Baker Hughes buys CO2 technology company

Baker Hughes acquired Mosaic because it foresees a demand for its technology. Many industries will need carbon capture of emissions from power and industrial facilities and carbon dioxide removal to meet climate goals and emission reduction targets. (Image: Baker Hughes)

Baker Hughes has purchased Mosaic Materials to enhance its carbon dioxide capture utilization and storage business. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Mosaic has developed a proprietary adsorbent material that acts like a high capacity molecular sponge to selectively capture CO2. Baker Hughes said it will draw from its modular design and materials science experience to develop and scale Mosaic’s technology, which will enable direct air capture with a technology that requires less energy to operate and provides a lower total cost of ownership.

The metal organic framework is well suited for low purity CO2 streams, including atmospheric CO2 through direct air capture and capture within confined and air-tight environments, Baker Hughes said.

Many industries will need carbon capture of emissions from power and industrial facilities and carbon dioxide removal to meet climate goals and emission reduction targets. Creating economical, scalable and energy-efficient direct air capture (DAC) systems that can effectively capture CO2 from the atmosphere is important for supply into the CO2 utilization market, Baker Hughes said.

“Removing carbon through a multi-pronged approach, including direct air capture, is critical to overcoming climate change,” said Rod Christie, executive vice president of Turbomachinery & Process Solutions at Baker Hughes. “This is why we are investing in several emerging technologies, including Mosaic Materials, to develop a comprehensive and diversified portfolio that can significantly and efficiently reduce as well as eliminate CO2, across multiple industries, including hard-to-abate sectors.”

Mosaic’s technology is the latest addition to Baker Hughes’ portfolio of carbon capture utilization and storage solutions, which includes post-combustion capture, compression, subsurface storage and long-term integrity and monitoring. The Mosaic DAC technology can serve a variety of sectors across the energy and industrial value chain, including refining, aviation, shipping, municipalities, steel and cement manufacturing.

DAC can work in tandem with emissions controls to lower the aggregate amount of CO2 that is emitted. While emissions capture and improved energy efficiency at industrial sites can reduce current greenhouse gases, DAC can also cut legacy emissions in the atmosphere, Baker Hughes said.

“Joining Baker Hughes provides Mosaic Materials with the means and additional engineering expertise required to scale and commercialize our cost-competitive direct air capture technology,” said Nathan Gilliland, CEO of Mosaic Materials. “We believe our technology can enable more efficient direct air capture versus other DAC offerings. Together with Baker Hughes, we can now embark on accelerating the development of this compact but powerful system.”

Alameda, Calif.-based Mosaic’s metal-organic framework also has ongoing agreements with the U.S. Navy and NASA for its technology to be used to improve breathing air quality within confined spaces such as submarines and space missions.

Mosaic Materials is dedicated to reducing the cost and environmental impact of fossil fuels through the application of proprietary, highly efficient gas separation technologies. The company utilizes porous solids known as metal-organic frameworks to selectively remove impurities such as CO2 from gas mixtures in an array of applications from submarines to power plants.