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Decarbonising marine industry

Carnot wins £500,000 grant to develop hydrogen/ammonia Auxiliary Power Unit

Company updates, TechnologySeptember 29, 20223KViews0Likes0Comments

Carnot wins £500,000 grant to develop hydrogen/ammonia Auxiliary Power Unit

Carnot is leading a consortium to decarbonise Auxiliary Power in marine applications We are delighted to announce Carnot is leading a consortium which has won a £500,000 Clean Maritime Demonstrator Competition 2 Grant to develop a Hydrogen/Ammonia fuelled, Auxiliary power unit for the maritime industry.   Following the successes from our first CDMC grant, the…

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Powering sub-Saharan Africa with Environmental, Social & Gender inclusion

Company updates, Use casesMarch 22, 20223KViews1Like0Comments

Powering sub-Saharan Africa with Environmental, Social & Gender inclusion

In his recent book, ‘How to avoid a climate disaster’, Bill Gates focuses on electricity as the first major priority to consider in his manifesto for how to tackle the climate emergency. The reliable and low-cost supply of electricity has countless benefits across the economic and social spectrum. Gates also highlights that of the 860…

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Carnot selected for Net Zero Technology Accelerator

Company updates, EventsMay 5, 20203KViews0Likes0Comments

Carnot selected for Net Zero Technology Accelerator

Carnot is delighted to announce we have been selected for The Net Zero Technology Centre Tech X Accelerator programme. From an original 150 applicants, Carnot are one of 10 awardees to participate in the programme supported by BP, Equinor, and KPGM. The OGTC was Established in October 2016 with £180 million from the Aberdeen City Region Deal, and originally was the…

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University of Oxford spin out

Company updatesJanuary 20, 20203KViews0Likes0Comments

University of Oxford spin out

Carnot are pleased to announce our successful placement onto the Oxford University Innovation Incubator. The incubator is a subsidiary of the coveted Oxford University and manages the technology transfer and consulting services.  The program provides support from launching an idea to scale up and implementation whilst enabling early stage startups to seek the consultancy and expertise…

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CARNOT accepted into Google for Start-ups Campus

Company updatesJanuary 12, 20204KViews0Likes0Comments

CARNOT accepted into Google for Start-ups Campus

Carnot are pleased to announce our acceptance into the Google for Startups Campus. Campus Cafe is a great place to get things done, take a break, or collaborate with like-minded people. The program offers early-stage startups access to Google’s best practices and flexible workspace alongside fellow founders. From programming and events to mentoring sessions with Google…

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Decarbonising Mining operations with Oz Minerals

Company updates, Hydrogen, TechnologyOctober 1, 02004KViews0Likes0Comments

Decarbonising Mining operations with Oz Minerals

Carnot have partnered with Oz Minerals to develop zero emission off-grid power. One of the key sources of emissions for Oz Minerals is the diesel generators that are needed to provide remote power at the mines. Oz Minerals are exploring hydrogen as a potential solution to avoid those emissions and selected Carnot as their partner…

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Carnot has won a £1.5m Energy Catalyst Grant converting rice straw biomass into energy.

Carnot is leading a consortium to develop the world’s first profitable rice-straw bioenergy demonstrator for a rural community in Lombok Island, Indonesia. Rice straw is separated from the grains during harvesting and either combusted or left to decompose, thus producing CO2 or Methane, the latter being an incredibly potent greenhouse gas.

With the support of local implementer Chakra Giri Energi Indonesia the project aims to identify alternative and valuable uses for waste rice straw. We will convert this harmful waste stream into:

    1. A valuable bio-energy feedstock
    2. A fertiliser source which is also sequestering carbon and
    3. Refined bio-fuel generating highly efficient clean power using Carnot technology which will create a revenue stream selling energy on the open market. 

Straw Innovations has created innovative technology that overcomes the barriers to harvesting it in all weathers, unlocking a potential 300Mt of rice straw generated in Asia every year. Rice straw has high ash content (around 20%), comprising about 75% silica. This, combined with other components in the straw (chlorine, potassium) causes melting and slagging / fouling in boilers when combusted. Hence, it is not an easy fuel to chop or combust.

PyroGenesys have developed a lower-temperature pyrolysis process which can convert rice straw into Biochar, a carbon-sequestering fertiliser that can be used by the rice farmers, and biofuel. The carbon sequestered can be traded on carbon removal markets. Surplus biofuel not used to generate electricity can be sold. Electricity is a low-value commodity and renewable electricity projects will typically require very large scale to be profitable and attract funding required from investors. PyroGenesys’ process solves this problem by opening up two very high-value revenue streams.

Carnot is developing ceramic engine gensets with double the efficiency of state-of-the-art diesel gensets, capable of operating on all fuels. These will provide electricity to the rice mills as their base load as well as electricity to a rural community. Integrating Carnot’s gensets enables revenues generated by biofuel sales to be maximised.

The Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute at the University of Aston is also supporting on the project by carrying out research into the fuel composition, emissions outputs and analysing outcomes at the end of each stage. 

Indonesia is the:

      • Is the world’s 5th largest GHG emitter.
      • Is the largest producer of biofuels worldwide.
      • Has mandated to convert a significant portion of its palm oil into FAME biodiesel.

There is a reluctance to move to renewable energy due to fossil fuel sunk costs/subsidies and no proven profitable off-grid low-carbon energy business model. This demonstrator project aims to be the catalyst to breaking the deadlock and unleashing investment into Indonesia’s enormous renewable energy potential.

Key project outputs:

      • Pilot-scale demonstration of business model feasibility
      • 200,000kg rice-straw feedstock;
      • 76,000kg value-added-biochar/53,200kg carbon sequestration/80,000kg biofuel;
      • 2.28MWh electricity provided to rice mill