Greenearth signs on for CO2 conversion technology

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Australian geothermal company Greenearth Energy has closed negotiations on an exclusive, worldwide Research and Licence Agreement for a revolutionary technology with the ability to convert CO2 emissions into fuel.

The deal has been struck with Yeda Research and Development, the commercial arm of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science.

Greenearth will assign the technology to a new subsidiary company, NewCo2Fuels.

Greenearth said the deal has it taking the initiative in the Carbon Tax debate by investing in the development of this new technology.

“Victoria’s energy mix is dominated by brown coal generation accounting for more than 90 per cent of the State’s power and over 50 per cent of its CO2 emissions,” Greenearth said in its ASX announcement.

“Greenearth Energy’s CO2 to fuel conversion technology has the potential to reduce emissions substantially utilising low cost generation facilities and resources while at the same time potentially offsetting substantial future power cost increases.”

The technology has been developed in Israel by Professor Jacob Karni and his group at the Weizmann Institute of Science and proven in laboratory trials.

It involves a new method of using concentrated solar energy for the dissociation of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and oxygen.

According to Greenearth Energy the same system can also dissociate water to hydrogen and oxygen, at the same time it dissociates the CO2.

The carbon monoxide, or the mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen (called Syngas) can then be used as gaseous fuel, for example in power plants, or converted to a liquid fuel such as methanol, which has the potential to be stored, transported and used in motor vehicles.

“Greenearth Energy’s subsidiary company NewCo2Fuels Pty Ltd will fund the development of the project (via NewCO2Fuels) from the laboratory into the field,” Greenearth Energy managing director Mark Miller said in the announcement.

“Research will be performed under the supervision of Professor Karni, utilizing the Weizmann Institute’s world class solar tower and solar field facilities to generate fuel with the energy input being concentrated solar energy.”

Greenearth will fund the initial $US5.5 million stage of the project through a combination of a placement in the company to Erdi Fuels for 10% of the company’s issued capital and an option payment by Erdi Fuels.

“The option is for the acquisition of the shares of NewCo2Fuels, the licensee (following assignment) of the worldwide rights to the technology, should the project prove commercially viable, in return for which Greenearth Energy and its subsidiaries will receive a substantial capital sum and an ongoing royalty stream from future product sales,” Miller continued.

“We have been working with Professor Karni and the Weizmann Institute’s commercialisation arm Yeda for the past 12 months to bring this project collaboration to fruition.

“We believe the potential to turn our global CO2 challenge into an opportunity by way of producing commercially viable fuel from emissions represents literally a paradigm shift in the way society views and deals with one of our greatest challenges.

“We believe that this technology has the potential to be a viable alternative to CO2 sequestration and shift our thinking and approach to global CO2 emissions”.