsurface, and simplifies deployment across locations.​

Go deeper

Why slurry injection technology is

groundbreaking

Slurry injection makes it possible to put solids underground, rather than in a landfill, in our water, or in our atmosphere. Most of society’s waste is not a simple liquid, gas, or solid. Slurry injection allows us to safely and permanently store solids deep underground—something traditional geologic injection methods can’t do. Most underground storage needs pure gases or liquids. Instead, our process handles liquids mixed with solids, like treated sewage, excess manure, and other organic waste that can be extremely challenging for disposal.​
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This is groundbreaking for both waste management and carbon removal: instead of needing pure CO₂, we can permanently remove carbon directly from organic waste with minimal processing and keep that waste locked away from our air, water, and soil.​
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Dig deeper into the science on bioslurry injection and geological fracturing.

How we’re regulated for safety

Vaulted’s injection wells are regulated under the U.S. EPA’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) program, part of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The UIC program is specifically designed to protect underground sources of drinking water.​
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Before we inject any material, we must demonstrate that our construction and operations will not endanger water supplies. That means proving—through detailed plans, modeling, and ongoing monitoring—that our wells are built to contain waste securely, with no risk to groundwater or human health. Every site we operate must meet strict federal standards before receiving a permit.​ During our daily operations, we use Vaulted’s proprietary real-time monitoring software to continuously confirm containment.

Have Questions?

We take otherwise unusable organic waste. Defining biomass as “waste” isn’t black and white—it lives on a spectrum of how useful it is in the economy. Generally, we call biomass “waste” if it has zero or little productive use in the specific context where it’s generated. Biomass is considered unproductive if it’s landfilled, incinerated, dumped in a waterway, or spread on land solely for disposal. Evidence of this counterfactual—how the waste would otherwise be used—is publicly available on Isometric’s registry. 

No. Here are three proof points from our operations and methodology: 
1. Advantek’s TIRE facility in Los Angeles has used this technology safely for over 15 years, with no seismic activity linked to our operations — even in a seismically active area — validated by the EPA. 
2. We rigorously evaluate seismic risk during site selection, avoiding critically stressed fault systems and regions of high seismicity. 
3. We inject into porous sedimentary rock formations — not deep basement rock with large faults — reducing the likelihood of induced seismic events. 

No. We inject organic slurry deep underground, into formations that are completely sealed off from even the deepest sources of underground drinking water. Thick, impermeable rock layers surround the injection zone, ensuring long-term containment and protection of groundwater. 

Vaulted typically selects injection zones that are at least 3,000 feet below the surface and more than 50 feet thick. The waste is sealed beneath a confining layer of impermeable rock – like shale – similar to the geologic formations that have held oil and gas underground for millions of years. We also use our proprietary real-time well monitoring software to continuously confirm containment. 

Vaulted’s wells are regulated under the Underground Injection Control (UIC) program, which is designed to protect underground sources of drinking water. Depending on the location, this oversight comes from either the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or the state agency with regulatory authority (also know as primacy) for UIC wells. While Vaulted works with multiple regulators, the UIC permitting agency is the primary authority for our well construction and operation.