Auto-Replication

Rock-Cell Developer Kit for Universities
Now Available!

Develop. Deploy. Scale!

Auto-replication is a game changer for research in the field of geology, mineralization, carbon removal ,petrification and rock-based product design as it breaks traditional economic "rules". Get in touch to learn more and order your developer kit. Affordable even for a master thesis.

Why Auto-Replication?

In conventional carbon removal, you keep paying — for the process, the operations, and the storage. Instead, with auto-replication, you only pay for replication, because replication is carbon removal and replication is the sink. On top, you only pay once for replication and then the next customers pay for it to get their Rock-Cell and you get the carbon credits for free every year.

What We Mean by
Auto-Replication

Our machines can produce up to 90% of the next generation of machines – using CO₂ as a raw material.

But: This is not self-replication.

We call it auto-replication: A simple, achievable process in which existing machines – with minimal external input – create new machines.

Not science fiction.
Not a biological system.
Not a promise of 100%.

Instead: A new principle of industrial multiplication.

A Developer Kit for Extensive Industrial Multiplication

Auto-replication must be seen as an alternative or upgrade to conventional production. Rock-Cell cannot fuel its own growth forever! It must evolve as a platform for decentralized industrial multiplication and diversify its output over time. The good news for you and for the planet earth: Even the slowest process wins through auto-replication exponentially. Auto-replication makes extensive processes economically viable. The solution space of extensive processes with cycle times in the range of months is so much larger than the solution space of intensive production processes. Extensive processes can be so much more efficient than intensive production and reduce resource consumption to a fraction. This is the vision: Rock-Cell as a platform for extensive industrial multiplication. You develop and deploy your process through our developer kits and we scale your solution to the entire fleet of installed Rock-Cells.

This video shows the traditional extensive process of petrification from mineral water. It comes from a television program by France Télévision and is publicly available on YouTube. Our product is not directly related to the company shown.

Design for Auto-Replication

This is our quick guide to get 90% auto-replication done with Rock-Cell:

Decadic downscaling of material flows
- 90% is replicative economy: carbonated gravel stone (CO₂ incorporated)
- 9% is circular economy rPETG. Lifecycle controlled through robots
- 0.9% are linear economy parts. Motors and electronics for the printed robots. The printer time and the robot time are low cost.
- KPI: replication degree (90%)
Generational leverage
- All running cost is assigned to the replicated child and charged as the purchase price
- Carbon credits are assigned to the parent and are for FREE (if childs are sold)
- KPI: replication rate
Magnified mineralization
- ph-cycling of the output material from pH4 to pH9 to turn hydromagnesite into magnesite [1]
- ph-cycling of the input rock slurry from pH4 to pH9 to improve rock leaching
- KPI: dissolution rate in the range of 10^(-8) mol m⁻² s⁻¹
Extensive phase separation
- pH4 is achieved through pressing CO₂ gas into pure water to leach solids
- pH9 is achieved through degassing CO₂ in vacuum and adding ammonium
- No ammonium consumed: NH₃ and CO₂ form NH₄HCO₃, which dissolves back into ammonium and CO₂ gas in the vacuum process
- KPI: Ammonia Recovery Rate (%) and flow rate in the loop
Unlimited lifetime
- The rock print masonry process is reversible by just winding up the filament [2]
- Our printed mechanics is circular by just shredding entire modules and reprinting from the material
- KPI: Circularity cost
Radical equipment:
- The most universal equipment: a waterproof cobot
- The most infinite fabrication process: belt printing
- KPI: Amount of external help (robot, printer, worker)
Minimal assembly
- Print-in-place: Our printed mechanics is ready to use out of the printer
- Print-on-site: Printed parts can be picked on-site by the robot and installed, directly
- KPI: Steps
Inherent growth
- Anbundant inputs: Filament and rock slurry - Can it ever get scarce?
- Zero outputs: Replication is the sink. CO₂ is not waste, its the enabler
- KPI: Rock output mass / Rock input mass (162%)
Permanence in any shape
- MgCO₃ locks CO₂ permanently. Use ph-cycling of dunite rock slurry [1]
- CaCO₃ locks CO₂ permanently, if produced through the Kanan-process [3]
- Hybrid: Mixed magnesite and CaCO3 products with fiber reinforcement is feasible
- Any shape: Use a shell or petrify on top of a given surface just like fontaines petrificantes
- KPI: carbon removed per year (1 tCO2e)

Read our whitepaper to dive into these topics. "Design for..." means that the developer kit is made to suite for these process steps.

Features

1 / Closed water loop

Run all features in a closed water loop. 12 valves with each 3 ways offer endless possibilities to build multi-stage processes in a loop.

2 / Gasification

Close the top side of a cylinder, soak in water through the bottom, then close the bottom side and press CO2 into water.

3 / Degasification

Close the top and bottom side of the second cylinder, soak in the water from the first cylinder, close valve and increase vacuum pressure to a desired value.

4 / Gravitational filtration

Close the top side of a cylinder, soak in water at a very low speed and see how the stone particle sink and the water clears. Works fine with extensive processes - even the slowes process wins through auto-replication exponentially.

5 / Sedimentation

Close the top side of a cylinder, soak in dirt water from the bottom, fast. Close the bottom and eject water through a pipe to the top of your pile.

6 / Impulse cleaning

Close top and bottom side of cylinder. Build up pressure of 2 bars in your cylinder. Open the bottom side - pressure releases in an intant - yes, its a lot of gas released in an instant to clean everything you want.

7 / Dissolution

Hold your dissolution pile at pH4 through the gasified water. ph-cycling to pH9 can help a lot to reactivate the surface of your particles from time to time.

8 / Precipitation

Remove remaining CO2 from mineral water and ad some ammonium. At pH9 your water clears out all minerals into your precipitation zone.

9 / Measurement

Ad a sensor to one of the printed robots and measure from top vertically down into the cylinder. Possibilities unlimited.

10 / Process Control

Manage all robots through WiFi or Bluetooth.

Scientific Literature

Vandeginste, V. (2021). Effect of pH Cycling and Zinc Ions on Calcium and Magnesium Carbonate Formation in Saline Fluids at Low Temperature. Minerals, 11(7), 723. https://doi.org/10.3390/min11070723
Aejmelaeus-Lindström, P., Rusenova, G., Mirjan, A., Medina Ibáñez, J., Gramazio, F., & Kohler, M. (2020). Rock Print Pavilion: Robotically Fabricating Architecture from Rock and String. Construction Robotics, 4(1), 97–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-020-00027-8
Chen, Y., & Kanan, M. W. (2025). Thermal Ca²⁺/Mg²⁺ Exchange Reactions to Synthesize CO₂ Removal Materials. Nature, 638(8052), 972–979. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08499-2