After Akermin decided to cease operations in the Fall 2016, Canadian carbon capture and storage technology innovator CO2 Solutions Inc. - a rival to Akermin in the field of enzyme-based carbon capture - agreed to purchase several assets of former US-based competitor. Akermin, Inc. had been a cleantech technology development company developing and commercializing a polymer technology originally developed as St Louis University. Based on enzyme stabilization and operation to lower costs and create efficiencies in carbon capture systems, biofuel cells, natural gas sweetening, hydrogen production, landfills, and cement kilns, the process involves use of an enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, to accelerate absorption of carbon dioxide. The firm's core technology had been a proprietary enzyme delivery system that integrates the enzyme in a polymer allowing it to effectively work as a catalyst over extended periods in harsh industrial environments. Initial targeted markets are the CO2 separation industries of natural gas processing, fertilizer production, gasification and industrial hydrogen production. Akermin is currently transitioning from laboratory research to field demonstrations and establishing industrial partnerships for commercial delivery. Initial commercial sales are expected in 2015 targeting multi-billion dollar industrial carbon capture applications including natural gas, fertilizer, gasification, industrial hydrogen, oil sands, and power plants. Development for the use of stabilized enzymes in the food processing, biofuels, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries is also under way.
