Clean Energy Ventures
Assembly Line
Aepnus wants to create a circular economy for key battery manufacturing materials
Aepnus recently raised an $8 million seed round to ship more pilot-scale electrolyzers and develop the commercial-scale version. The round was led by Clean Energy Ventures with participation from Gravity Climate Fund, Impact Science Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Muus Climate Partners and Voyager Ventures.
Aepnus was founded to modernize the century-old chloralkali process, which splits salts like sodium sulfate back into the acids and bases that created them. The company uses electrolyzers to zap the salts, coaxing them into splitting. Other companies do the same thing, but they might use pricey metals to help speed the reactions. “We don’t use any expensive catalysts in our electrolyzers,” Akuzum said. The startup has over 15 customers at various stages, ranging from feasibility studies to testing the pilot-scale equipment.
Nitrofix raises $3.1 million Seed to produce ammonia from water and air
Nitrofix, which produces zero-emission ammonia through a novel electrochemical process, announced on Thursday $3.1 million in Seed financing. The Israeli startup plans to accelerate the production of green ammonia from just water and air for the agriculture, hydrogen, and maritime fuel markets. The round was led by Clean Energy Ventures, with participation from SOSV, Zero Carbon Capital, UM6P Ventures, and High House Investments.
By using water as a source of protons instead of fossil fuels, the technology reduces the activation energy needed to combine nitrogen with hydrogen – using half as much electricity as peers in the sector – enables decentralized production of ammonia and has the advantage of scaling to a distributed model. With ammonia demand expected to increase threefold by 2050, Nitrofix aims to create a more sustainable use of ammonia for industries, such as fertilizers for food, coolants in air conditioning, and maritime fuel for the transport of essential goods.