Air Miners Fresh Finds 003
What do batteries , polyeurethane, cement, and compost have in common? Carbon.
Seven more startups and projects comprise the third monthly update from the Air Miners web team. For more context and to get involved, head to airminers.org.
This month, we’re serving up these fresh finds:
- Four companies and one project making carbon-based products
- Two companies capturing carbon dioxide from flue gas
PRODUCT
Saratoga Energy
USA
Saratoga Energy Research Partners, LLC is developing an inexpensive production process to synthesize graphite from CO2. Saratoga’s technology electrochemically separates CO2 into oxygen and graphitic carbon, an essential material in lithium-ion batteries. Graphite produced by the Saratoga process is well suited for fast-charging electric vehicles, grid storage, and a broad spectrum of other energy and industrial applications.
Thanks Hendrik from CalCEF!
Econic Technologies
UK
Our catalyst systems react CO2 with a group of chemicals called epoxides — traditional building blocks in the polymer industry — to make polymers that can contain up to 50% by weight of CO2. Econic’s first success was to build CO2 into a range of short-chain polymers called polyols, which are used predominantly in the polyurethane industry. A talented team of scientists, engineers and commercial managers now conduct their cutting-edge work in a state-of-the-art facility at Alderley Park, the internationally renowned science hub south of Manchester.
Thanks Global Cleantech 100 2018!
Solidia Technologies
USA
Currently in commercialization, Solidia’s systems are verified by leading independent industry laboratories. Produced with a non-hydraulic, lower-energy and lower-emission chemistry, Solidia Cement™ is more sustainable than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Solidia Concrete™ cures with CO2 instead of water, sequestering CO2 by injecting it into concrete during the manufacturing process. By transforming CO2 into a usable element, it gives large- and small-scale concrete producers a competitive edge.
BioCarbon Technologies, Inc.
USA
BioCarbon Technologies, Inc. (BCT) and the Sunshine State Biomass Cooperative (SSBC) have joined forces to create an innovative recycling partnership for all of Florida. Other than composting and mulch, all of Florida’s yard waste (Vegetative Biomass or VBM) has been treated as garbage and stuck in landfills or incinerated for a little electric power. Our approach is different, we see VBM as a valuable carbon based commodity which should be recycled to replenish the earth’s soil and environment. When VBM is recycled through torrefaction, it produces Biochar and Activated Carbon. Both Biochar and Activated Carbon are part of a growing demand for organic products.
C2CNT
USA
At George Washington University we’ve discovered the inexpensive transformation of the greenhouse carbon dioxide [sic.] into a widely useful and highly valued product. In our C2CNT process, CO2 is directly transformed to hollow nanofibers, “carbon nanotubes,” products with remarkable properties of conductivity, nanoelectronics, higher capacity batteries, flexibility, with greater strength than steel and widespread use as carbon composites.
Thanks Eddie from Maryland!
CAPTURE
Mosaic Materials
USA
Mosaic Materials is dedicated to reducing the cost and environmental impact of fossil fuels through the application of proprietary, highly efficient gas separation technologies. We utilize porous solids known as metal-organic frameworks to selectively remove impurities such as CO2 from gas mixtures in an array of applications from submarines to power plants.
Ion Engineering
USA
ION Engineering is the industry leader in post-combustion carbon capture technologies. What sets ION apart is our suite of state-of-the-art technologies that not only capture over 90% of CO2 emissions, they also significantly reduce the operating and capital costs for virtually any source of CO2 emissions — from industrial power plants, to research laboratories, and other commercial or industrial facilities, including fossil and bio fuel, cement, aluminum, steel, and refineries.
Thanks Julio Friedmann from the East Bay!
