Carbon dioxide removal and green hydrogen production company Equatic has raised $11.6 million in its Series A funding round. The company will use the funds to accelerate the engineering scale-up and commercialization of Equatic’s seawater electrolysis technology.
Equatic said its commercial carbon dioxide removal (CDR) plant can drawdown carbon dioxide 99,000 times faster than the open ocean. The company pumps seawater to its onshore plant and uses renewable electricity to split the seawater into four streams (hydrogen, oxygen, acid, base). Passing an electrical current through seawater produces carbon-negative green hydrogen with which the company said it can replace 40% of the energy it uses for CDR. Equatic said it can accurately measure the carbon dioxide removed before the seawater is discharged in order to give an accounting for carbon credits.
The acid stream is neutralized with crushed rock to prevent ocean acidification. The base stream is contacted with the air to remove CO2. The solid carbonates are separated and the seawater is returned to the ocean with residual dissolved and solid inorganic carbon.
Since commencing operations in 2023, Equatic said it has successfully deployed its technology at at pilot plants in Los Angeles and Singapore. The company is now expanding its operations with a demonstration plant in Singapore, known as Equatic-1, and a commercial-scale plant in Canada.
“Truly innovative carbon management technologies are needed to mitigate climate change before the consequences become irreversible,” said Lord John Browne, Chairman of Equatic’s Advisory Board, Founder and Chairman at BeyondNetZero, and the former CEO of British Petroleum. “By removing carbon dioxide and simultaneously generating green hydrogen, Equatic’s solution provides unique advantages in terms of cost and scalability.”
The round was led by Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H), a catalytic vehicle by Temasek Trust, and Kibo Invest, a Singapore-based private investment office with a focus on climate technology.
“Equatic represents an exciting opportunity to scale deep-tech innovation that addresses two critical needs: decarbonisation and clean energy. As an investor focused on climate solutions, we are proud to partner with C3H and Equatic to help bring this breakthrough technology to commercial scale,” said James Marshall, CEO of Kibo Invest.
