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Siluria Raises Extra $30M to Commercialize CH4-to-Fuel Conversion Process

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July 26, 2012

Siluria Raises Extra $30M to Commercialize CH4-to-Fuel Conversion Process

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

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San Francisco-based Siluria Technologies—a four-year-old private firm recently named to Technology Review’s “50 Most Innovative Companies 2012”— has announced the closing of its Series C financing. The company, which has developed technology that converts cheap and abundant natural gas directly into longer-chain, higher-value molecules that can replace the oil used for liquid fuel, raised $30 million in this round.


New investors Bright Capital and Vulcan Capital led the round. All of the company's existing investors— ARCH Venture Partners, The Wellcome Trust, Alloy Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Lux Capital, Altitude Life Science Ventures and Presidio Ventures (News - Alert)— participated in the round. The Series C financing will help fund the commercialization of the company's technology. To date, Siluria has raised $63.3 million.

Rather than break down the complex mixture of hydrocarbons in oil to produce usable fuels and chemicals, Siluria's technology builds these products from methane (CH4), the world's most abundant hydrocarbon and the principal component of natural gas. The catalytic process is fully scalable and uses commercially available equipment.

"Siluria's technology truly unlocks the potential of natural gas. Currently, the use of natural gas is largely limited to heating and the production of electricity. Oil is more valuable, because it can be converted into wide array of transportation fuels and industrial chemicals," said Mikhail Chuchkevich, managing partner at Bright Capital. "Siluria opens new, more lucrative markets for the producers and distributors of natural gas."

Fuels and chemicals manufactured via Siluria's process and natural gas are indistinguishable from products made today from oil. The difference is cost. On an energy equivalent basis, natural gas is four to five times less expensive than oil in North America—and nearly half the price of oil in Europe, where far less natural gas is produced, according to the BP Statistical Review of Energy. By leveraging the abundance and wide availability of natural gas, Siluria's technology lowers the expense of producing fuels and chemicals.

"Siluria provides an answer to one of the world's greatest challenges: the ability to produce commodity chemicals and transportation fuels from a resource that is a cheaper and more abundant than oil. With Siluria's technology, natural gas can become a fundamental building block for a number of industries," said Steve Hall, managing director at Vulcan Capital. "The compatibility of Siluria's process with the existing infrastructure paves the way for widespread adoption."

"Expanding industrial feedstock base to natural gas will have a positive effect throughout the global economy," said Dr. Alex Tkachenko, president and co-founder of Siluria. "Natural gas producers and commodity manufacturers will generate greater returns on their investments and overall emissions can decline."

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Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli

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