Molten Industries, a company that converts natural gas into clean graphite and hydrogen, announced the successful closing of a $25 million Series A funding round. This funding round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), with new participation from Sozo Ventures, Mark Heising, and Steelhead Capital. The existing investors that also participated in the round include Union Square Ventures, 50 Years, J4 Ventures, Moai Capital, UVC Partners, Jane Woodward, and Peter Attia.
Molten will be using this funding to build its first modular commercial reactor in Oakland and become a leading producer of graphite for lithium-ion batteries and clean hydrogen to decarbonize the chemical and steel industries.
Dr. Caleb Boyd and Dr. Kevin Bush (members of the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program) founded Molten in 2021 with a goal to decarbonize the world’s heavy industries. And Molten is transforming the battery industry by producing a drop-in, lithium-ion battery grade graphite from natural gas and renewable electricity.
This will enable Molten to fundamentally change the cost structure and geographic constraints of the global graphite supply chain. And their process can produce clean hydrogen as a valuable co-product which can be used to decarbonize other industries, such as steel and chemical production.
Graphite is one of the most essential minerals in batteries. And as manufacturing and EVs scale up around the world, nations are increasingly focusing on securing reliable supplies of critical materials like graphite. Diversified supply chains are a major part of scaling up battery manufacturing and Molten’s technology gives countries like the U.S. a way to produce it with domestic feedstocks and at lower cost.
Molten is now looking to site its first commercial plant to produce 5,000 tons of hydrogen and 15,000 tons of graphite per year, which will consist of roughly 20 modular commercial reactors, at a chemical or steel plant.
KEY QUOTES:
“Clean liquid fuels, ammonia for fertilizers, plastics, and green steel all require a hydrogen feedstock that can compete on cost with petroleum-based products. There is a severe pain point in the chemical, steel, and transportation industries to find a clean and economical source of hydrogen as feedstocks for their products. Molten’s methane pyrolysis technology solves this pain point.”
– Molten Industries CTO Caleb Boyd
“Establishing reliable sources of critical materials like graphite is essential to supporting the transition to EVs at scale. Molten has developed a process that not only enables the domestic production of graphite, but also at a lower cost, and while creating a highly valuable hydrogen co-product.”
– Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures
