Electrochaea uses microorganisms called archaea to produce synthetic natural gas from electricity. The technology allows green electricity to be stored and carbon dioxide to be captured simultaneously. By participating in the Munich company The American company Baker Hughes plans to expand its carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology portfolio. Existing investors MVP, Storengy, KfW, Caliza, Focus First, Energie 360°, and Btov are also participating in the latest financing round. Baker Hughes will hold a stake of approximately 15 percent in Electrochaea and take a seat on the Board of Directors.
“The combination of these technologies offers an integrated solution to significantly improve the carbon footprint of hard-to-decarbonise sectors such as road transport and heating,”
said Rod Christie, Executive Vice President of Turbomachinery & Process Solutions at Baker Hughes.
"This agreement is a deliberate continuation of our strategy to position Baker Hughes for new energy sectors like CCU by investing in new technologies and combining them with our own proven capabilities. Together, we can develop and scale faster and offer integrated solutions that can effectively decarbonize a range of industries."
The provision of synthetic natural gas at grid scale would be a remarkable development for energy consumers, says Mich Hein, CEO of Electrochaea:
"By combining Baker Hughes' carbon capture process with biomethanation, customers could potentially deploy large-scale plants to reduce the carbon footprint of existing gas infrastructure. We look forward to working with Baker Hughes to scale and commercialize this promising new solution."
