Exclusive: Shell backs plan to scale direct air capture project
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Carbon removal startup Avnos has landed $17 million in project finance from Shell and Mitsubishi Corp. to build a "commercial demonstration" plant, the company first told Axios.
Why it matters: Avnos says its approach pulling CO2 and water from the atmosphere requires far less energy than other direct air capture methods, and produces lots of usable water.
- The money to climb rungs on the scaling ladder comes despite a tough funding landscape for early-stage climate tech hardware.
Driving the news: Avnos is going ahead with Project Cedar, a plant that it estimates can remove 3,000 tons of CO2 and produce 6,000 tons of clean water annually.
- It has not disclosed a site but intends to have it online by the end of 2026.
State of play: Instead of employing traditional DAC methods that need heat to remove trapped CO2 from sorbents, Avnos says its "moisture swing" process uses water to isolate carbon.
- It can then be used for underground sequestration or other roles, like embedding in building materials or as inputs for sustainable aviation fuels.
The big picture: The volumes of CO2 that DAC companies are sucking up remain minuscule — and that's an understatement! — compared to global emissions.
- But right now it's about learning curves and cutting costs.
- Avnos CEO Will Kain tells Axios the new project "puts us on our pathway" to far more scale — plants in the 50,000-100,000 tons per year range — with removal costs under $250/ton.
- "Then, we've got really good line of sight to getting to that less than $100 per ton of CO2 target," he said.
Catch up quick: LA-based Avnos last year raised a $36 million Series A round led by NextEra Energy, joined by Safran Corporate Ventures, Shell Ventures, Envisioning Partners, and Rusheen Capital Management.
- It's nearly done building a 450-ton-per-year demonstration unit in New Jersey supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Kain said.
- And a DOE-backed pilot project in California has been a testbed since 2023.
- Total funding is now over $100 million with Thursday's announcement, Avnos said.
What we're watching: Kain says the AI boom is among multiple markets for Avnos tech, as data center owners are looking to offset CO2 and need water for cooling.
- "We have a couple of features of our technology that integrate really well and interact really well with data center operations," he said.
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