Codexis Demonstrates Enzyme-Based Carbon Capture at NCCC

Codexis unveiled results from the pilot-scale demonstration of the company's carbon capture technology conducted at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama.

Codexis developed this patented technology under a license granted by CO2 Solutions.

The field test, on flue gas emitted from a Southern Company's power plant, shows that enzymes have promise to facilitate CO2 capture at coal-fired power plants. This is the largest scale that enzyme-based carbon capture technology has been demonstrated to date, with the equivalent daily capture rate of 1,800 average sized trees per day.

In May 2010, Codexis received $4.7 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) to develop an active enzyme called carbonic anhydrase (CA), which catalyzes the transfer of carbon dioxide in nature and is designed to remove dangerous emissions from coal-fired power plants.

A 2011 National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) report estimated that coal-fired power plants account for roughly 37% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and that current state-of-the-art MEA technology to capture CO2 could reduce power-generating capacity by 30%.

Codexis' enzyme-based technology, if successful, could play a role in meeting the proposed new EPA standards (Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants), first published in April 2012 - theoretically capturing up to 90% of CO2 emissions of coal-fired power plants.