Company attributes
Other attributes
Twelve is a chemical technology company based in Berkeley, California. They have developed a device that recycles CO2 into cost-competitive chemicals and fuels. Their technology bolts onto any source of CO2 emissions, and with only water and electricity as inputs, transforms that CO2 into chemical products. These chemicals include methane, ethylene, and ethanol, which are gases used to make plastics, surfactants, detergents, and fuels that burn relatively clean, as compared to diesel and gasoline. Twelve describes this process as an accelerated version of photosynthesis.
Twelve utilizes polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis, which splits water molecules into its component pieces through electricity. Through the application of a catalyst to the cathode, Twelve is able to split CO2 to CO and O2.
Originally launched under the name Obtainium in 2014, and later Opus 12, the company was officially founded in 2015 by Dr. Kendra Kuhl, Dr. Etosha Cave and Nicholas Flanders. The company was part of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's first Cyclotron Road cohort.They rebranded under the name Twelve in June 2021.
The company has won multiple awards including the Keeling Curve prize, Ocean Exchange's WW Orcelle award, the Roddenberry prize, and Forbes' Change the World Competition.