Project news, Raising capital

Exclusive: Emissions reduction technology firm in Series A capital raise

A technology start-up that uses plasma to reduce emissions from natural gas and methane flaring is seeking an additional $15m to top off its Series A capital raise. One of its principal products converts natural gas into hydrogen and usable graphene with no CO2 emissions.

February 26, 2024

Rimere, a climate solutions company with proprietary plasma technology, is seeking to raise an additional $15m as part of its ongoing Series A capital raise.

The start-up recently announced an anchor investment of $10m from Clean Energy Fuels Corp, a publicly listed renewable natural gas firm, and is pursuing further investments from strategics and financial players, with an eye on closing the round in 2Q24, CEO Mitchell Pratt said in an interview.

The company is not currently working with a financial advisor on the Series A capital raise, Pratt said. Its legal counsel is Morrison Foerster.

The anchor investment along with additional funds raised will allow Rimere to advance development and field testing of its two principal products, the Reformer and the Mitigator.

The Mitigator is a plasma thermal oxidizer that reduces the greenhouse gas potency of small-scale fugitive methane emissions, while the Reformer transforms natural gas into clean hydrogen and usable graphene without creating any CO2 emissions.

The products are meant to work in tandem to decarbonize natural gas infrastructure and deliver cleaner gas to end users in transportation, power generation, and industry.

“We believe that, overall, what the technology does is revalue natural gas reserves and the long-term viability of natural gas for global future energy,” Pratt said.

Commercial strategy

Rimere will develop a commercial strategy throughout the course of this year for the Mitigator, and plans to deploy the product in the beginning of next year.

“We have quite a bit of interest for this as a solution because of the low cost of the product and the terrific results,” Pratt said, noting that the Mitigator removes CO2 for under $5 per metric ton.

In contrast, the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022 introduced the Methane Emissions Reduction Program, a charge on methane emitted by oil and gas companies that report emissions under the Clean Air Act. The charge starts at $900 per metric ton of methane for calendar year 2024, increasing to $1,500 for 2026 and beyond.

To be sure, the Mitigator, as a thermal oxidizer, transforms methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas, into hydrogen, water, and CO2 for a net reduction of the global warming impact of 200 metric tons a year of CO2.

The Reformer, a container-style unit, is being scaled up to produce 50 kg per day of hydrogen from natural gas along with 150 kg of graphene, a marketable nano carbon where the CO2 is captured. Graphene is used in batteries, composites, medical devices, and concrete to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other applications.

Rimere plans to increase the scale of the Reformer to between 400 – 600 kg per day and raise additional funds next year, Pratt said. The amount of funds needed for that is not yet known, he said.

Pratt envisions an application for hydrogen blending using the two products.

“We see it as a way to decentralize hydrogen production, taking advantage of a cleaner natural gas infrastructure, because we’ve applied the Mitigator to cleaning up those fugitive methane emissions that are occurring in the normal operations of equipment,” Pratt said.

For example, Rimere can tap into a natural gas pipeline, take a slipstream of gas, extract the valuable graphene, and then re-inject hydrogen and natural gas back into the pipeline.

Additionally, the blending application can be positioned at an end-use customer’s facility, allowing the Reformer to start blending hydrogen into the gas stream, going into boilers and burners and reducing the CO2 emissions more effectively and immediately, Pratt said.

$1 per kg

Taking the average cost of delivered natural gas and power to industrial users, the company can already produce hydrogen at $1 per kilogram, Pratt said.

For every four kilograms of end-use product – one being hydrogen, the other three graphene – the energy cost allows hydrogen to be produced at or below $1 per kg.

“The last 12 months of running is less than a dollar,” he said, emphasizing that the graphene production is not subsidizing the hydrogen.

“Although the value of graphene could make hydrogen a throwaway fuel.”

Unlock this article

The content you are trying to view is exclusive to our subscribers.

To unlock this article:

You might also like...

M&A, Raising capital

Power plant manager seeking capital for Boston acquisitions

A manager of natural gas power plants is seeking capital to acquire two facilities in the Boston area and convert them into low-carbon generation assets.

US Grid Company, an owner and operator of electric generation assets in US cities, is seeking to raise capital to make a pair of acquisitions in Boston.

The New York-based plant manager is targeting facilities owned by Calpine and Constellation, CEO Jacob Worenklein said.

Calpine owns the Fore River Energy Center, a 731 MW, combined-cycle plant located 12 miles southeast of Boston, while Constellation owns Mystic Generating Station, a 1,413 MW natural gas-fired plant in Everett, Massachusetts.

Worenklein would acquire the assets and seek to implement lower-carbon generation solutions such as batteries, renewables, or clean fuels, he said.

He has held conversations with both Calpine and Constellation about acquiring the assets, and would need approximately $100m of equity capital to make an acquisition, he said, with the balance coming in the form of debt capital.

US Grid Company previously had investment backing from EnCap Energy Transition and Yorktown Partners, but the funds for the deal were pulled.

Worenklein has had a storied career in the US power sector, serving as a global head in roles at SocGen and Lehman Brothers. He was also founder and head of the power and projects law practice at Milbank.

From 2017 to 2020 he served as chairman of Ravenswood Power Holdings, the owner and operator of a 2,000 MW gas-fired plant in Queens, New York.

October 16, 2023

Personnel moves

Evercore managing director moves to NextEra

A well-known Evercore managing director has made a career move into hydrogen, taking an executive director position at NextEra.

Sean Morgan, a former public equity market analyst at Evercore who made television appearances on CNBC, has taken a new position within the hydrogen business at NextEra Energy Resources.

Morgan, who as an analyst covered the LNG and clean energy markets, took a role as executive director of hydrogen market analytics at NextEra in August, according to his LinkedIn profile. He ended at Evercore as a managing director.

Prior to joining Evercore, Morgan worked as a portfolio manager at Blue Shores Capital, and also worked on the leveraged credit team at SocGen.

NextEra is evaluating a potential $20bn pipeline of hydrogen projects.

October 16, 2023

M&A, Project news

Verbio acquires Indiana ethanol plant from Mercuria

The North American subsidiary of German-based Verbio AG intends to expand and develop the plant into a modern biorefinery producing RNG at an estimated total investment of $230m.

Verbio North America announced today the signing and closing of a purchase agreement with Mercuria Investments US, Inc. to acquire South Bend Ethanol, LLC, an operating ethanol plant located in South Bend, Indiana, according to a news release.

This will be Verbio’s second US production facility following the successful commissioning of its Nevada, IA plant. Verbio intends to subsequently expand and develop the plant into a modern biorefinery at an estimated total investment of $230m.

“We are excited about the opportunity to integrate the production of ethanol with renewable natural gas (RNG) in the state of Indiana,” said Stefan Schreiber, executive board member for North America of Verbio AG, the German-based parent company. “We believe this transaction provides an excellent path for Verbio to further strengthen its North America business and growth strategy. The site offers a competitive location as well as existing infrastructure and meets our requirements for access to the natural gas grid, electricity, feedstock sources and water supply.”

Integration of the ethanol production with the RNG production process, unique to the Verbio brand and developed successfully at the company`s facilities in Europe over the past decade, will result in higher efficiencies and improved sustainability. The site will be developed over the next three years incorporating Verbio’s advanced engineering and operating technology practices. Following commissioning, the production capacity of the plant will be at 85 million gallons of corn ethanol and 2.8 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of RNG per year.

Verbio will retain the assets of the existing ethanol plant and seek to improve yields and reduce energy consumption over the next several months. The investment will incorporate additional equipment and processes necessary to produce value-added by-products, such as liquid fertilizers. Further, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, aiming to boost investments in climate protection and clean energy in the United States, offers provisions that will benefit the Verbio project.

All current 61 employees at the facility will initially be retained. The company`s goal is to increase to 69 full-time employees by the end of 2025. To support the construction project, a significant number of additional indirect jobs will be created in the surrounding community and across the state. Verbio is working on plans to start construction in the next several months, with commercial production of RNG for use in process industries and other end-use markets expected to begin in 2026.

The plant’s primary feedstock, approximately 28 million bushels of corn annually used for ethanol production, will continue to be procured locally and the company looks forward to working with the growers in the region.

The Verbio biorefinery concept does not only support continued opportunities for local growers, but as importantly, it drives the shift away from fossil energy by offering advanced renewable fuel products.

With the construction of anaerobic digestion (AD) tanks designed to produce RNG, Verbio will utilize the stillage resulting from ethanol production as feedstock rather than producing dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS), as it is typical for other ethanol plants. Biogas produced in the AD tanks will be upgraded to pipeline quality RNG for injection into the gas distribution system serving the site. Following processing, liquid fertilizers and humus will be returned to the fields as excellent soil amendments, completing the sustainability cycle.

“We see a continued strong demand for renewable energy solutions, especially in North American industrial process industries,” said Claus Sauter, founder and CEO of the parent company VERBIO AG. “This opens up promising economic perspectives for us and supports VERBIO`s growth and internationalization strategy. Our renewable energy operations worldwide are built on our company`s twenty years plus commitment to sustainability and technological innovation. We look forward to further expanding our business within North America as well as internationally in the coming years,” Sauter said.

May 2, 2023

Innovation, Project finance, Project news, Raising capital

Exclusive: Waste-to-fuels developer preparing capital raise

A waste-to-fuels developer has lined up an advisor and is planning a capital raise for a project in West Texas, in what is expected to be the first of up to 20 similar fundraising efforts totaling $500m in external capital needs.

Recover, Inc., a Calgary-based waste-to-fuels project developer, is preparing to launch a capital raise for its first US-based projects in West Texas.

The company has lined up CIBC to assist with the capital raise while a large Canadian Crown Corporation is expected to sign on as a lending partner for the debt portion of the cap stack, CFO Shane Kozak said in an interview.

Kozak said he will need to raise $70m – $75m for the West Texas project, which will process waste from oil and gas drilling fluids and recover 800 barrels per day of low carbon intensity diesel fuel from 800 tons of waste.

Existing equity backers Azimuth Capital and BDC will participate in the capital raise, but the company is seeking additional project equity investors to take part in a 60% debt to 40% equity capital structure, Kozak said.

While the cost of the West Texas project is estimated at $55m, the company needs to raise approximately $70m to account for debt servicing and underwriting fees, he added.

Recover has mapped out a strategy to build 20 projects in oil and gas basins across the US, and estimates it will need to raise $500m in external capital over 10 years to fully develop those projects.

Project model

The company already operates a similar facility in Alberta that became operational in 2018, at a cost of CAD 20m and producing about half of what the West Texas project will produce.

“This has been commercially proven in Canada, and we’re going to a better market with a lot more drilling waste production” in the US, Kozak said.

The waste stream from oil and gas drilling contains large amounts of diesel fuel: a typical well will create 400 – 500 tons of waste, 30%-40% of which is recoverable low carbon intensity diesel, Kozak said.

In Texas, the drilling fluid waste often ends up in pits near drilling rigs or in industrial landfills, where it biodegrades over time and emits CO2 and methane into the atmosphere.

“We significantly reduce GHG emissions and create a fuel source that can be reused, and every barrel that we recover is a barrel of fuel that would otherwise have to come from a fossil fuel source,” he said.

Recent changes to Texas policy regarding oil and gas drilling waste could increase the availability of feedstock for the company. The Texas RailRoad Commission, which oversees the state’s oil and gas industry, is seeking to modernize disposal practices that would redirect waste from drilling pits to more centralized industrial landfills.

“The good thing for us is that, in the Permian Basin, about 70% – 80% of the wells use these pits, and our strategy is to build our facility directly on industrial landfills,” Kozak said.

Recover is working with a large landfill management company with operations across the US to develop its facilities, he added. The company does not pay for feedstock, given the synergistic relationship between Recover and the landfill management company.

November 1, 2023

Innovation, Project finance, Raising capital

Exclusive: Biomethane firm planning funding round

A biomethane solutions provider with projects in Europe and the US is planning a fifth round of funding to launch early next year, with a need to raise additional project debt.

Electrochaea, the US- and Europe-based biomethane developer, will go to market in 1Q24 for a new round of equity funding, with a near term need for project debt as well, two executives told ReSource.

The company, which was spun out from an incubator at The University of Chicago with offices in Denmark, has projects in Denmark, Colorado, New York and Switzerland. It is backed by Baker Hughes and, from early fundraising efforts, Munich Venture Partners, senior director Aafko Scheringa said. The former investor participated in its most recent (fourth) $40m funding round.

Electrochaea uses a patented biocatalyst that converts green hydrogen and carbon dioxide into BioCat Methane, a pipeline-grade renewable gas.

The average size of a project is roughly $25m, Scheringa said.

Funds from the next round will provide three years of working capital, CEO Mitch Hein added.

Electrochaea has not worked with a financial advisor to date, Hein said, adding that he may have need for one for new processes but has not engaged with anyone.

Scheringa said he is working to achieve commercialization on a pipeline of projects, with a 10 MWe bio-methanation plant in Denmark being farthest along with a mandatory start date before 2026.

Electrochaea has a bio-methanation reactor system in partnership with SoCalGas at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Energy System Integration Facility in Golden, Colorado, though Hein said a project in New York is as advanced in its development.

Bio-methane can be burned in place of natural gas with no systems degradation issues, so gas offtakers are a natural fit for Electrochaea, Scheringa said. Cheap clean electricity paired with available CO2 is critical, so the company will look to places like Texas, Spain, Scandinavia, Quebec and the “corn states” of the US Midwest, for new projects.

November 8, 2023

exclusive

Personnel moves

Advisor Profile: Cameron Lynch of Energy & Industrial Advisory Partners

The veteran engineer and financial advisor sees widespread opportunity for capital deployment into early-stage renewable fuel companies.

Cameron Lynch, co-founder and managing partner at Energy & Industrial Advisory Partners, sees prodigious opportunity to pick up mandates in the hydrogen sector as young companies and early movers attract well-capitalized investors looking for auspicious valuations.

The firm, a three-year-old boutique investment banking outfit with offices in New York and Houston, is broadly committed to the energy transition, but is recruiting for new personnel with hydrogen expertise, Lynch said, adding that he is preparing for a new level of dealmaking in the new year.

“I think we can all expect 2023 will be even more of a record year, just given the appetite for hydrogen,” Lynch said. “Hydrogen is one of our core focuses for next year.”

Cameron Lynch

Lynch started his career as a civil & structural engineer and moved into capital equipment manufacturing and leasing for oil & gas, and also industrial gasses –things like cryoge

nic handling equipment for liquid nitrogen. He started the London office of an Aberdeen, U.K.-based M&A firm, before repeating that effort in New York.

Founding EIAP, Lynch and his business partner Sean Shafer have turned toward the energy transition and away from conventional energy. The firm works on the whole of decarbonization but has found the most success in the hydrogen space.

Earlier lifecycle, better valuations

Hydrogen intersects with oil& gas, nuclear, chemicals, midstream companies, and major manufacturing.

Large private equity funds that want to get into the space are realizing that if they don’t want to pay “ridiculous valuations for hydrogen companies” they must take on earlier-stage risk, Lynch said.

Interest from big private equity is therefore comparatively high for early-stage capital raising in the hydrogen sector, Lynch said, particularly where funds have the option to deploy more capital in the future, Lynch said.

“They’re willing to take that step down to what would normally be below their investment threshold.”

Lynch, who expects to launch several transactions in the coming months with EIAP, has a strong background in oil & gas, and views hydrogen valuations as a compelling opportunity now.

“It’s very refreshing to be working on stuff that’s attracting these superb valuations,” Lynch said.

There’s a lot of non-dilutive money in the market and the Inflation Reduction Act has been a major boon to investors, Lynch said. For small companies, getting a slice of the pie is potentially life changing.

The hydrogen space is not immune to the macroeconomic challenges that renewables have faced in recent months and years, Lynch said. But as those same challenges have accelerated the move toward energy security, hydrogen stands to benefit.

Supply chain issues post-COVID pose a potential long-term concern in the industry, and equity and debt providers question the availability of compressors and lead times.

“I would say that’s one of the key issues out there,” Lynch said. There’s also the question of available infrastructure and the extent to which new infrastructure will be built out for hydrogen.

EIAP sees the most convincing uses for hydrogen near term in light-weight mobility and aerospace, Lynch said. The molecule also has a strong use case in back-up generation.

Hydrogen additionally presents companies in traditional fossil fuel verticals the opportunity to modernize, Lynch said, citing a secondary trade EIAP completed earlier this year

California’s Suburban Propane Partners acquired a roughly 25% equity stake in Ashburn, Virginia-based Independence Hydrogen, Inc. The deal involved the creation of a new subsidiary, Suburban Renewable Energy, as part of its long-term strategic goal of building out a renewable energy platform.

December 13, 2022