Investments

Investing in Ki Hydrogen—green hydrogen production from waste biomass

Investments

Investing in Ki Hydrogen—green hydrogen production from waste biomass

Words Founders Factory

July 23rd 2024 / 3 min read

The problem

Hydrogen is one of the most critical resources for global industry. It is primarily used today in fertiliser production and petroleum refining, with emerging use cases to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors.

The problem is the carbon impact of producing hydrogen, which currently contributes 900 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, comparable to the emissions of the entire aviation industry. 

Green hydrogen production has come into focus in recent years, but current methods are highly energy intensive. The most common method is electrochemical water splitting, or water electrolysis, a technology that's been known about since the 1800s but has notable shortcomings. The reason? Splitting water requires huge amounts of energy, driving 70% of the cost of hydrogen and wasting energy creating oxygen in the process, which often is just vented away.

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The solution

Ki Hydrogen has developed a solution that produces green hydrogen from waste biomass via a direct electrolysis process. This method is not only more cost competitive (around $2/kg), it requires 50% less energy than compared to the emerging green hydrogen production processes like water electrolysis.

The process takes waste biomass—such as paper, wood, or from the brewing process—and via an electrolysis process, converts it not only into green hydrogen but several useful chemical co-products that open up alternative revenue streams. 

The team

Koji Muto (CEO & co-founder)

Koji brings experience and expertise from several years in the energy industry, both at large corporations and disruptive startups. As a senior engineer at ExxonMobil, he drove development for an $800M hydrogen project. Since then, he’s held early roles at Last Energy, a small modular nuclear reactor startup, and NeoCarbon, a direct-air-capture startup. 

Michael Stanton (CTO & co-founder)

Michael’s background is in science and research in the field of materials engineering and chemistry. He received a PhD in physics and nanotechnology from the University of Cambridge, where he stayed to research methods for generating green hydrogen from waste materials, which has formed the backbone of Ki Hydrogen. 

Carl Banbury (COO & co-founder)

Carl combines experience of working at high growth startups and scientific research. He spent three and a half years as principal data scientist at Maybe*. In parallel, he studied for a multidisciplinary PhD from the University of Birmingham in translational technology, designing and patenting novel diagnostic devices. 

Why we’re excited to invest

Louis Warner, partner at G-Force, says: “The world already produces over 95 million tonnes of hydrogen a year as a crucial industrial chemical used to produce fertiliser, textiles and plastics. The current carbon impact of this $160bn market is enormous. In Ki-Hydrogen, we have partnered with the best team we could find who are working on a realistic path to cost competitive green hydrogen. We are  honoured to play a small part in this exciting journey and mission!”

What Ki Hydrogen is looking to gain from the programme

  • Go-to-market strategy

  • Grant sourcing and writing

  • Seed round preparation

  • Partnerships with suppliers and off-takers

Looking to scale the next groundbreaking climate technology?

Learn more about our G-Force investment programme

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