KC8 Capture Technologies secure $10m raise

Australian carbon capture business, KC8 Capture Technologies has announced a $10 million raise to boost its efforts to cut carbon emissions across the steel, aviation and agriculture sectors. 

The fundraising round was led by Woodside Energy and other local and global industry players plus multinational building materials company, Cemex.

The startup aims to capture up to 95 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from heavy industrial sources at a capital cost up to 50 percent lower than amine-based solutions and an improved energy efficiency of up to 15 percent.

With the new funding, KC8 Capture Technologies will fast-track the deployment of its technology to critical and hard-to-abate industries such as the steel, aviation and agriculture sectors. 

These sectors are harder to decarbonise yet play an important part in the national economy. 

Any undisclosed part of the funding will be put towards its ‘PACER’ project.

The company is working with Cement Australia to build a 15 TPD commercial demonstration plant with the plant set to be located in Gladstone, Queensland and capture CO2 outputs.

PACER’s installation work is expected to start in early 2025 to coordinate with Cement Australia’s plant maintenance schedules.

Greg Ross, executive director at KC8 Technologies said, “Being able to provide safe, naturally occurring solvents that have little or no impact on the environment at scale is an incredible feat.”

“By lowering the cost of capture, our goal is to enhance and accelerate CCUS as a leading greenhouse gas mitigation tool that will form an important part of a balanced solution to lowering emissions for all sectors,” Ross said.

Woodside vice president Carbon Solutions Jayne Baird said, “As a global energy company, we understand the need to innovate and develop efficient and cost-effective ways to produce safe, lower carbon, affordable and reliable energy through the energy transition”.

“We want to ensure we enable the technological innovation required to do this,” said Baird.