Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng opens CATAGEN’s Net Zero Technologies Centre in Belfast

The Right Honourable Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy officially opened CATAGEN’s new Net Zero Technologies Centre in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter on Thursday 25 November 2021.  CATAGEN was also delighted to welcome back the Right Honourable Conor Burns, Minister of State for Northern Ireland.

The CATAGEN Net Zero Technologies Centre will allow the company to focus on its next stage of growth, further building its core business in emissions technology and the development of new clean energy technologies required for production and distribution of green hydrogen and e-fuels.

UK Business and Energy Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “It was fantastic to be in Belfast for the opening of CATAGEN’s Net Zero Technologies Centre and see first-hand how they are continuing to develop and deploy affordable technology to cut pollution and tackle climate change. 

“Thanks to UK companies like CATAGEN, we are in a strong position to deliver on a host of agreements reached at COP26 in Glasgow, including supporting industries to decarbonise and slashing emissions from transport through the use of green fuels. 

“Businesses like CATAGEN not only underscore the strength of the UK’s research and development capabilities, but the technologies they develop can help to create jobs too, demonstrating that going green and driving growth go hand in hand.”

Currently CATAGEN’s core unique emissions technology is used in the development phase of vehicles to test emissions from catalytic convertors.  This helps world leading vehicle manufacturers meet ever stringent emissions standards globally, receiving approval from organisations such as the UK Vehicle Certification Authority and Applus IDIADA.

It’s this expertise in emissions technology and the technical understanding of the challenges in moving away from fossil fuels that has led the company to develop new solutions to help society meet Net Zero targets.  Dr Andrew Woods commented, ‘Our vision is to clean and decarbonise the air and we realised back in 2005 that emissions were going to become a major problem in the future. We began the journey then of developing the toolset to really understand emissions. Since then, we’ve patented technologies that tests these emissions control devices without using an engine. Our approach uses a recirculating gas reactor instead which is highly energy efficient and provides the highest quality data allowing our partners to optimise and reduce environmental impact.  We’re now building on our base technology and capabilities to create new lower cost energy technology vectors in green hydrogen and e-fuels for production and distribution.”

A spin-out of Queen’s University Belfast, the company aims to double its workforce over the next year, hiring and developing mechanical engineers and PhD graduates in data scientists to work on these cutting-edge Net Zero technologies.  CATAGEN currently works with 60 suppliers many of which are in Northern Ireland.

CATAGEN hope to make further announcements in the weeks ahead regarding the development of proprietary methods to produce green hydrogen at a 30% cost reduction compared with best-in-class and the creation of an affordable hydrogen fuel carrier.

Leading the way for SMEs in Northern Ireland, CATAGEN is already powered by 100% renewable energy and since 2017, its technology has displaced more than 1,100 tonnes of carbon from the automotive sector to date, through its energy efficient patented technology.

CATAGEN Team celebrating the opening of its Net Zero Technologies Centre

Notes:

CATAGEN provides a range of emissions tests for aftertreatment systems to leading global auto and motorcycle companies, replicating what an engine can do for:
– Standard gasoline or diesel
– Hybrid powertrains
– E-Fuels, hydrogen combustion, biofuels, ethanol engines or natural gas engines

As aftertreatment emissions specialists CATAGEN are delivering advanced solutions that will have direct impact on our cities and air quality. Reducing tailpipe emissions remains one of the biggest challenges facing the global automotive industry.

Reaching a solution involves precision testing and we have unrivalled expertise through our research, software and patented testing technology.

We are exploring new technologies that will support the UK’s climate change target to cut emissions by 78% by 2035 and impact global targets.

Powered by 100% renewable energy the core of CATAGEN’s business is “to clean and decarbonise the air”. We make this a reality by applying our proven expertise to develop new innovations and products that take our society beyond now.

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