Dive Brief:
- Chevron recently led a $45 million series A round of funding for Colorado-based carbon capture and removal company Ion Clean Energy, the companies said in a press release last week. The investments will allow the company to accelerate the commercial deployment of Ion’s liquid amine carbon capture technology for hard-to-abate sectors.
- The investment was made through Chevron’s New Energies division, in collaboration with investment firm Carbon Direct Capital, Ion announced.
- Timothy Vail, previously CEO of Arbor Renewable Gas, will join as Ion’s CEO, the company said. Vail takes over for Ion Founder Buz Brown, who will transition to the role of executive chairman.
Dive Insight:
Chevron said the investment is part of the energy company’s goal to be involved in the full supply chain of carbon capture, utilization and storage as part of its business model. Ion has research and development partnerships with the Department of Energy, the national Carbon Capture Center and Mongstad, Norway’s CO2 Technology Center — the world’s largest carbon capture facility.
Chris Powers, vice president of carbon capture, utilization and storage and emerging technologies for Chevron New Energies, said the company believes that combining Ion’s technology with Chevron’s capabilities will allow the solvent to reach “numerous emitters.”
Ion’s solvent technology is focused on capturing carbon dioxide emissions at their source after combustion. Carbon Direct Capital CEO Jonathan Goldberg called the solvent a “game-changer for point source carbon capture,” and said in the release the funding round represents an endorsement of the technology by financial and strategic industry investors.
“Especially for asset owners with hard-to-abate waste streams, ION has demonstrated exceptional performance coupled with standout environmental scores,” Goldberg said.
As CEO of Ion, Vail brings in two decades of energy-related experience, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to leading Arbor Renewable Gas, he founded G2X Energy in 2012, which is focused on converting natural gas into automotive fuel. He is also an operating partner for the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s Climate Investments portfolio. OGCI is a CEO-led organization of 12 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, including Chevron, that looks to accelerate actions aligned with the Paris Climate Accords’ goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
“With these investments, we are well positioned to grow ION into a worldwide provider of high-performance point source capture solutions,” Vail said.
Carbon capture technology has gained prominence as corporations look to reduce their own carbon footprint and companies develop new ways to remove carbon dioxide for long-term storage.
Last month, climate tech startup Spiritus announced it aims to open a direct air capture facility in 2026 that will be capable of sequestering up to 2 megatons of carbon dioxide annually. Occidental Petroleum is also building an industrial-scale direct air capture facility in Texas that it expects to be operational in mid-2025 through its subsidiary 1PointFive. The facility received $550 million from BlackRock in November, and 1PointFive has already inked deals with Boston Consulting Group and others to purchase removal credits.
