One of the Boston’s most-groundbreaking companies in the realm of energy—perhaps a holder of one of the keys to slowing climate change—has added $40 million in new funding to further its development efforts.
Bedford, Mass.-based Joule Unlimited on Monday announced the new funding for its carbon-neutral fuels, bringing the company to about $200 million raised since its launch in 2007.
The money will go toward bringing Joule’s fuel production process closer to commercialization. The process involves converting waste carbon dioxide into ethanol or diesel, using sunlight, non-drinkable water and Joule’s genetically modified bacteria as a catalyst. The end result is a renewable fuel that doesn’t create a net increase of CO2 into the atmosphere.
To accomplish that, Joule must locate its plants near other industrial facilities, such as a cement plant, for access to the waste CO2. Some of the new funding will help expand Joule’s demonstration plant in Hobbs, New Mexico—which is expected to lay the groundwork for Joule’s first commercial plant, a 1,000-acre facility that should start construction in 2017. That plant could produce 25 million gallons of ethanol or 15 million gallons of diesel per year, according to Joule.
As it stands, Joule “has proven the industrial viability of its approach” and is now “rapidly advancing towards market introduction within the next few years,” said company co-founder and chairman Noubar Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Ventures.
Cambridge-based Flagship and other existing investors—who weren’t disclosed in Joule’s news release—contributed the new $40 million round. Eighty-five percent of the new funding is in equity and the remaining 15 percent is in debt, a spokeswoman said. Joule’s valuation in connection with the round is not being disclosed.
