Advancing a Low-Temperature, Low-Cost Direct Air Capture System Based on Organic Chemistry – Holocene Climate Corporation (San Francisco, California) plans to partner with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to conduct bench-scale testing of a new optimized direct air capture system using amino acids and guanidine compounds, a chemical process invented at ORNL. Holocene aims to use ORNL’s chemistry to further develop and deploy the technology on a commercial scale.
DOE Funding: $1,500,000
Non-DOE Funding: $420,000
Total Value: $1,920,000
Additional Awardees (Carbon Removal Technology):
AOI-2 – CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL TECHNOLOGY
Advanced Engineered Structures for High Performance Direct Air Capture System – TDA Research, Inc. (Wheat Ridge, Colorado), in partnership with GE Research, plans to develop a structured sorbent cell that can be economically produced at large-scale. The thickness of the sorbent layer and the geometry will be optimized to reduce the pressure drop and improve the heat transfer rate, thereby increasing the CO2 productivity.
DOE Funding: $1,500,000
Non-DOE Funding: $474,000
Total Value: $1,974,000
Amine Infused ePTFE/SiO2 Laminate Structured Sorbents as an Advanced Direct Air Capture System – Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Atlanta, Georgia) intends to develop novel CO2 sorbent contactors and direct air capture process technologies, using polyethyleneimine-infused expanded polytetrafluoroethylene/silica laminate sheets.
DOE Funding: $1,326,312
Non-DOE Funding: $332,105
Total Value: $1,658,417
Bench-Scale Development of Ionic Liquid Catalyzed High-Capacity Structured Sorbents – Susteon Inc. (Cary, North Carolina) plans to develop a high-capacity structured direct air capture sorbent material system to make significant progress towards reaching DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot target of less than $100/net tonne of CO2 removed.
DOE Funding: $1,500,000
Non-DOE Funding: $375,000
Total Value: $1,875,000
3D Printed Engineered Structures for High Performance Direct Air Capture System – TDA Research, Inc. (Wheat Ridge, Colorado), in partnership with Schlumberger and Missouri University of Science and Technology, intends to develop a structured sorbent cell that can be economically produced at large-scale. The primary focus of the project will be to build the structured sorbent cell/unit with the desired mass and heat transfer capability.
DOE Funding: $2,999,956
Non-DOE Funding: $750,000
Total Value: $3,749,956
An Integrated and Continuous Bench-Scale Passive DAC Demonstration – Research Triangle Institute (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina), in partnership with Creare and GE Research, intends to design, build and test an integrated bench-scale contactor process for continuous direct air capture of CO2.
DOE Funding: $3,000,000
Non-DOE Funding: $750,000
Total Value: $3,750,000
Integrated Bench-Scale Testing of a Structured Sorbent for Direct Air Capture – Susteon Inc. (Cary, North Carolina) will develop and test an integrated bench-scale direct air capture prototype test unit using a novel structured sorbent with an ultimate cost target of <$100/ton CO2 captured, based on an inexpensive sodium carbonate-based sorbent dispersed on a porous alumina support.
DOE Funding: $3,000,000
Non-DOE Funding: $750,000
Total Value: $3,750,000
Negative-Emissions Enabled Direct Air Capture with Coupled Electro-Production of Hydrogen at 5 kg-per-hour Scale – University of Kentucky Research Foundation (Lexington, Kentucky) intends to develop an intensified and cost-effective net-negative emissions process for the direct air capture of CO2 at a 5 kg-per-hour scale. The process builds upon the University’s technology on electrochemically regenerated hydroxide solvent for direct air capture and hydrogen co-production. It includes further integration with renewable power from solar photovoltaics to decouple the direct air capture process from secondary carbon emissions and provide additional grid-management options by varying the output of electricity and hydrogen/CO2.
DOE Funding: $2,999,681
Non-DOE Funding: $749,943
Total Value: $3,749,624
Spiral-Wound Aerogel Adsorbent Polymers for Direct Air CO2 Capture (SWAAP) – Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (PARC) (Palo Alto, California), in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Xerox Research Centre of Canada, will develop a Spiral-Wound Aerogel Adsorbent Polymer to integrate PARC’s structured adsorbent into a benchtop direct air capture process.
DOE Funding: $2,999,845
Non-DOE Funding: $749,961
Total Value: $3,749,806
About Holocene
Holocene is a direct air capture (“DAC”) technology developer and carbon removal service provider building the future of the DAC industry via a highly scalable & affordable, low-temperature, aqueous carbon removal system. Holocene is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA — and its co-founders are Anca Timofte, Keeton Ross, and Tobias Rüesch.
About Launch Tennessee
Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN) is a public-private partnership uniquely positioned to cultivate and support collaboration among founders, investors, the private sector, institutions, and government. We support Tennessee’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by coordinating resources, advancing capital access, and empowering our Network Partners and multiple stakeholders throughout the state to activate inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Tennessee.