Hydrogen startup C-Zero has raised $5 million of an $18 million funding spherical, based on an SEC submitting.
The firm is creating a method to strip hydrogen from methane with out emitting carbon dioxide. The ensuing hydrogen can be utilized in a spread of industries immediately, together with ammonia and petrochemical manufacturing, and doubtlessly others within the close to future, together with transportation and metal manufacturing. The strong carbon waste product has the potential to be reused in all the things from asphalt to lithium-ion batteries.
C-Zero raised a $34 million spherical valued at $124 million post-money in 2022, based on PitchBook information. The smaller goal for the brand new spherical suggests the corporate is being practical about its prospects following its sizable haul through the pandemic.
The firm didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The course of C-Zero employs is named methane pyrolysis. C-Zero’s reactor heats pure gasoline within the presence of a proprietary catalyst to interrupt hydrogen’s chemical bond with the central carbon atom in a methane molecule.Â
By utilizing available pure gasoline because the feedstock, C-Zero hopes to supply emission-free hydrogen for lower than different inexperienced hydrogen startups, which usually depend on costly electrolyzers powered by low-cost renewable power from wind and photo voltaic.Â
Tapping into current pure gasoline infrastructure additionally makes methane pyrolysis a pure match for petrochemical crops, which immediately use pure gasoline all through their operations and in addition require massive quantities of hydrogen to supply varied chemical compounds.
The potential to promote low-cost, zero-emission hydrogen to massive, established prospects has triggered a flurry of startup exercise within the house, lots of which use methane pyrolysis. Various competing startups, together with Modern Hydrogen, Molten Industries and ReCarbon, additionally use the method.
