SKYONIC IN TALKS TO PARTNER WITH INT’L COMPANIES

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
4/12/13

Skyonic, the developer of a carbon utilization demonstration project in Texas, has confirmed that it is in talks with several international groups to set up partnerships linked to its mineralization technology. The Austin, Texas-based Skyonic is expected to break ground on its $125 million carbon capture retrofit of a portion of a cement plant near San Antonio by the end of the month. The company is bolting its patented SkyMine technology onto the plant which, upon completion in late 2014, will capture and mineralize CO2 to produce salable byproducts like hydrochloric acid and sodium bicarbonate, while also removing mercury and criteria pollutants like SO2 and NOx from the plant’s flue gas. A Skyonic spokesperson confirmed this week that the company is in talks with or has letters of intent from “various international groups”—including a Chinese steel company and other organizations in Canada and Russia—regarding potential partnerships related to SkyMine, but would not provide further details about the scope of the potential agreements.

The news of the potential partnerships comes as Skyonic is about to sign for $119 million to fund the project, including $80 million in loans and $39 million in equity. The project has $28 million in grants from the Department of Energy and additional $9 million in funding from investors like BP, ConocoPhillips, Northwater Capital and PVS Chemicals last year as part of a larger $35 million investment in the project. It also received early funding from investors like the venture capitalist Carl Berg and the construction and materials company Zachry Corp., which owns the cement plant hosting the project.

Skyonic says SkyMine is a particularly attractive CO2 utilization technology for areas of the country where the geologic sequestration of CO2 is impractical or too expensive. “The carbonate market in the U.S. alone is $7 billion and there are lucrative portions of that market that can be fulfilled at very low cost. Using synthetic carbonates to fulfill that market while eliminating that same amount of carbon from smokestacks, seems like an ideal solution,” company CEO Joe Jones said in an interview last week. “It does make sense to turn trash to treasure.”