ION Clean Energy Partners with Koch to Expand Carbon-Capture Projects

ION Clean Energy (ION) and Koch Engineered Solutions (KES) agreed to expand their joint offering for technology-advantaged, low-cost post-combustion carbon-capture projects. ION will contribute its capture technology and Koch-Glitsch, a KES business, will contribute its proprietary critical-mass transfer process and separation equipment.

“Having a partner like KES, with their commitment to design and innovation, ensures that our customers can truly take advantage of our technology, minimize the cost, and maximize the value of their carbon-capture investment,” said Tim Vail, CEO of ION Clean Energy. “Building on the efforts of our founder and executive chairman Buz Brown, we take the expansion of our partnership with KES as a vote of confidence in ION’s technology and with our increased commercial activity, the marketplace views it the same way. We’re excited about our continued commercial growth and grateful for KES’s support and desire to be part of ION’s future.”

Through the agreement, ION and KES can utilize onsite vessel fabrication through Koch Specialty Plant Services (KSPS): its field fabrication experience and expertise will de-risk projects on cost, process, and constructability performance. Many large-scale commercial plants require onsite vessel fabrication, so KSPS’ involvement may increase confidence in the constructability review and schedule assurance in early project phases.

ION employees at a post-combustion capture project; image credit: ION Clean Energy

“We believe ION Clean Energy has an excellent carbon-capture technology,” said Dan Haycook, President, Equipment Technology & Services Group of KES. “We are thrilled that our mass transfer and separation equipment will play an integral role in unlocking this offering for the carbon-capture market.”

Also, Koch-Glitsch’s equipment will optimize ION’s process and enable peak performance for the company’s carbon-capture technology, all while reducing the cost and physical footprint for post-combustion projects. The partnership bolsters the equipment supply chain and allows for accurate design and cost basis earlier on—this increases the chance for customers’ projects to reach positive final investment decisions.

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In April 2024, Chevron New Energies (CNE) led a Series A funding round that raised $45 million for ION Clean Energy. ION’s ICE-31 liquid amine carbon-capture technology is a post-combustion solution for hard-to-abate emissions. CNE plans to use ION’s ICE-31 solution to assist customers with CO₂ emissions and will partner with ION customers on projects to scale the ICE-31 technology.

ION’s newfound capital will allow CNE to expand its technology portfolio with conventional amine-based carbon-capture solutions while complementing its current carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies. In addition to the investment, ION announced that Timothy Vail joined the company as its Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Vail was CEO of Arbor Renewable Gas and the founder and CEO of G2X Energy.

In late September of last year, ION entered an agreement to bring its ICE-31 solvent technology to be validated at Technology Centre Mongstad, a carbon-capture test facility, to assess the product’s performance through parametric and steady-state testing to demonstrate the solvent’s stability and minimal degradation. The validation testing was an effort from ION to boost the ICE-31 solvent’s technology readiness level (TRL) from TRL 6 to TRL 7.