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UK cleantech company Ki 13 (formerly Ki Hydrogen) has raised $5 million
in seed funding to build an industrial pilot plant for its biomass electrolysis
technology. The round was led by HICO Investment Group, with participation from
Burgest, Triple Impact Ventures, GiTV and Desai Ventures, alongside
non-dilutive match funding from Innovate UK.
Ki 13 is developing an electrochemical process that converts
lignocellulosic biomass into separate streams of green hydrogen and biogenic
CO₂. These can be used as feedstocks for synthetic fuels and chemicals,
including sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF), e-methanol and e-methane.
The company is seeking to reduce the cost of producing hydrogen and
carbon dioxide, two of the main inputs used in synthetic fuel production.
Conventional approaches typically rely on water electrolysis to produce green
hydrogen and direct air capture to obtain CO₂, both of which require
significant amounts of energy.
Ki 13’s technology instead uses biomass as the input for a
low-temperature electrochemical process that produces hydrogen and biogenic CO₂
simultaneously. According to the company, the process requires around 25 kWh of
electricity per kilogram of hydrogen and 300 kWh per tonne of CO₂. By
comparison, Ki 13 says water electrolysis typically requires around 50 kWh per
kilogram of hydrogen, while direct air capture can require between 2,000 and
3,000 kWh per tonne of CO₂.
The process uses lignocellulosic biomass, including residual material
from agricultural, forestry and other biological sources. Ki 13 is focusing on
biomass residues that can be collected and used as feedstock without relying on
purpose-grown resources.
Economics drive meaningful change, and the world needs a radical cost
difference in how synthetic fuels and chemicals are made to drive the
transition at scale and at pace. We started with a first principles approach to
completely rethink how to approach the problem,
said Koji Muto, co-founder and CEO of Ki 13.
HICO Investment Group and Desai
Ventures previously backed the company at the pre-seed stage.
Christopher Hartnoll, CEO and Managing Director of HICO Investment Group,
said the firm’s continued support of Ki 13 reflects the company’s progress
since its pre-seed round and its development of the technology:
We have long held the view that the biggest barrier to scaling green
hydrogen and synthetic fuels is not demand, but economics. By fundamentally
rethinking how hydrogen and biogenic CO₂ are produced, Ki 13 has the potential
to materially reduce feedstock costs and unlock a more commercial path to
scale.
The seed funding will be used to build an industrial pilot plant to test
Ki 13’s biomass electrolysis technology at a larger scale and support its
development towards commercial deployment.