Isra-Mart srl:Ciris Energy turns coal into cash with $24m funding round

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Isra-Mart srl news:

US clean coal start-up Ciris Energy has raised almost $24m towards building its first commercial plant after a second round of financing attracted a number of big-hitting venture capitalists.

New investor Khosla Ventures, whose founder Vinod Khosla has expressed doubts over clean coal in the past, announced that it has joined existing backers Braemar Energy Ventures, Rho Ventures and GE Energy Financial Services to put Ciris well on course to meeting its fund-raising target of $39.7m.

The company has developed technology to convert underground coal and mined low-rank coal into pipeline-quality methane. Methane is the key constituent of natural gas, which emits far less carbon dioxide and other pollutants than burning coal.

Natural gas is expected to play an increasing role in US power production, especially after the discovery of huge volumes of shale gas, and its use could help remove 44 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from power generation by 2030, according to a study by Deutsche Bank.

Ciris is one of a number of firms working on technologies capable of bringing exhausted coal seams back into production, but it claims its methods are less expensive than both natural gas development and other gasification processes.

"Ciris has the potential to transform and extend the coal resource base in a number of distinct geographies," said Khosla. "This may be the cleanest and cheapest form of clean coal."

Jerry Clark, chief executive of Ciris Energy, said that the funding would allow the company to implement its first industrial-scale projects and move its ex-situ biochemical coal conversion technology towards commercial viability.

"In 2010, we achieved several key milestones on our road to commercialisation, and 2011 promises to build on that as we implement our technology in commercial field development to produce clean, low-cost energy," he said.