Mitico Reports Thai Refinery Carbon Capture Success as Sector Costs Draw Fire
The California firm's potassium-sorbent demo adds Southeast Asian field data, but the industry's expense problem and absence of independent verification keep investors wary.
Mitico Inc reported on August 28 (2026-08-28) that it had successfully completed a demonstration project for its carbon capture system at a refinery in Thailand, deploying a proprietary potassium-based chemical sorbent through custom designs and running the test in partnership with the refinery operator.3
The result lands in the middle of a widening argument over whether carbon capture can move beyond pilot scale and subsidy dependence. Mitico claims its platform, based on technology validated at the California Institute of Technology, can capture over 95 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from post-combustion sources including gas-fired power plants.3
Refineries are a demanding test case. Their flue gas streams carry inconsistent temperatures and contaminant loads, which has tripped up several capture technologies previously. A successful run at a working Thai refinery gives Mitico data it can take to other industrial clients across Asia, where refining capacity is expanding.3
But the demo arrives at an uncomfortable moment for the wider sector. Critics argue CCS technology is extremely expensive to incorporate into operations, with many projects relying on taxpayer support, and that it allows oil companies to claim they are producing low-carbon oil even as burning that fuel continues to contribute heavily to climate change.2
Cost is the constraint that matters most here. Even with a functioning sorbent and a positive test result, the figure industrial buyers will ask for is the capture cost per tonne of CO2. Mitico has not disclosed that number.3
The company's choice of a potassium-based sorbent rather than the amine solvents that dominate conventional capture is aimed at cutting the energy penalty of regeneration. Whether that produces a commercially viable cost at industrial scale is untested.3
The Thai demonstration is a single unit, not a full plant. Post-combustion capture on a standalone basis also does not address the largest sources of refinery emissions, which come from process units and fired heaters rather than a single flue stack. How Mitico's modular designs scale beyond demo conditions will determine its relevance to refinery operators shopping for compliance solutions.3
Carbon capture and storage stocks have been volatile, with investors cycling between enthusiasm for the technology's role in hard-to-abate industry and scepticism about project economics. A successful small demo does little by itself to shift that calculus.
Coal's position makes the scale problem concrete. Coal power still accounts for approximately 35 percent of global electricity supply, according to globalelectricity.org, with over 2,000 gigawatts of capacity remaining operational worldwide despite rapid renewables expansion.1 Retrofitting that installed base with capture equipment at any meaningful share would require capital commitment no government or utility has made.
Mitico has positioned itself as a provider for gas-fired power and industrial heat, a narrower niche than full coal retrofit. That is a more realistic commercial lane, but it caps the addressable market considerably.3
The company's choice of Thailand as its demonstration site suggests it is targeting Southeast Asian industrial clients before attempting larger markets. Asia holds the heaviest concentration of new refining and petrochemical capacity, making it a logical first destination for a technology still building its track record.3
The next concrete signal will come from whether Mitico discloses a second commercial installation or publishes third-party verification of the capture rate and energy penalty from the Thai test. Self-reported results from a single unit, with no independent data attached, leave the cost question that has dogged the entire sector unanswered.3,2