Avnos, Inc., the Los Angeles-based company developing Hybrid Direct Air Capture (HDAC™) technology for carbon dioxide removal, has signed multi-year strategic and investment partnerships, in excess of $80m in aggregate.
Investors include ConocoPhillips, JetBlue Ventures, the corporate venture capital division of JetBlue, and Shell Ventures LLC, the US corporate venture capital arm of Shell plc.
Avnos will use the capital to deliver commercial-ready HDAC units by the end of 2025, according to a news release.
Avnos’ proprietary HDAC technology is the only carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solution that captures both CO2 and water from the atmosphere in a single system. While many other forms of Direct Air Capture (DAC) consume several tons of water per ton of CO2 captured, Avnos produces five to ten tons of water for every ton of CO2 captured. This innovative HDAC approach employs the captured water to drive a novel moisture-responsive CO2 adsorbent material, which eliminates the need for heat, thus reducing the system’s energy consumption. As a result, the Avnos solution requires less than half the energy required by competitors.
“Avnos is laser focused on delivering the most cost-effective, flexible, and scalable commercial Direct Air Capture technology in the world,” said Will Kain, CEO of Avnos. “Adding blue-chip strategic partners such as ConocoPhillips, JetBlue Ventures, and Shell provides us with an incredible opportunity to access more resources, know-how, and global reach to meaningfully accelerate our deployment schedule. Ultimately, we will be able to remove more atmospheric carbon, faster, and at lower costs than we would have been able to on our own. This is a very exciting announcement at a very exciting time for our company.”
Global carbon dioxide emissions rose to their highest-ever level in 2021, with this trend expected to continue unless significant decarbonization plans are put in place. Nearly all climate and energy models indicate the need for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology to grow to billions of tons of annual capacity to make a significant impact on reducing emissions.
“ConocoPhillips is pleased to support Avnos as they develop a promising technology that captures carbon and produces water,” said Warwick King, vice president Low Carbon Technologies at ConocoPhillips. “Investing in this promising Hybrid Direct Air Capture technology aligns with our company’s commitment to finding innovative solutions that reduce carbon emissions crucial to enable an orderly energy transition.”
“JetBlue Ventures is thrilled to support Avnos and the development of their technology that not only captures CO2 at impressively low cost but also generates meaningful amounts of water in the process and could play an important role in e-fuels production. The caliber of the technology, team and partners around Avnos is top tier, and we’re glad to be on board,” said Jim Lockheed, investment principal at JetBlue Ventures.”
“We are pleased to invest in Avnos as they work to further solutions for carbon capture technology,” said Brian Panoff, president, Shell Ventures LLC. “Of particular interest is the potential of Avnos’ technology to reduce energy demand in capturing CO2 and its ability to produce water.”
Previously, Avnos has been awarded multi-million-dollar projects from the U.S. Department of Energy to demonstrate its HDAC solution in the field, and the U.S. Office of Naval Research to pilot CO2 capture and e-fuels production.
