User:Jimmyc13/8 Rivers Capital

Summary
8 Rivers Capital is a company based in Durham, North Carolina best known for its invention of the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle carbon capture technology and the founding of NET Power LLC to commercialize that technology. Their mission is “developing the sustainable infrastructure of tomorrow.”

History
8 Rivers Capital was founded in 2007 by two MIT Alumni: Bill Brown, an ex-Morgan Stanley managing director and Duke University professor, and Dr. Miles Palmer, an inventor and engineer formerly at SAIC, to address global problems through massive innovations.

Portfolio
Their website portfolio in 2019 listed four technologies: 1. Allam Cycle and NET Power 2. Thor Launch Systems 3. 8 Rivers Networks. 4. 8 Rivers Hydrogen.

NET Power
8 Rivers’ Rodney Allam and Jeremy Fetvedt invented the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle in 2009. In 2012 NET Power received a $50.4 m investment from the Shaw Group, now a part of McDermott, and a $90 m investment from Exelon. NET Power has a 50 MW power plant in Texas that announced first fire in May of 2018. It’s a carbon capture power plant that burns natural gas in pure oxygen, and uses CO2 to drive the turbine instead of steam. The turbine and combustor of the system were made by Toshiba. Oxy Low Carbon Ventures recently joined as an investor in November of 2018.

8 Rivers, in collaboration with the state of North Dakota, has also worked on a coal version of the Allam Cycle which integrates with gasified coal to create a pathway for zero emissions coal power. In 2019 this coal Allam Cycle technology won a grant from the US Department of Energy.

Thor Launch Systems
8 Rivers’ Thor Launch Systems aims to achieve airline like launch frequency and cost for space launch.

8 Rivers Networks
The 8 Rivers Networks technology aims to provide fiber speed data transfer without any wires. In 2017 they were selected by the City of Durham to build a data connection between Durham City Hall and a nearby building. This wireless technology was patented as a “Diverged Beam Communications System,” by 8 Rivers and lead author Miles Palmer.

8 Rivers Hydrogen
8 Rivers Hydrogen aims to produce clean, cheap hydrogen with full carbon capture.

People
Bill Brown is the CEO of 8 Rivers Capital. He was named one of the top 50 most daring entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur.com. Miles Palmer, Co-founder and Director of 8 Rivers Capital, is the author of 60+ publications and patents with 750+ combined citations. Three employees (Scott Martin, David Freed, and Mike McGroddy ) have been named to Forbes 30 under 30.