Dive Brief:
- Energy technology firm GE Vernova and Montana Technologies have formed a joint venture to incorporate GE Vernova’s sorbent materials into systems that use Air Joule, Montana Technologies’ dehumidification, air conditioning and water harvesting products.
- The use of GE Vernova’s sorbents will enhance the performance of AirJoule’s HVAC and atmospheric water harvesting products, the companies said in a March 11 news release. The joint venture will operate under the AirJoule name to exclusively manufacture and supply those products to the Americas, Africa and Australia.
- AirJoule systems have the potential to significantly lower energy consumption in applications including dehumidification, air conditioning, water heating and water harvesting, Montana Technologies Chief Technology Officer Pete McGrail said in the release.
Dive Insight:
The joint venture agreement precedes GE Vernova’s spin-off from General Electric, which is expected to occur April 2. The new joint venture is one of the first business transactions from GE Vernova’s new ventures and incubation group, which works to bring energy transition innovations to customers, per the release.
The AirJoule technology utilizes advanced sorbents — insoluble materials that absorb and recover liquids — and a self-generating pressure swing adsorption system to harvest thermal energy and pure water from air, Montana said.
GE Vernova is investing in Montana Technologies in support of the collaboration, the release states, and Bryan Barton will leave his post as GE Vernova’s senior director of marketing, ventures and incubation to lead the combined entity as its CEO. GE Vernova’s advanced research team will support research and development projects at the new joint venture.
AirJoule previously received investments from the Rice Investment Group and a commitment from Carrier to help develop and commercialize the technology.
"The sorbent and coating innovations developed by the GE Vernova Advanced Research team combined with the system developed at Montana places us in a leading position to scale this technology to reduce energy consumption and address water scarcity,’’ Montana Technologies CEO Matt Jore said in the release.
Montana Technologies plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition merger in March, it said in the release.
