Barton Blakeley, a UK-based carbon utilisation company, has raised £2.4 million in funding led by Elbow Beach Capital, which invested £1.7 million. This comes as a continuation of the investor’s focus to back technologies of the future, including waste-to-energy convertor WASE and cathode technology company Anaphite.
Funds utilisation
Barton Blakeley’s immediate target is the deployment of its first system to industry. The technology is currently in use at a test plant, but funds raised will be utilised to harness emissions from an industrial factory. Within the next four years, each system deployed will be permanently removing 1 kilo-tonne of carbon per year from the atmosphere, the equivalent of 200 commercial aircraft flights from London to Washington DC, which will have a significant impact on industry emissions. The company estimates that a further 15.5 kilo-tonnes of CO2 per year is expected to be saved by manufacturing synthetic silica using this innovative process instead of current industrial methods.
The company also eyes diversifying its offering into a wider range of potential markets, taking advantage of the versatility of synthetic silica to capitalise on a broad segment of the industry.
New appointment to its board
In addition to the investment round, Elbow Beach Capital announced the appointment of Volker Beckers as Chair of Barton Blakeley. Beckers has outstanding experience in the energy sector, including as former Group CEO of RWE Npower and has recently been awarded a CBE for his services to nuclear energy.
Since then, Beckers has held a variety of influential roles across the wider energy industry and is involved with several advisory panels, including as President of the British Institute of Energy Economics, contributing his expertise to discussions on energy policy and sustainability. He brings an intimate knowledge of the industry and experience of supporting companies through continued growth and commercialisation.
Volker Beckers said: “I am pleased to be joining Barton Blakeley at this pivotal time for the company. With the technology proven, I look forward to supporting the company as it enters its first commercial partnerships and navigates the scale-up process with a great partner in Elbow Beach Capital.”
Converts industrial CO2 to clean energy
Carbon utilisation is one of the most effective technologies for reducing emissions but, despite technological advances, most current solutions remain expensive and inefficient, requiring huge amounts of energy to function. Barton Blakeley has developed a chemical process that permanently removes industrial CO2 emissions and efficiently converts them into clean energy and synthetic silica.
Synthetic silica is present in many everyday products such as high-speed internet cables, smartphones and cameras as it is essential to the manufacture of optical fibres and semiconductors. Traditional methods of manufacturing synthetic silica are highly carbon-intensive and expensive.
Founded by Christopher Barton in 2016, Barton Blakeley’s technology uses waste emissions to manufacture silica, significantly reducing the material’s climate impact, and at a substantially lower cost than usual manufacturing methods providing a greener, cheaper, and more secure domestic supply of the material. Its process also produces clean energy, making it an ideal solution for industries and companies looking to directly reduce their CO2 emissions. Barton Blakeley has developed modular sites which can be located on the premises of industry partners to directly capture and utilise their CO2 emissions.
A game-changer in the industry?
Barton Blakeley’s carbon utilisation technology could revolutionize industrial sustainability by turning CO2 emissions into synthetic silica and clean energy. Its process reduces the carbon footprint of silica manufacturing, a $500 billion market, by repurposing industrial waste. With modular systems capturing 1 kilo-tonne of CO2 annually per site, Barton Blakeley not only combats emissions but also supplies a greener, cheaper alternative to carbon-intensive silica, driving impactful change in industries from semiconductors to telecommunications.
As Barton Blakeley’s carbon-converted silica is produced from captured CO2, it allows various industries to directly reduce their carbon footprint.
Jonathan Pollock, CEO of Elbow Beach Capital, commented: “We are delighted to be supporting Barton Blakeley. Their team has developed some exceptional technology and the commercial application has wide-reaching implications across a diverse span of industries and a massive addressable market. Elbow Beach Capital is pleased to lead this funding round, which will enable Barton Blakeley’s technology to be brought on-site at industrial factories for the first time.”
Christopher Barton, CEO of Barton Blakeley, added: “After a period of technical development, it is exciting to be taking firm steps towards commercialisation through placing our first system at an industrial site. In addition to capturing carbon, our ground-breaking technology will provide cheaper, greener, and local synthetic silica in addition to green energy, and we look forward to working with industry partners to see this opportunity grow. Elbow Beach Capital’s experience in supporting early-stage startups through the commercialisation process makes them an ideal partner for us and we have already benefitted from JP and the team’s support.”
