Cemvita is a private biotech company, based in Houston, founded in 2017. It has isolated and/or engineered more than 150 microbial strains, aiming to valorize waste, convert CO2 to useful feedstocks, mine scarce metals (e.g., direct lithium extraction) and “brew” a variant of gold hydrogen from depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. This data-file is our Cemvita Factory technology review, based on exploring its patents.
Microbes can be engineered and cultivated to catalyze specific chemical reactions, in bio-reactors, when fed with nutrients (sugars, proteins, salts).
One reaction is the fixation of carbon from CO2, although this does invariably involve supplying energy to overcome the strong 799kJ/mol enthalpies of C=O bonds (O=O is just 498kJ/mol).
In depleted oil wells, unrecovered hydrocarbons can be decomposed into CO2 and hydrogen, and Cemvita’s spin-out, Gold Hydrogen, has made headlines describing trial results in the Permian.
However, we think the reactions that Cemvita is trying to catalyse are mostly endothermic, and would therefore need to be energized by nutrients fed to the microbes. For example, if the nutrients are sugar solution, then $500/ton sugar is akin to sourcing input energy at a relatively expensive 11c/kWh-th. Including inefficiencies and side reactions, the resultant energy costs of hydrogen production are quantified in a tab of the model.
We were not entirely able to de-risk Cemvita’s aspirations for sub-$1/kg gold hydrogen, based on our Cemvita Factory technology review, which evaluated the disclosures in its patents. There were specific issues with economics and additives, and the purity of CO2 that is generated (some very granular details are available in the data-file).
The Patents tab contains a concise summary of each patent we reviewed, its aims, what is patented, and our observations. The wide breadth was notable compared to other patent libraries that we have reviewed.
Please also see our broader research into gold hydrogen and direct lithium extraction. We still think that pre-existing technologies, in both spaces, have a long runway ahead, without necessarily being disrupted. Other engineered hydrogen approaches have interested us.