CARBON:

Ensuring you have the best partner at your side.

PRATEEK BUMB CO-FOUNDER, CARBON CLEAN

Since 2010, dozens of projects have failed to come to fruition because the technology involved with carbon capture is simply too costly. At the moment, there are only about two dozen large-scale facilities that use CCUS – capturing roughly 40mn tonnes of carbon, annually.

Amongst the global leaders of the CCUS industry is Carbon Clean. The company was awarded a ‘Technology Pioneer’ award by the World Economic Forum, was recently selected as one of Cemex Ventures’ Top 50 ConTech Startups, and named a 2021 Global Cleantech 100 company.

The company recently launched the world’s smallest carbon capture technology, CycloneCC. 10-times smaller than the industry standard, Cyclone CC can be deployed at most industrial sites in only eight weeks. It’s predicted to drive down the cost of carbon capture to $30 per tonne on average – half the price of the EU’s August carbon price ($60 per tonne on 30.08.21).

To better understand the role of CCUS, we talked to the CTO and co-founder of Carbon Capture, Prateek Bumb.

Carbon Clean’s history

Carbon Clean was founded to solve a critical climate challenge – decarbonising heavy industry, which accounts for around 30% of global emissions. We are an innovation leader in point source carbon capture, developing cost-effective solutions to accelerate the global deployment of CCUS, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as cement, steel, refineries and energy from waste. We’ve achieved big things at Carbon Clean since we founded the company in 2009 – relocating to the UK from India after we received funding from the UK government – launching CycloneCC, the world’s smallest industrial carbon capture solution, in 2021 and raising a record $150mn in funding earlier this year. achieving net zero isn’t a pipe dream, it’s

How does the company raise funding?

To date, Carbon Clean has raised $195mn through a combination of public and private sector investment. Carbon Clean recently closed a $150mn Series C round led by Chevron, with participation from existing investors CEMEX Ventures, Marubeni Corporation and WAVE Equity Partners, and new investors AXA IM Alts, Samsung Ventures, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and TC Energy.

We’ve also been the recipient of British government funding on three occasions, including at the SEED stage, prior to private investment. It was pivotal to our growth.

Tell us about the innovations and technology driving Carbon Capture?

We know carbon capture is essential to delivering industrial decarbonisation and net zero, but the current installed capacity is way off what’s needed. As an innovation leader in the sector, with more patents than any other CCUS technology provider, Carbon Clean is determined to address this delivery gap.

Our new generation of standardised, fully modular, skid-mounted carbon capture units are vital to accelerating global CCUS deployment. Prefabricated, delivered on a truck and installed in around eight weeks, these units are revolutionising a 50-yearold technology by overcoming two of the biggest barriers to deployment – space and cost.

What’s been your biggest lesson?

I’ve learned that risk and reward go hand-inhand – you can’t be afraid of taking risks if you want to succeed, and you need to know that failure is part of the process. Take our CDRMax solvent for example, which is a key part of the solutions we offer to our clients now; we went through 14 failed chemical formulas before finally getting it right. An equally important lesson I’ve learned since founding the company is that having a team that believes in your vision is key.

What comes next?

Our focus over the next 12-18 months is delivering on the promise of our $150mn Series C funding round. We want to ramp up the commercial roll-out of our breakthrough carbon capture solutions, expand our team to deliver on our growing order book, and develop our Carbon-Capture-as -a-Service (CCaaS) proposition for heavy emitters.