Atoco is a company that is tackling the causes and effects of climate change. The company is on a mission to address global warming and water scarcity by developing sustainable, resilient, and transformational solutions in the fields of carbon capture and atmospheric water harvesting. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Atoco CEO Dr. Samer Taha to learn more about the company.
Dr. Taha’s Background
Dr. Taha has over 20 years of experience in R&D, technology commercialization, and entrepreneurship in ICT and Nanotechnology. And Dr. Taha said:
“I’m dedicating my focus to GreenTech and Climate Change Technologies. Deploying the know-how and experience I gained over the years toward serving the planet is both a challenging scientific quest and a noble cause that I’ve been passionate about for a long time.”
“I’ve been privileged to work with exceptionally talented people and cutting-edge technologies over the last two decades, since my early research activities at the CICTR Lab at Penn State, my industrial R&D experience at Intel’s technology group in Oregon, and going through the challenges of co-founding and leading two ICT startups. More interestingly, since 2018, while leading Revonence’s nanotechnology ventures, I’ve had opportunities to work closely with the brightest minds at Northwestern University and the University of California Berkeley, leading the technology commercialization efforts for some of the most advanced discoveries in the field.”
“As a technology commercialization leader, I believe we are closer today than ever to delivering transformational solutions to the climate change problem. I’m committed to deploying my experience and resources to foster a team that continuously challenges the status quo to deliver on that vision. Tackling climate change is a complex endeavor; it will require collaboration among like-minded pioneers and like-minded organizations.”
Formation Of Atoco
How did the idea for the company come together? Dr. Taha shared:
“When Professor Omar Yaghi pioneered reticular chemistry in the 1990s, he did not envision that this breakthrough could change the world. He was more focused on the task at hand: stitching molecules together to build an entirely new class of materials. Soon, though, he discovered that the unique properties of his novel reticular materials could hold the key to mitigating the causes and effects of global warming. Now, after decades of progressive innovation, the time is right for this technology to help solve our planet’s most significant crisis: climate change. Thus, Atoco was born.”
“Atoco is made up of the words “Atom and “Company” to sum up our operations at an atomic level. Ultimately, Atoco was created to leverage decades of advancements in reticular chemistry and nanotechnology to fight climate change. We are tackling the causes of climate change (global warming) as well as the consequences of climate change (water scarcity) by developing sustainable and transformational solutions in the fields of Atmospheric Water Harvesting and CO2 Capture – all built upon Professor Yaghi’s discoveries in molecularly engineered materials.”
“As the CEO, I have the overall executive responsibility, leading the business and commercialization strategy of Atoco and managing the technical and commercial teams.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Dr. Taha reflected:
“When the passive atmospheric water harvesting prototype, developed and built by the team of scientists working with Prof. Yaghi, successfully generated clean water, relying solely on solar energy, in one of the driest places on earth, the Death Valley in California.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Dr. Taha explained:
“Atoco takes on climate change on two fronts: we are tackling the root cause of climate change – carbon dioxide emissions– while also addressing one of the most severe implications of climate change: the widespread challenge of water scarcity across the globe.”
“At Atoco, we tackle the challenges of climate change and water scarcity simultaneously, utilizing our innovative products. By harnessing the power of reticular materials such as MOFs (Metal-organic frameworks) and COFs (Covalent-organic frameworks) for atmospheric water harvesting and carbon capture, we address the distinct issues inherent in climate change and water scarcity. Our approach recognizes the unique and shared problems within these realms, allowing us to create impactful solutions that encompass the full scope of these critical global concerns.”
Challenges Faced
What specific bottlenecks has Dr. Taha faced in his work sector? Dr. Taha acknowledged:
“We see challenges and the need to rethink technical solutions both in the context of water scarcity and carbon capture.”
“On the carbon capture side, let’s take the example of direct air capture (DAC). Capturing CO2 from the air is the most expensive application of carbon capture. The CO2 in the atmosphere is much more diluted than in, for example, flue gas from a power station or a cement plant. This contributes to DAC’s higher energy needs and costs relative to these applications. However, capturing CO2 after it has been emitted is critical to fight climate change. Therefore, we consider it paramount to significantly increase the efficiencies of direct air capture technologies.”
“Regarding the challenges around water scarcity and stress. Atoco’s atmospheric water harvesting technology is being developed to provide an alternative renewable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly solution for clean water. Our solutions can run without the use of electricity, lowering the carbon footprint of the solution.”
“Today, especially in arid regions, clean water solutions often rely on non-environmentally friendly practices such as the extraction of deep underground unrenewable water; long-distance water transports – generating a significant carbon footprint – or energy-intensive desalination – associated with not only the harmful brine side product but also heavy energy consumption, resulting in significant CO2 emissions.”
“Atoco’s atmospheric water harvesting technology, on the other hand, generates clean water while relieving the environment from the release of brine and CO2 emissions. More importantly, Atoco’s atmospheric water harvesting technology provides new hope for expanding and accelerating the deployment of solutions for fighting desertification, one of our environment’s most alarming challenges.”
Evolution Of Atoco’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Dr. Taha noted:
“Since our launch from stealth, our focus has been on advancing our capabilities to produce our novel materials at a larger scale, which is a critical step to enable volume manufacturing in the future. For some of our novel reticular materials, we started from a production capacity of as small as mg scale, then over time, we evolved to 10g, 100g, and then multiple Kgs scale.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Dr. Taha cited:
“Atoco hasn’t commercially launched any of its products yet. Thus, one of the most significant milestones is an interim development milestone. In Q3 2023, Atoco completed the development of two industrial-grade R&D facilities operated by a diverse and experienced team of scientists. We believe we’ve built one of the most advanced capabilities in the world in terms of the comprehensive and precise characterization and performance measurement of carbon capture and atmospheric water harvesting technologies.”
Funding
After asking Dr. Taha about funding information, he revealed:
“Atoco is backed by Revonence Technologies International Limited, an international value-add private equity holding company focusing on the commercialization of nanotechnology and climate technologies.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Dr. Taha assessed:
“Atoco is aspiring to be a global technology leader across our business verticals. The two verticals, however, are at different maturity levels. While the carbon capture field has been around for decades, atmospheric water harvesting is a relatively new field. What they have in common, however, is that novel reticular materials haven’t really been applied at scale in these sectors. There is, thus, an element of blue ocean at play here.”
“On the carbon capture side, there are currently around 40 commercial direct air capture facilities in operation globally, with a total annual capture capacity of more than 45 Mt CO2. While more than 50 new capture facilities targeting operation by 2030 have been announced since January 2022, the pipeline of current projects is only just around a third of the NZE Scenario requirement in 2030, meaning additional installed capacity is to be installed. Atoco will tap into this growth, offering solid-state modules for post-combustion/point-source solutions and direct air capture (DAC) solutions.”
“On the AWH side, the reality is that today, two-thirds of the world’s population – four billion people – experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year. Half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025, and nearly 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030. So, the challenge we are trying to solve is becoming increasingly severe and urgent. As for the market potentials, these depend a great deal on the application area of the AWH. Short-term, Atoco gives priority to irrigation-related applications, especially in the context of desertification and greenery. With that in mind, target markets typically suffer from a combination of water scarcity and stress. It could be countries such as Saudi Arabia or Jordan; it could be Niger or Chad in Africa; it could be Spain in Europe – and it could be the states of Nevada or Arizona in the US.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Atoco from its competition? Dr. Taha affirmed:
“In essence, we leverage novel reticular materials, designed and measured with atomic precision, in areas where they have never been used before. By doing that, we offer a technology leap that can help millions of people worldwide.”
“Let’s take the example of atmospheric water harvesting. Most suppliers of atmospheric water harvesting solutions rely substantially on technologies different from ours. Such as cooling-condensation technology or wet-desiccation technologies. Both these technologies are fundamentally mechanical in design, rely on electricity to run (active), and typically cannot generate water in humidity levels below 30%. Leveraging our novel reticular materials, Atoco, on the other hand, can generate water at scale without the use of electricity, even in super-low humidity conditions.”
“Obviously, a small handful of players in the market are trying to leverage reticular materials to harvest water. The difference is that Atoco’s founder, Professor Yaghi, is the founder of reticular chemistry. We capitalize, thereby, on decades of research and advancement to engineer with atomic precision novel materials that efficiently capture water as well as carbon from the air.’
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Dr. Taha pointed out:
“We see climate change as a long-term investment. Our technologies serve to combat a multi-decade problem to help fix our planet. As we lead the commercialization of this technology, Atoco is uniquely positioned to spearhead this new economic era in the years to come.”
“We’re at the beginning of an exceptional journey. Atoco is now working on the development of its first-generation products in the fields of carbon capture and atmospheric water harvesting. Atoco’s scientists, led by Prof. Yaghi, are continuously working on the advancement of the technologies in terms of their precision and efficiency.”
“The key to solving climate change is in the air all around us. The atmosphere contains 10 times the amount of freshwater compared to all the rivers combined, but it also holds increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide, by far the most harmful greenhouse gas known to humankind. Atoco captures both carbon dioxide and water molecules from thin air. We are paving the way for a new economic era – the era of the Air Economy.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics to discuss? Dr. Taha concluded:
“Atoco belongs to a new class of companies, where we develop products with new features and functions. The new features and functions are achieved by designing, with atomic precision, new novel solid-state materials that have new properties and features unseen before. In the case of Atoco, we are focusing on leveraging the new properties of these novel materials to counter the root cause and main consequence of climate change.”
