Day: February 16, 2023

• Carbon Clean will deliver carbon capture equipment capable of capturing 70,000 tonnes of biogenic CO₂ per year for Ørsted’s FlagshipONE facility – Europe’s largest green methanol project, based in Sweden 
• FlagshipONE will supply 50,000 tonnes of eMethanol per year to the shipping industry, which today accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions 

Carbon Clean has been awarded the carbon capture equipment supply contract for Ørsted’s FlagshipONE eMethanol project in Sweden. This is Carbon Clean’s 50^th commercial project; a half-century milestone for the global leader in cost-effective carbon capture solutions. 

Carbon Clean’s technology will capture 70,000 tonnes per year of CO₂ from a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. FlagshipONE will combine the biogenic carbon dioxide with renewable hydrogen to produce 50,000 tonnes per year of eMethanol for use in the shipping industry, which today accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions. Carbon emissions from shipping have proven hard to abate, but eMethanol is widely believed to be the best scalable green shipping fuel for the next decade. 

Aniruddha Sharma, Chair and CEO of Carbon Clean, said:  

“The FlagshipONE project not only demonstrates the role carbon capture must play in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, such as shipping, but also that the technology is ready and there is absolute confidence in our ability to deliver at scale. 

“We speak often about the storage of captured carbon, but this project is a perfect example of utilisation – the ‘U’ in CCUS – and we are thrilled to be working alongside Ørsted to deliver this project.” 

Anders Nordstrøm, COO of Ørsted P2X, said: 

“FlagshipONE is a milestone project for Ørsted and for the decarbonisation of the maritime industry – and we’re very happy to be working with Carbon Clean, as we embark on the journey to transform global shipping.” 

The carbon capture plant will be modular and designed for ease of construction and future replication, with the majority of components fabricated and sourced from Europe, helping develop a large European supply chain base. Following off-site testing, modules will be transported and assembled on site in autumn 2024. FlagshipONE is expected to be operational in 2025.  

The carbon capture plant will use Carbon Clean’s proprietary CDRMax technology which has been used widely in projects globally for many years. The high performance solvent from Carbon Clean offers best in class environmental footprint, high stability, low corrosivity, low regeneration energy requirements, and therefore reduced operational costs compared to conventional options.  

FlagshipONE will be Ørsted’s first commercial-scale Power-to-X facility and is an important steppingstone towards the company’s ambition of taking a leading position in renewable hydrogen and green fuels. 

QiO Technologies, an AI sustainability tech start-up which supports energy-intensive businesses to deliver rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and energy costs, has closed a $10m Series B funding round from WAVE Equity Partners, a leading impact investment firm based in Boston, USA.

QiO will use this funding to expand its operations in USA and Europe, enhance the capabilities of its Foresight Sustainability Suite™, and accelerate customer acquisition in sectors which face the biggest challenges in achieving net zero GHG emissions.

Energy-intensive industries contribute 24.2% of global GHG emissions each year. These industries need help to make progress on the immediate emissions cuts required to stop the growth of GHG emissions by 2025 and deliver overall reductions of 25% by 2030. Foresight Sustainability Suite™ addresses this challenge. QiO estimates its products could deliver up to 10% of the total GHG reduction required to meet the 2030 Paris Agreement goal for limiting global temperature rises to 1.5-2°C.

QiO developed its Foresight Sustainability Suite™ in response to the difficulties faced by the industry in leveraging large, disparate sources of operational data to reduce GHG emissions and improve operational efficiency. By applying its AI optimization technology in sectors ranging from automotive, steel, glass, cement, oil & gas, data centers, and telecoms, Foresight Sustainability Suite™ has delivered up to 20% savings on energy and maintenance costs and reduced GHG emissions by up to 10%.

QiO’s newest product, Foresight Optima DC+™, was developed in partnership with Intel to meet the needs of energy-intensive data centers, which consume around 3% of the world’s electricity and produce about 2% of total GHG emissions.

Foresight Optima DC+™ has delivered energy savings and emissions reductions of 20-30% in data centers worldwide by analyzing energy consumption and making real-time adjustments to individual servers. Expanding QiO’s customer base in this area will be priority post-funding.

QiO’s Foresight Sustainability Suite™ operates by collecting data from industrial assets ranging from kilns, furnaces, boilers, and compressors to cooling systems and data center servers. Using AI, Foresight Sustainability Suite™ identifies and implements real-time actions that optimize energy efficiency and resource use, helping customers make rapid reductions in GHG emissions, energy use, production costs, and waste.

With businesses under pressure to meet international sustainability reporting standards, Foresight Sustainability Suite™ also automates real-time ESG reporting, enabling every customer to track and report Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.

Rick Haythornthwaite, Co-Founder and Chairman of QiO Technologies, said:

“Energy-intensive industries and data centers have a crucial role to play in achieving a low-carbon economy. Our mission is for QiO to be the partner of choice for businesses that want to take decisive action today to accelerate their progress to net zero. With our proven technology, demonstrable track record of delivering energy and GHG emissions savings, and this Series B funding, QiO is well-placed to support energy-intensive businesses as they come under greater scrutiny from customers, investors, regulators, and governments to deliver on net zero targets.”

Mark Robinson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WAVE Equity Partners, said:

“The companies we invest in are responsible for developing innovations that lead us toward a healthier, more hospitable planet. QiO has built the market-leading innovative Foresight Sustainability Suite ™ that uses the power of AI to solve environmental challenges on a global scale. We are excited to partner with QiO to support their ambition to contribute substantially to overcoming the challenges of climate change.”

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About QiO Technologies

QIO Technologies is an Industrial IoT AI software products company delivering Foresight Sustainability Suite ™ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve resource efficiency, and accelerate operational sustainability for Industrial Companies, Data Centers, and Telecom operators.

QiO is headquartered in the UK, with engineering and delivery teams in India supporting customers across the globe.