Iceland's Carbon Recycling secures equity for sustainable methanol

2 min read
EMEA, Asia
Tessa Walsh

Icelandic climate tech company Carbon Recycling International has secured a US$30m equity raise led by Equinor Ventures to scale up its its sustainable methanol production technology, which also allows carbon removal.

ING was lead adviser on the equity funding round, which will help CRI to increase production, allow its customers to reduce emissions and partners to build industrial-scale carbon capture utilisation and storage projects. CRI has previously received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme and is targeting international expansion.

Equinor Ventures, the venture capital arm of Norwegian energy firm Equinor, is already a shareholder in CRI and leads a group of new investors that also include Icelandic pension fund Gildi, insurance company Sjova and pension fund Lifeyrissjodur Vestmannaeyja.

The investment aims to capitalise on increasing demand for greener fuels as energy transition gathers pace, giving renewed urgency to companies' need to meet climate target deadlines.

“CRI’s technology, which sits at the crossroad of carbon removal and sustainable fuels, has the potential to play a significant role in helping decarbonise many sectors, from industrial production processes to the shipping industry,” said Arnaud Cereze, head of corporate finance for France at ING.

CRI’s "Emissions to Liquid" technology uses CO2 and hydrogen. Where both are captured from waste streams from industry (primarily byproducts or waste gas), the product is called recycled carbon methanol. With access to a source of renewable electricity – such as hydropower, which produces around 92% of Iceland's electricity – electrolysis is used to produce hydrogen from water, producing renewable e-methanol.

The process combines captured CO2 emissions, which are combined with green or recovered hydrogen to produce methanol that will be fed back into industrial processes by companies that need to reduce their carbon footprint. Methanol is used as a chemical feedstock to produce plastics, glue, building materials, paints and solvents. It is also the most commonly used carbon source for removing contaminants from waste water.

CRI’s ETL technology was developed in Iceland and is used in the world’s first commercial-scale CO2-to-methanol plant in China’s Henan province, which was inaugurated in February and has a capacity of 110,000 tonnes of recycled carbon methanol per year.

Partners on other projects include Norwegian electricity generator Statkraft, and CRI's shareholders include Chinese automaker Geely, Canadian methanol company Methanex and Icelandic investment company Eyrir Invest.