Twelve is a chemical technology company based in Berkeley, California.[1]
They develop technology to convert CO2 into profitable chemicals, such as plastics and transportation fuels.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Currently, the company uses metal catalysts to produce synthetic gas (syngas), methane, and ethylene.[8]
History
Originally launched under the name Obtainium in 2014,[9]
and later known as Opus 12,[10]
Twelve was officially founded in 2015 by Dr. Kendra Kuhl, Dr. Etosha Cave, and Nicholas Flanders.[1]
The company was part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's first Cyclotron Road cohort, an incubator program that aids in the creation of environmentally beneficial companies.[11][8][12]
Since then, it has won multiple awards including the Keeling Curve prize,[13] Ocean Exchange's WW Orcelle award,[14] the Roddenberry prize,[15] and Forbes' Change the World competition.[16][17]
In 2021, Twelve received $57 million in series A funding;[10] the company has also received funding through SBIR grants for projects involving CO2 conversion. This includes generating products such as carbon monoxide, polyethylene, ethanol, ethylene, methane, and jet fuel.[18]
In June 2022, Twelve announced $130 million in Series B funding with investment from DCVC and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.[19]
Twelve has also been featured on the television show Inside Bill's Brain as a company providing a potential solution to greenhouse gas emissions.[20]
Technology
Nicholas Flanders describes the company's technology as "industrial photosynthesis" to create jet fuel and diesel from carbon dioxide.[21][22] Their technology has been shown to convert CO2 from raw biogas into carbon neutralmethane.[23][24]
Twelve utilizes polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis, which splits apart water molecules into its component pieces (O2, electrons, and hydrogen ions) via the application of electricity. By adding a catalyst to the cathode, they are able to split up CO2 into CO and O2.[25]
In June 2020, the company partnered with SoCalGas and PG&E to advance their technology for use with CO2 present in biogas, which comes from sources such as landfills, sewage, and dairy farms.[27]
This gas, produced by the anaerobic breakdown of wastes, contains roughly 60% methane and 40% CO2; testing is being performed with the goal of achieving high conversion efficiency for long periods of time.[28]
In September 2021 Twelve partnered with LanzaTech to create polypropylene, a commonly used plastic which is traditionally produced from fossil fuels; this is the first time that polypropylene was made from CO2.[29]
Twelve plans to scale up their technology to an industrial-sized shipping container, which would enable them to produce larger quantities of product.[8][25][12]
