SOURCE: Nanoptek Corporation
January 16, 2008 08:25 ET
Nanoptek Corporation Secures $4.7M in Series A Round
MAYNARD, MA--(Marketwire - January 16, 2008) - Nanoptek Corporation, a renewable energy
company that produces hydrogen directly from water using sunlight and its
proprietary photocatalyst, today announced it has closed a $4.7M Series A
equity financing round, led by The Quercus Trust, a California fund with
multiple investments in clean technology and renewable energy. Ardour
Capital Investments, LLC served as financial advisor in the transaction.
Series A investors also included the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
(MTC) and private investors. With this investment, Nanoptek expects to
complete the development of its field-deployable Solar Hydrogen Generator,
develop pilot manufacturing capability, and install the first pilot plant
for producing carbon-free hydrogen.
Most hydrogen today is produced by steam methane reformation (SMR) of
natural gas feedstock. In addition to consuming natural gas, the SMR
process releases carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into the
atmosphere. Some hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water, but this
too results in carbon dioxide production unless the electricity used is
from wind or solar.
Nanoptek's Solar Hydrogen Generator (SHG) produces hydrogen directly from
water using only sunlight and its proprietary photocatalyst in a process
known as photoelectrochemical (PEC) water dissociation, or photolysis. No
carbon dioxide is produced. Nanoptek has improved the PEC process by
developing a titania photocatalyst that absorbs significantly more sunlight
than normal titania. Nanoptek's patent pending technology achieves this
with nano-structures that stress the titania. Developed over 5 years with
funding from NASA, DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and a SEED loan
from MTC through the Renewable Energy Trust totaling over $1.3M, this
"bandgap engineering" results in more efficient and lower-cost production
of hydrogen from sunlight.
Nanoptek expects to sell the carbon-free locally produced hydrogen to
customers with high value industrial applications, and plans to also make
it available for applications including transportation, backup power,
"green" electricity for municipalities, and off-grid off-pipe power
generation.
About Nanoptek Corporation
Nanoptek Corporation, a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Maynard,
Massachusetts, is a renewable energy company developing technology to
reduce global warming by addressing markets for carbon-free, low-cost,
locally produced hydrogen. The Company's website is www.nanoptek.com.