SUMMARY

The South Korean firm will make further investments in US-based 8 Rivers.

By Shardul Sharma

South Korea’s SK Inc. Materials on March 9 said it is accelerating its clean energy business by making additional investments in US-based 8 Rivers, a company that owns carbon capture, storage, and utilisation (CCUS) technology. The Korean company will form and fund US investment vehicles with a total capital contribution of $300mn.

8 Rivers owns CO2 power generation technology that naturally captures CO2  using natural gas and coal as feedstock without any additional equipment and blue hydrogen generation technology utilising a method that separates CO by cooling it into a liquefied state.

"Although carbon reduction has become a global agenda, it is difficult to replace base-load power generation with renewable energy alone, and the method of capturing CO2  is still expensive. 8 Rivers, with its innovative technology, will contribute to the acceleration of carbon reduction by significantly improving cost competitiveness," said SK Inc. Materials.

SK Inc. Materials plans to promote a clean energy business centered on the North American market. Clean energy projects will be launched targeting Asian countries that are highly dependent on fossil fuels and have abundant CO2 storage spaces, such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

SK Inc Materials in February this year signed an agreement with ExxonMobil for the introduction of blue ammonia and an investment into ION Clean Energy, a Boulder, Colorado-based carbon capture company, to license the use of ION's technology in Asia was made.