- Aerleum has raised $6 million in seed funding from 360 Capital, HTGF, Bpifrance, Marble, and Norrsken to develop its direct air capture technology.
- The startup converts CO2 directly into methanol, aiming to produce it for under $1,200 per metric ton.
Aerleum, a direct air capture (DAC) startup founded by Sébastien Fiedorow and scientist Steven Bardey in 2023, has raised $6 million in seed funding to refine its carbon-to-fuel technology. Investors include 360 Capital, HTGF, Bpifrance, Marble, and Norrsken.
Fiedorow initially resisted entering the DAC space, but after meetings with Bardey, he changed his perspective.
“Once we dug into the numbers, once we did a back-of-the-napkin techno-economic assessment, that was the switching point for me,” he told TechCrunch.
Aerleum’s technology differs from most DAC companies, which typically focus on capturing CO2 and selling it to various industries for storage or chemical processing. Instead, Aerleum developed a two-step process that skips these intermediate steps. The proprietary sponge-like material they created captures CO2 and directly converts it into methanol, a fuel suitable for cargo ships and potentially airplanes.
In practice, the technology uses a box through which air flows to saturate the material with CO2. Once saturated, hydrogen gas is pumped in, reacting with the CO2 to produce methanol, which is then purified.
Fiedorow explained, “Where do you have the most energy penalties? It was really in the middle, the intermediate steps where you have to dissolve the CO2, compress it, and transport it.”
Currently, Aerleum aims to produce methanol for under $1,200 per metric ton, with plans to reduce costs to $650 per metric ton within five years to remain competitive against fossil fuels. The startup is exploring using CO2 from industrial sources and has conducted tests with up to 15% CO2 concentration.
Edited by Harshajit Sarmah
