Leilac signs MoU with Heirloom for direct air capture of CO2

Leilac, Calix's 93 per cent-owned subsidiary focussing on decarbonisation of cement and lime, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Heirloom, a direct air capture (DAC) company.

The partnership between Leilac and Heirloom, whose investors include Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, as well as existing Leilac shareholder Carbon Direct Capital Management, Ahren Innovation Capital and Microsoft, brings together two leading climate technologies to provide an innovative and highly efficient approach to atmospheric CO₂ removal by DAC.

The MoU outlines the key terms for a global and binding licence and collaboration agreement for the use of Leilac’s kiln technology in Heirloom’s DAC solution.

In welcoming the partnership, Calix MD and CEO, Phil Hodgson said, “Heirloom is a sophisticated and innovative Direct Air Capture company, and their partnership with Leilac represents a new application of Calix’s core platform technology to address the global challenge of excess atmospheric CO₂ levels.”

“The licence and collaboration agreement outlined in the MOoU is the latest example of Calix’s commercialisation strategy, designed to deliver the greatest positive impact at the greatest speed.” 

Leilac CEO, Daniel Rennie, said, “Leilac is delighted to announce our partnership with Heirloom. Leilac and Heirloom are on a shared mission to help address global CO₂ emissions. Together, our technologies can deliver an efficient and scalable approach to directly removing excess carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.”

Shashank Samala, Heirloom's CEO, agreed, “We’re incredibly excited about incorporating Leilac’s world-leading electric kiln technology into our Direct Air Capture facilities because it will accelerate our efforts to capture 1bnt of CO₂ from the atmosphere by 2035 owing to its highly modular and energy-efficient design.”