Launch HN: Phase Biolabs (YC W22) – Converting CO2 to Carbon-Neutral Chemicals

Re:Launch HN: Phase Biolabs (YC W22) – Converting CO2 to Car... by solresol on Friday March 04, 2022 @04:20PM (#30560737)

Can you output methanol? Maersk is commissioning some new ships that are methanol powered; if they succeed their requirements alone will probably exceed current worldwide methanol production 10x.

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Re:Launch HN: Phase Biolabs (YC W22) – Converting CO2 to Car... by DavidPBL on Friday March 04, 2022 @05:19PM (#30561365)

Short answer is no. The real value in our solution is going from C1 compounds like CO2 to C2 or C3 or longer chain compounds. This is the real difficulty. Methanol is still a C1 compound. Biology could do it, but it's not what it excels at.

Maersk has commissioned 8 ships to run on methanol. For context, Maersk owns 550 ships. Gives you an idea of the size of the transportation fuel problem.

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