Liquid Light

Last updated
Liquid Light, Inc.
Type Private
IndustryProcess technology to make chemicals from carbon dioxide
Headquarters Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, U.S.
Key people
Dave Law, Chief Executive Officer
Emily Cole, Chief Science Officer & Co-founder
Dr. Andrew Bocarsly, Co-founder
Website www.llchemical.com

Liquid Light is a New Jersey-based company that develops and licenses electrochemical process technology to make chemicals from carbon dioxide (CO2). [1] [2] The company has more than 100 patents and patent applications for the technology that can produce multiple chemicals such as ethylene glycol, propylene, isopropanol, methyl-methacrylate and acetic acid. Funding has been provided by VantagePoint Capital Partners, BP Ventures, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Osage University Partners and Sustainable Conversion Ventures. [3] [4] Liquid Light's technology can be used to produce more than 60 chemicals, but its first targeted process is for the production of monoethylene glycol (MEG) which has a $27 billion annual market. [2] MEG is used to make a wide range of consumer products including plastic bottles, antifreeze and polyester fiber. [5] [6]

Contents

Company history

Liquid Light began operations in 2009 with seed capital from Redpoint Ventures after being co-founded by Kyle Teamey, Emily Cole, Andrew Bocarsly, Fouad Elnaggar and Nety Krishna. [7] The company licensed technology developed by Bocarsly and Cole at Princeton University for electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to chemicals and subsequently began to develop additional technology for commercial implementation and to broaden the potential product offerings. [8] After validating the technology at lab scale and beginning engineering scale-up, the company unveiled the first product, a process for making MEG, in March 2014 and subsequently won significant industry recognition including the CCEMC Grand Challenge, the CleanTech 100 Rising Star of the Year, and a #1 ranking in Biofuels Digest’s 40 Hottest Smaller Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy. [7] [9] [10] [11] The company closed a $15 million series B round of investment in September 2014 from investors including VantagePoint Capital Partners, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Osage University Partners, Sustainable Conversion Ventures, and BP Ventures. [12]

On January 10, 2017 Avantium announced its acquisition of Liquid Light for an undisclosed amount. [13]

Technology

Liquid Light’s core technology is based on the principles of electrochemistry and electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. The process under development for production of MEG first converts carbon dioxide into a two carbon intermediate called oxalate or oxalic acid. [1] Oxalate is then converted to MEG in separate process steps that have potentially lower costs of production than petroleum-based processes. [1] Liquid Light has developed additional technology to make other products from oxalic acid including glycolic acid, glyoxylic acid, acetic acid, and ethanol. [12]

See also

Carbon dioxide

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Lamonica, Martin. "A Cheaper Route to Making Chemicals from CO2". technologyreview.com. MIT. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 Retka Schill, Susanne. "NJ company unveils low-cost CO2-to-chemical process". ethanolproducer.com. BBI International. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Knapp, Alan. "Liquid Light Raises $15 Million To Convert Carbon Emissions To Chemicals". Forbes. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "New Fundings, Accolades Shine on CO2-to-Chemicals Startup Liquid Light". cleantechiq.com. CLEANTECHIQ. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Hodson, Hal. "Don't waste CO2, turn it into bottles and glue". newscientist.com. Reed Business Information Ltd. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Andrei, Mihai. "Seeing CO2 as a resource: using it for superglue, bottles and fertilizer". zmescience.com. ZME Science. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 Analyst, CTIQ. "New Fundings, Accolades Shine on CO2-to-Chemicals Startup Liquid Light". cleantechiq.com. CleanTechIQ. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Zandonella, Catherine. "Startup born in Princeton lab turns carbon dioxide into fuels". princeton.edu. News at Princeton. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  9. ↑ Lane, Jim. "Liquid Light, Virent, Rivertop Renewables, NexSteppe take top slots in The 40 Hottest Smaller Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy for 2014-15". biofuelsdigest.com. Biofuels Digest. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) names winners for round one of $35 million international Carbon Use competition". ccemc.ca. CCEMC. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Global Cleantech 100 Awards". cleantech.com. Cleantech Group. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  12. 1 2 Lane, Jim. "Liquid Light raises $15M and a lot of eyebrows as it advances toward making $$ out of waste CO2". biofuelsdigest.com. Biofuels Digest. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "Avantium Acquires Liquid Light". avantium.com. Retrieved 11 August 2022.

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