The world is in pickles. Human activity continues to throw CO2 into the atmosphere, increasing the risk of catastrophic global warming.
At the same time, the most climate-friendly way to continue the fossil fuel carbon capture came in a rough patch. According to the International Energy Agency, only around 40 facilities around the world capture some of the carbon dioxide produced. The equipment is too expensive to build and operate, and we trim only 0.01% of the world’s carbon emissions per year.
However, one startup believes it has found a way to reduce the cost of carbon capture using simple salts tailored for its industrial obligations.
“The chemistry we use – carbonation and decarbonization reactions – that’s what I call prehistoric chemistry. Clément Cid, co-founder and CEO of Mitico, told TechCrunch.
Others suggest using potassium carbonate, but most of them avoid it for two reasons. “After using it, it turns into a mash, which you suck if you want to continue reusing the material over and over again as a sponge,” CID said. Another option of dissolving salt in water and whipping the gas through the solution isn’t as cheap as the alternative. Mitico went on the first route and added a binder to prevent the pebbles from turning into mash.
Potassium carbonate pebbles can capture more than 95% of the carbon dioxide in the exhaust stream, CID said. Once the material is saturated, it is heated to release CO2. CO2 can be stored or used to make plastic or electronic fuels. According to CID, Mitico’s approach is a commercial scale approach that should allow you to get metric tons of carbon for under $85. If that works well, plants eligible for the associated federal tax credit could potentially gain useful carbon from day one.
One of the startup’s first pilots is installed in a boiler at a Thai refinery. For now, the company plans to plead similar customers who rely on industrial-scale boilers. “There are very few technologies available to these customers right now. Many of these customers have ESG requirements,” CID said. “There’s no economical option other than using natural gas.”
With scaffolding in industrial boilers, Mitico hopes to install carbon capture devices on the main emitters of carbon dioxide. The CID said the actual target is a natural gas power plant.
There, the company will find a much larger market. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas power plants currently provide 43% of electricity in the US, and technology is a surge in interest as AI Boom has data center operators looking for electricity wherever they are. I’m receiving it.
To build a large pilot plant, Mitico raised a $4.3 million seed round, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The round was led by Exergon with participation from AP Ventures, Deepbright Ventures, FreeFlow Ventures, Halliburton Labs, Alliance Socal for Innovation, SOSV and the WL Gore & Associates’ Ventures team.
“At the end of the day, whether CO2 is a fossil or non-fossil source, what we care about is the fact that we shouldn’t emit that much.” said CID. “Carbon capture after confusion is where we can most impact.”