OCOchem, a Richland, Wash.-based startup, raised $5 million to scale its technology for turning carbon dioxide into chemicals that can be used to manufacture clean hydrogen, fertilizer, animal feed and other products.
The approach has two climate benefits, said CEO and co-founder Todd Brix. First, it uses CO2 that’s captured as an industrial waste from facilities such as biogas and bioenthanol producers or it’s pulled from the atmosphere using a direct air capture device. Second, it generates formic acid and other formate chemicals that can replace fossil fuels as a feedstock for fuels and other products.
The technology, Brix said, will be cost competitive with climate-damaging fossil fuels.
“We think it might be the most consequential process of the 21st century,” he said.
There are, of course, many steps between where the technology is today and rolling it out on an industrial scale.
OCOchem is participating in three demonstration projects to prep for scaling:
- It’s close to completing a project with the U.S. Army to develop a process that converts CO2 into potassium formate, which can be used to deice runways, replacing a product that can cause corrosion.
- A project with Tacoma Power has OCOchem developing a system for generating formic acid and hydrogen fuel, which can provide power and replace diesel generators at the Port of Tacoma. The goal is to demonstrate the system within 18 months.
- The third project is a partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that received $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. They’re building a large-scale, formic acid pilot plant in Richland, which will be paired with a device using technology from PNNL that will “crack” the acid into hydrogen fuel. The new investment will help fund this effort, and the pilot device should be operating by the end of 2024.
TO VC, an early-stage decarbonization-focused venture fund, led OCOchem’s seed round and was joined by Japan’s INPEX Corp; the LCY Lee Family Office; and Taiwan-based MIH Capital Management. Halliburton Labs, an energy and climate tech accelerator, has supported the startup since 2021 and also participated in the round.
OCOchem has additionally won $7.5 million in government grants over the past three years.
The company has 12 employees and will grow its team with the new funding. Brix previously worked at Microsoft for 18 years. OCOchem launched in 2017.
The business model is to sell the formic acid, but not the devices that produce it. Brix predicted there will be plenty of demand for the chemical, which has low flammability and is relatively easy to store and transport.
“Every customer of formic acid or hydrogen on the planet is incredibly excited about buying a lower cost product that’s 100% green,” he said.
