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Liquid Light Wins Grand Challenge Grant for Carbon-Conversion Technology

New Jersey-based Liquid Light has received a CAD$500,000 seed grant in the first round of Alberta’s Grand Challenge, organized by the Climate Change and Emission Management Corporation (CCEMC). The purpose of the CCEMC Grand Challenge is to identify new technologies that will lead to the creation of new products and markets, while providing a one million ton net reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 10 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Liquid Light develops and licenses processes to make major chemicals from carbon dioxide (CO2). Its technologies help companies reduce production costs through the harnessing of waste streams, their dependence on petroleum feedstocks, and their carbon footprint. The company’s first process is for the production of ethylene glycol (MEG), which has a $27 billion annual market and is used to make a wide range of consumer products such as plastic bottles, antifreeze and polyester clothing.

Liquid Light was selected from 344 submissions from 37 countries on six continents for its proposal to design and build a pilot plant to convert CO2 into chemicals and polymer precursors using clean sources of energy, in conjunction with a major chemical industry partner. The pilot plant, located in Canada, would produce a ton of products per day and further validate the technical and economic feasibility of Liquid Light’s approach. As winner of the seed grant, Liquid Light now qualifies for the next rounds of the Challenge, which include the potential for up to CAD$13 million in additional funding.

Liquid Light says its process has the potential to be a commercially attractive approach for Alberta to meet its GHG reduction targets. Through the deployment of the company’s electro-catalytic carbon conversion technology, CO2 can be used as a low-cost feedstock for the creation of widely used chemicals with significant market value, such as propylene, isopropanol, methyl-methacrylate and acetic acid. CCEMC’s investment recognizes the commercial potential for Liquid Light’s process as an economically viable, scalable and replicable CO2-utilization platform.

“We appreciate the support from Alberta, CCEMC and the Grand Challenge,” said Kyle Teamey, CEO of Liquid Light. “In addition to the support for our R&D, we’re getting connected to a wide range of motivated potential partners that want to put promising technologies — like Liquid Light’s — into commercial use.”

CCEMC provides ongoing, dedicated funds to support the discovery, development and deployment of transformative technology that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Its funding is sourced from Alberta’s Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund and is collected by the Government of Alberta.

In other carbon-conversion news, a team of researchers at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Materials Science and Technology Division, recently demonstrated proof-of-concept of technologies developed for the extraction of CO2 and hydrogen from seawater for conversion to a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, according to the US Navy. The team successfully fueled and flew a radio-controlled model airplane — powered by an off-the-shelf, unmodified two-stroke internal combustion engine — with the seawater-derived hydrocarbon fuel, in September.