Mote Inc, a carbon capture startup from California has announced plans for a $100 million plant that will extract CO2 from wood waste.
Partners in the project will be Fluor Corp., GTI International Inc and SunGas Renewables. The partners will support Mote with know-how in engineering, construction and gasification for what will be a complicated and unique undertaking.
Full financing for the project hasn’t been secured but Mota’s management apparantly feel that they can start construction at the tail end of 2022 and have it operational in 2024.
The Mote approach to carbon capture
The unique carbon capture plant could be the first that operates on multiple fronts. It will rely on wood waste as its source of carbon, but will distribute the gases from burning it in three different directions.
According to the company’s plans, part of the CO2 will be stored undergroud, while another will be sold as a commodity to concrete production companies. CarbonBuilt and Carbon Cure have been mentioned.
The final piece of the puzzle and first of its kind will be the capture of hydrogen gas. Its a byproduct of the wood burning process and is expected to be in high demand as hydrogen station networks are developed in the coming years.
With this three-pronged approach Mote will potentially tap into three markets: credits for storing the captured carbon which other companies can buy, carbon as a commodity for cement production and hydrogen as a commodity.
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If all these moving parts are aligned, the plant will be able to produce ~7,000 metric tons of hydrogen and remove 150,000 metric tons of CO2 every year.
Investment for the project has been provided by Preston-Werner Ventures and Counteract Partners Ltd., with the latter a specialised fund for investment in carbon removal projects. The company is hoping to attract additional funding from both private investors, as well as government and state programs.
