Belfast-based net zero emissions and air quality technology company CATAGEN has launched five new advanced climate technologies which enable the production of green hydrogen and e-fuels that could help industry significantly reduce carbon emissions.
At a launch event at its headquarters in Titanic Quarter, attendees from local government, industry and infrastructure were invited to see the new patent-protected prototypes for five new technologies. CATAGEN also officially launched ClimaHtech, the brand under which it will now go to market.
In early 2022 CATAGEN received five funding awards from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio to help accelerate research and testing of its range of net zero products.
Using that funding, in the space of just nine months CATAGEN has developed new ways to generate green hydrogen, bio-hydrogen and e-fuels, as well as complementary systems for carbon capture and hydrogen compression.
Green hydrogen and e-fuels can be used to replace fossil fuels in several key sectors, including Manufacturing, Transport, Power, Mobility and Agriculture.
Having delivered prototypes for each of its technologies, CATAGEN is on track to deliver full-scale demonstrators in 2024 and plans to scale the business significantly in the next 3-5 years.
CATAGEN CEO Dr Andrew Woods said:
“Climate change affects everything. It’s shaping cities, economies, landscapes, how we move and how we live. We are creating new technologies that clean and decarbonise the air, applying our innovations to decarbonising challenging sectors such as industry, shipping, and aviation. We are committed to finding a collective solution that will cut CO2 emissions and enable a move away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources.
“Technology, talent, and a united sense of purpose have taken us to the point where today our team can launch ClimaHtech, a configurable system which uses advanced climate technologies to produce green hydrogen and efuels. This technology is scalable and by adopting efficient green hydrogen energy powered by renewable sources such as wind and solar, we can help fulfil net zero pledges across multi sector industries.”
CATAGEN’s initial focus is on decarbonising industry, working with manufacturing, transportation and renewable energy companies to provide a new source of renewable energy and improve air quality. But it is also producing solutions that address wider problems with energy security, grid stability and aviation fuel emissions.
Cement maker Mannok is one of the first companies to explore how CATAGEN’s technology can support their decarbonisation journey.
Kevin Lunney, Operations Director of Mannok Build said: “Decarbonisation of our operations, including cement production is a significant challenge. The Mannok board has commissioned CATAGEN to develop a feasibility study to understand the benefits of integrating CATAGEN’s hydrogen production and e-fuel production techniques using waste heat from the cement manufacturing process to reduce emissions. CATAGEN is an exciting company developing needed technologies and we look forward to being with them on this journey.”
To facilitate its mission to deliver greener and healthier environments, CATAGEN is in the process of growing its 36-strong team to 75 over the next year, with the intention of increasing the workforce to more than 130 the following year.
CATAGEN CTO Prof. Roy Douglas added: “CATAGEN’s mission is to clean and decarbonise the air and our team has shown real ingenuity to develop these prototypes and put us on a dedicated path to delivering industrial-scale system solutions. We are seeing tremendous demand for these innovations across manufacturing, electricity, agriculture and transportation but there are steps still to take to make our climate technology system a mass deployed commercial reality.
“Industry has to change and has to become cleaner, cutting its carbon-dioxide emissions to zero. Working in partnership with the UK Government and industry leaders, our goal is to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels to cleaner greener energy, helping to decarbonise and reduce emissions in the most challenging sectors of industry.”
NOTES
Founded by Dr Andrew Woods and Prof. Roy Douglas, CATAGEN are experts in thermodynamics and emissions, focused on developing innovative new technologies to create alternatives to fossil fuels for difficult-to-decarbonise sectors.
CATAGEN’s climate technologies
Green Hydrogen Generator
This remarkable innovation utilises CATAGEN’s patented recirculating gas reactor technology to create a highly efficient green hydrogen generator. Renewable energy powers the ClimaHtech HGEN to produce green hydrogen with no harmful by-products. CATAGEN do not use electrolysers to free hydrogen. The ClimaHtech HGEN uses a multi-stage chemical process to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen produced from the process can be used in other industrial processes or released back into the air. The ClimaHtech system is designed for industry and has multiple benefits:
- Scalable
- Cost competitive (without the green premium)
- More energy efficient and can utilise waste heat sources
- Easier to manufacture, uses existing supply chain and processes to cut complexity, time and cost.
- Produces renewable fuels from wind, water and air
These technologies can be deployed onsite anywhere globally with access to renewable energy.
E-FUEL GEN
E-fuel generator
Green Hydrogen can be used to create an energy dense E-fuel. The ClimaHtech E-FUEL GEN uses our enhanced recirculating gas reactor technology to produce cost competitive and easily transportable E-fuel. Powered by renewable electricity it combines green hydrogen and CO₂ removed from the air to produce a carbon net-zero, hydrogen-based fuel.
The e-fuel can be used in conventional internal combustion engines, allowing it to be used in vehicles until end of useful life or in difficult to decarbonise industries such as heavy-duty vehicles, shipping and aviation. Designed to work together, CATAGEN gHreen fuel can be produced at a renewable energy site alongside green hydrogen production.
BIOHGEN
Bio-hydrogen generator
The ClimaHtech BIOHGEN uses CATAGEN’s proprietary technology to produce cost-effective low carbon bio-hydrogen from a waste biomass source. This energy efficient approach can facilitate the early adoption of low carbon hydrogen and accelerate the route to a Net Zero hydrogen economy. Bio CO2 is a valuable by-product of the process.
COMPRESSOR
Hydrogen storage
Alongside production, CATAGEN is developing the ClimaHtech Compressor, a high-pressure hybrid pumping system for hydrogen storage and dispensing. Current methods are relatively inefficient, expensive to manufacture and display various operational issues in use, such as overheating and high fuelling times. CATAGEN’s ClimaHtech COMPRESSOR will cool whilst pumping, lowering capital costs.
CAPTURE
CO2 carbon capture
The ClimaHtech CAPTURE uses low grade waste heat to capture CO2 resulting in very low operating costs. Designed to work alongside the ClimaHtech HGEN to provide both green hydrogen and the CO2 required to produce E-fuel, ClimaHtech CAPTURE can also be used to remove CO2 for other purposes.
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