This seemed like the most interesting startup in the batch to me. For those who didn't want to comb through 85 startup descriptions, Prometheus claims that they can "remove CO2 from the air and turn it into gasoline" for about $3.00/gallon. If that's a number they can eventually get closer to the current cost of manufacturing gasoline, well then this is gonna be a $500 billion company.
"If that's a number they can eventually get closer to the current cost of manufacturing gasoline, well then this is gonna be a $500 billion company."
It's a $5 Trillion dollar company.
This, and the 'male contraceptive with no side-effects' are 'magic claims' style companies, where if their claims are true, they immediately massive companies.
Usually, the devil is in the details. A few little things here and there contextualize the claims.
Think of how many smart people we have working on big problems and how few real breakthroughs we have.
These things will mostly be evolutionary. Like 'male contraceptive' but it actually does have the side effect of long-term problems. Or takes a year to wear off. Or is $20 a pop and last for 1 hour. Or is only 95% effective. Etc. etc..
Prometheus definitely stood out.
If they can do what they advertise, states could start implementing carbon taxes per gallon on the current gasoline to make the 'CO2 neutral' gas the same price or less.
Had a look through the patents. Their IP seems to be around a forward-osmosis separation process. They use CO2 in ammonia on the dilute side of the osmosis process.
So my complete seat-of-the-pants, duffer-on-the-bench guess is that they have a CO2 capture process (or use CO2 from a nearby industrial combustion process), use the CO2 in their process to separate gasoline in place of a traditional distillation process, then remove the CO2 from the gasoline by precipitating it as ammonium carbonate, which can be sequestered somehow.