United States – Verdox, an electric carbon capture and removal company, has raised $80 million in committed capital from Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), Prelude Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital. The funds will be used to help the company develop and deploy its novel electrochemical carbon capture technology.
Last year, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations hit a new high of 420 parts per million, putting us on track to easily surpass the IPCC’s estimated 2°C warming threshold of 450 parts per million. This level would be reached in the next 10 to 20 years, based on current annual carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 40 billion metric tons. The need for a reduction in emissions is so great that it necessitates a multi-pronged approach that includes both natural and technological solutions, as well as capture from emission sources and the atmosphere.
Electrical energy
Prof. T. Alan Hatton and Dr. Sahag Voskian of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed Verdox’s core technology (MIT). Dr. Voskian is the company’s CTO, and Prof. Hatton now serves on the Scientific Advisory Board. Prof. Hatton and Dr. Voskian rethought carbon removal by combining electrochemistry’s efficiency with organic chemistry’s tunability. This one-of-a-kind combination enables the precise use of electrical energy to capture and release carbon dioxide at any concentration with unrivaled selectivity. This method eliminates the need for the large amounts of heat and water that are currently used in carbon dioxide removal solutions.
