Cleantech startup Remora announced that it is expanding its solution to capture carbon from vehicles and share revenues from the sale of the captured CO2 to the rail industry, with partnerships in place with companies including Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern.
Founded in 2020, Detroit-based Remora provides a solution to capture C02 from vehicle exhaust. Initially focused on semi-trucks, the solution retrofits the vehicle with a system that traps CO2 by running the exhaust through an absorbent made of specialized pellets with microscopic pores that captures the CO2 molecules, which is then compressed into liquid form, while allowing other gasses such as nitrogen and oxygen to pass through. The system also reduces soot and particulate matter from the exhaust. Remora said that it has achieved up to 90% CO2 capture efficiency from its truck-scale system.
The solution also generates revenue for the transportation companies by extracting, purifying, and selling CO2 from their exhaust, and sharing the revenues with the trucking or railroad companies.
In a post announcing its partnership with Remora, Norfolk Southern Chief Sustainability Officer Josh Raglin said that by 2030, the technology could capture 714,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
Raglin said:
“The project places a capture car behind a locomotive that essentially scrubs emissions, preventing them from entering the atmosphere.
“A containment system inside the car stores CO2 as liquid and is easily offloaded when the locomotive refuels. The carbon will be transported to end-users like concrete, fuel, and chemical producers, for purchase. By 2030, the goal of the pilot is to produce 500 units of the tech annually.”
Remora said that it has raised $117 million in venture capital to date. Investors in the company include Valor Equity Partners, Lowercarbon Capital, Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital, Y Combinator, Neo, MCJ, and Voyager Ventures.
