ENEOS Holdings — parent company of Japan’s largest energy firm — has made a strategic investment in AirMyne, a Berkeley, California-based direct air capture startup. And they’re not just writing a check: the two companies have begun a joint technical evaluation with plans to explore industrial integration and project development in the US, Japan, and globally.
The Technology
AirMyne is developing a liquid solvent-based DAC system designed around three priorities: low energy consumption, supply-chain security, and operational simplicity. That last one matters more than it sounds — many first-generation DAC systems are engineering-intensive to operate, which drives up costs and limits where they can be deployed.
The company plans to break ground on a commercial pilot and demonstration plant next year, with funding support from the California Energy Commission.
The Trend: Japanese Energy Giants Go DAC
This isn’t an isolated move. Japanese energy and chemical companies are systematically building positions in DAC:
- Sumitomo Corporation invested in Global Thermostat
- Mitsui & Co. backed Heirloom Carbon Technologies
- ENEOS itself previously partnered with Sumitomo and 44.01 on carbon mineralization
Japan’s energy transition strategy clearly treats DAC as strategic infrastructure, not speculative cleantech. When the parent company of your country’s biggest energy firm invests, that’s an industrial signal.
AirMyne also recently brought on Jan Huckfeldt, former Chief Commercial Officer at Climeworks, as interim CCO — a hire that suggests commercial scaling is the next priority, not just R&D.
Source: Carbon Herald