C-Capture catches $4.6m

C-Capture, a UK-based carbon dioxide capture spinout of University of Leeds, obtained £3.5m ($4.6m) on Tuesday in a round co-led by commercialisation firm IP Group.
BP Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of oil producer BP, also co-led the round, as did energy supplier Drax.
Spun out from University of Leeds’ Department of Chemistry in 2009, C-Capture supplies carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) systems that remove the toxic gas from flumes produced by industrial facilities such as power stations to help counteract climate change.
C-Capture’s technology differs from conventional CCS approaches in that it utilises solvents free from a highly-reactive material called amine to achieve safety and cost-effectiveness.
The approach is currently being piloted in a CCS system at Drax’s power station in North Yorkshire billed as capable of removing CO2 already present in the atmosphere, a situation termed negative emissions.
The cash injection will enable C-Capture to further develop its technology as it looks to ramp up its global marketing activities and secure pilot projects in industries aside from power generation.
C-Capture started out in 2009 with an undisclosed amount of funding from IP Group, which also backed its $263,000 seed round two years later alongside Finance for Business North East Technology Fund, an EU-backed initiative under IP Group’s management.
The spinout has now received a total of $2.2m from IP Group in addition to more than $2.9m from the UK government. Drax announced a $540,000 investment as part of its pilot project with C-Capture in May 2018, though it is unclear whether this is included in the latest round.
Will Gardiner, chief executive of Drax, said: “The innovative technology C-Capture has developed and is piloting at Drax Power Station is putting the UK on the map when it comes to carbon capture and global efforts to tackle climate change. This investment gives us a long-term commercial agreement to work together with them.”