Again, the German-Danish startup using ancient bacteria to turn CO2 into new chemicals, is building a new bioreactor plant in Texas.
The facility will be located at Texas City, a major petrochemicals park located on the Gulf Coast. The industrial centre is run by Diamond Infrastructure Solutions — a joint venture between chemicals giant Dow and Macquarie Asset Management.
“We’re building a global company, and that also means taking our technology into new regions,” Again’s co-founder Max Kufner told TNW. “There is a high demand in the US for our chemicals, particularly ones that can be sustainably made on-shore.”
The new facility will capture CO2 from one of Texas City’s refineries. Again will then combine the gas with hydrogen and feed the concoction to a host of millennia-old bacteria. The little germs devour the brew, turning it into commercial-grade compounds like acetate. This is the base chemical in everything from plastics and cosmetics to paint.
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Most industrial acetate is derived from fossil fuels. By using CO2 that would’ve otherwise entered the atmosphere, Again aims to produce cleaner chemicals. The company claims its CO2 fermenter can cut the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of chemical-making by up to 80%.
The petrochemical industry is responsible for 4% of the world’s total GHG emissions — twice that of air travel — so Again’s tech could make a huge impact. The company also claims its product is cost-competitive with the same chemicals made using fossil fuels.
Again opened its first pilot plant in Copenhagen in 2023, which converts up to 1 tonne of CO2 each day and turns it into acetate. The company is also currently building a facility in Norway, backed by a $47mn grant from the EU’s Horizon Europe research initiative.
Again emerged from over a decade of research led by Dr. Torbjørn Jensen and Professor Alex Nielsen at the Technical University of Denmark. They teamed up with Kufner, a German former early-stage investor, to found the startup in 2021. So far, Again has raised $150mn, according to Dealroom.
The company has already broken ground at the Diamond Texas City site, where it aims to build a new facility and begin production within a year. To bring its low-carbon chemicals to market, Again is partnering with German chemicals distributor Helm, targeting heavy industries in the region as key customers.
