Carbominer’s team has completed a pilot of a 1.2 ton transportable direct air capture (DAC) system with a prominent international building materials group near its hometown of Kyiv, Ukraine.
“While Carbominer’s direct air capture technology has been in place since September 2021, this is our first pilot with an industry partner. The reason for this is that we aimed to test-run the DAC machine in-house first and fine-tune it where there was a need for improvement,” – said Carbominer founder Nick Oseyko.
The pilot was delayed due to the Russian aggression in Ukraine but having been completed in late February, it will now serve as a proof-of-concept for the technology.
During the two weeks of testing the company achieved a CO2 purity level of 99.5% with low water usage. The performance results were also validated by a third-party, while also providing a wealth of real-world data that the team can use to enhance its approach.
The company plans to use this success as a stepping stone for raising a $1.5 million seed round this year, building on the $0.9 million it has already attracted from a number of other investors including Ukranian VC Fund SMRK.
These new funds would be directed towards the construction of a DAC installation that can potentially capture 46 tons of CO2 annually. A successful deployment of such a system could open up an even larger addressable market for the company, especially with carbon storage and removal becoming high priority issues for the EU and countries across the world.
Relevant: EU Parliament Approves Key Climate Laws On Carbon Emissions
Carbon storage is directly linked with what Carbominer has been working on since its beginning – a direct air capture approach for greenhouse agriculture. Its technology there shares common traits with its storage tech and has several distinct advantages.
Chief among them is that CO2 capture will be done with renewable energy, ensuring that there will be a net carbon reduction from the entire process and respectively for the potential partner companies that install the units.
Its plug-and-play nature also bridges the gap between capturing and utilization, reducing installation time and costs, while providing a direct path to monetization for Carbominer who plan to bill per usage of CO2.
Read more: CarbonCure, Heirloom And Central Concrete Make Breakthrough In CO2 Removal And Storage
