TURNING METHANE WASTE INTO MARITIME GOLD

Heavy industries like shipping and aviation require high energy-density, easily transportable liquid fuels for their operations. However, producing these fuels in a sustainable, green way, as required by aggressive decarbonization mandates, is challenging and expensive. At the same time, a significant amount of methane gas from waste, agriculture, and heavy industries escapes into the atmosphere, generating 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Methane gas is a valuable resource, yet it is wasted generating harmful emissions because there is no cost-effective way to transport it to market and utilize it without expensive pipeline infrastructure. Emvolon, a VC-backed MIT spin-off, is pioneering a platform technology that converts these methane emissions and other waste into carbon-negative, ready- to-use fuels and chemicals, like green methanol and green ammonia. Emvolon’s patented technology thus solves two important problems at once: it eliminates methane emissions in agriculture, waste management, and heavy industries, while also offering a cost-effective green fuel for hard-to-decarbonize shipping, aviation, and chemicals industries. Its modular platform technology converts biogas from landfills and agricultural waste into liquid green methanol that can be put in a standard truck container and taken to market for a low transportation cost. As a result, Emvolon provides a way to monetize otherwise wasted and stranded resources, and because the feedstock is waste, Emvolon’s green fuel product is cost competitive.

The patented technology behind this innovation is game-changing: Emvolon repurposes mass-producedautomotive engines to replace expensive custom-made chemical process equipment. This leads to an order of magnitude cost reduction compared to conventional chemical process technology, which relies on economies of scale and one-off designs, i.e. plants producing thousands of tons per day. These conventional plants that require high capital expenditures are unsuitable for harvesting biogas sites that typically produce a few tons per day. Collecting biogas from multiple sites to bring to a large conventional chemical plant is also unfeasible due to prohibitively high transportation costs. Instead, Emvolon’s technology eliminates transportation costs through on-site conversion, and achieves significantly lower capital requirement and high return on investment (3 year payback) by using economies of mass production where economies of scale do not apply.

The market potential is huge. Annual global methane emissions are approximately 580 million tonnes that are either vented or flared because there is no economic way to utilize the waste streams. On the other hand, methanol is a global commodity with an established market which is larger than $40B today. Emvolon’s beachhead market is producing green methanol from landfill biogas, expanding to biogas from agriculture, and other waste streams thereafter.

Over a short period of time, Emvolon had made significant progress. It has developed a working prototype, fully derisking the technology, built strong industrial partnerships with OEMs and product offtakers, and generated revenues. The technology is protected through a strong intellectual property portfolio and results have been published in esteemed scientific journals. Emvolon is currently working with a leading renewable energy developer to complete a field pilot on one of their sites in Massachusetts. Emvolon has also received funding from a NYSE-listed shipping company, and developed partnerships with additional shipping companies willing to pay a premium for green methanol fuel. These companies see the potential of Emvolon’s technology delivering a cost-completive, green fuel to decarbonize their operations. Emmanuel Kasseris, Emvolon’s co-founder and CEO, and the team envision a future with zero carbon footprint for the most difficult to decarbonize sectors while simultaneously enabling cost-effective, on-site green fuel and chemical production. As Kasseris emphasizes, “Emvolon's technology marks a significant leap forward in maritime sustainability, providing shipping companies with a cost-competitive, green fuel solution that not only reduces emissions but also transforms waste into opportunity. Our vision is to empower the shipping industry to navigate towards a future where profitability and environmental stewardship go hand-in-hand.”

Vassilis Triantopoulos, PhD, Director of Operations, Emvolon Inc. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 
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