Carbon capture technology company KC8 Capture Technologies has raised $10 million to accelerate the deployment of its technology to critical and hard-to-abate industries.
The funding round was led by local and global leaders in energy, construction and chemical manufacturing including Woodside Energy, Cemex Ventures (Cemex), and a major petrochemical company.
Founded in 2021, KC8 technology is an alternative for conventional amine-based solvent capture processes for hard to decarbonise industries such as cement, steel, power generation and chemical production.
KC8 have developed a proprietary non-toxic solvent that’s derived from a naturally-occurring material.
Its technology can capture up to 95 per cent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from heavy industrial sources at a capital cost up to 50 per cent lower at an improved energy efficiency of up to 15 per cent, according to a statement.
The Executive Director of KC8 Technologies Greg Ross said: “Being able to provide safe, naturally occurring solvents that have little or no impact to the environment at scale is an incredible feat.
“By lowering the cost of capture, our goal is to enhance and accelerate CCUS as a leading greenhouse gas mitigation tool that will form an important part of a balanced solution to lowering emissions for all sectors.”
KC8 will work with Mexico-headquartered Cemex to deploy its technology through a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study at one Cemex’s leading cement plants with the aim to capture more than 100 tons per day (TPD) of CO2.
In Australia, KC8 is working with Cement Australia to build a 15 TPD commercial demonstration ‘PACER’ plant in Gladstone, Queensland to capture CO2 at a fully operational cement facility.
In the United States, KC8 is developing a Commercial Pilot Demonstration plant at the US Department of Energy’s National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) that will achieve a capture rate of 10 to 15 TPD of CO2 from natural gas combustion flue gas.
Woodside Vice President Carbon Solutions Jayne Baird said KC8 technology has the potential to assist Woodside’s efforts to reduce emissions from its operations.
Picture: KC8 Capture Technologies