The alternative energy division of Chevron, Chevron New Energies (CNE), has announced that it will become a lead investor in ION Clean Energy (ION), a developer of carbon capture technology.
ION, which is based in Boulder, Colorado, recently raised $45 million in financing as part of a series A round, with CNE leading the way.
It is currently on its third generation of its ICE-31 liquid amine technology for capturing carbon at post-combustion points. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is seen as a potential route for decarbonising sectors with emissions that are problematic to reduce.
CNE’s vice president for emerging and CCUS technologies, Chris Powers, said that the company is continuing to explore how CCUS can be realised as a viable business, and ION is an element in this, due to its strong record in a number of areas. He added:
“ION’s solvent technology, combined with Chevron’s assets and capabilities, has the potential to reach numerous emitters and support our ambitions of a lower carbon future. We believe collaborations like this are essential to our efforts to grow carbon capture on a global scale.”
Chevron, which also makes the Texaco lubricant and grease range, already has a portfolio of CCUS technologies, and its investment in ION’s amine-based capture technology will complement this.
CNE will also seek to work with ION’s customers to accelerate the scaling-up of the technology, which ION claims has low energy use, a very high efficiency at capturing carbon, and an exceptional resistance to degradation.
