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Cohort 4 Showcase

Contents

TechX Cohort 4 Introduction

Aquature Jose Batista, CEO and Steffen Georg, CTO

BeeX Autonomous Systems Grace Chia, CEO

Brayfoil Technologies Matthew Bray, CEO

Cedeco Jacqueline Morrison, Commercial Lead

Dunia Innovation Alex Hammer, CEO, Marcus Tze-Kiat Ng, CTO, Ahmed Ismail, COO

HonuWorx Lee Wilson, CEO and Wayne Sherry, Head of Deployment Systems

JET Engineering James Thomas, CEO and Vicky Naylor, Bid Manager

PJP Eye Inketsu Okina, CIO

RepAir Carbon Capture Amir Shiner, CEO and Ben Achrai, CTO

T-Omega Wind Brita Osmundsvaag-Formato, CEO and Jim Papadopoulos, CTO

UP Catalyst Gary Urb, CEO

ZEM Fuel Systems John Irvine, CTO and Sneh Jain, COO

TechX Cohort 4 Introduction

" The start-ups of our fourth TechX cohort present a range of technology innovations which can dramatically help shape the future of clean energy. We are delighted to support them on their journey, as they continue to grow and establish valuable relationships within industry, and in doing so, help us build a thriving ecosystem that propels economic growth and accelerates net zero." Mark Anderson TechX Director Net Zero Technology Centre

01 Aquature

Pitch Video

clean water

Representatives: Jose Batista, CEO and Steffen Georg, CTO Location: London, UK 4

CNF

MEC

PreTreatment

CO2

H2 NH3 PO4

Technology Solution There is an untapped opportunity to generate green hydrogen using wastewater as resource. While producing cheaper and subsidy-independent green hydrogen, this would additionally reduce the emissions from wastewater treatment currently accounting for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Aquature makes the unthinkable possible, the company generates green hydrogen and chemicals from wastewater in a net energy positive and carbon negative process. Aquature’s process splits wastewater into its base constituents: energy, CO2, nutrients and clean water. The energy is recovered at 85% efficiency as hydrogen, while nutrients and CO2 are converted into green chemicals and the treated water can be reused. Customers benefit from preferential access to green hydrogen below £2/kg sales price while paying Aquature a service fee to manage their wastewater that is up to 40% lower than conventional treatment costs. Aquature creates value out of customers’ wastewaters streams while they focus on their core business, which enables businesses to transition to decentralised and sustainable wastewater treatment solutions. The company’s products reduce the carbon footprint from wastewater by 90% for customers. This will help customers abate up to 5.5 tonnes CO2e/tCOD (1.1 tonnes CO2e/tCOD from hydrogen alone) in scope 3 emissions. For a medium sized beverage company producing 50 m3/day of wastewater, this would mean a total abatement of 2,700 tonnes of CO2e per year.

02 BeeX Autonomous Systems

Pitch Video

Representative: Grace Chia, CEO Location: Singapore, Asia 6

Technology Solution BeeX manufactures hovering autonomous underwater vehicles, and pairs them with a software subscription for intelligence and analytics. The company’s technology is solving the problem of expensive and dangerous underwater inspections. Offshore infrastructure today is kept safe by these regular inspections. They are currently done by Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), which depend on large support vessels to bring them out and supply power and communications when doing the work. A vessel crew of 20-30 supports a team of 6 ROV personnel. The cost and carbon footprint of underwater work is largely from the vessels. The company’s autonomous vehicles reduce the cost and risk by being progressively independent from these support vessels. BeeX leverage years of R&D in self-driving to develop robust underwater autonomy, especially in challenging conditions. The hardware is fully integrated with intelligent cloud reporting and analytical software tools. On a daily basis, vessels out at sea idling whilst the underwater vehicles/divers are operating account for the equivalent of 25-50 tonnes of CO2. Autonomous vehicles progressively remove the need to have these vessels on-site. Building new vessels, even if they are green, has a higher overall carbon footprint from manufacturing to end of life. BeeX is taking a new approach which requires less of the current resources we already have in place.

03 Brayfoil Technologies

Pitch Video

Representative: Matthew Bray, CEO Location: Johannesburg, South Africa 8

Technology Solution Global annual installations of renewable energy, including wind power, are below half the level needed to get to an IPCC-compatible scenario to prevent global warming – costs need to come down and deployment needs to accelerate. Large wind turbine blades are 100m+ long, which causes tremendous forces on the blades and components, especially in high winds and storm conditions. Larger turbines create cheaper energy, but these forces mean blades have to be far heavier and more expensive as they get longer. Brayfoil are building the future of wind turbine blades – patented biomimicryinspired compliant structures that change shape like a bird’s wings. The technology can be built into large wind turbine blades to reduce unnecessary loads, enabling larger, more efficient, more reliable and cheaper-per-MW devices. At turbine level, it can increase the annual clean energy production by enabling longer blades and fewer failures, and on an LCOE-driven level, this adaptive technology can increase wind turbine deployment – sites that would not previously have been viable for wind farms will be, thereby increasing the energy supply. With their first pilot turbine set to go on-site in mid-2022, the team welcomes partners and funders who align with their vision to help them accelerate wind power growth. By going to market in 2026, this technology has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions cumulatively by 43 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2050.

04 Cedeco

Pitch Video

Representative: Jacqueline Morrison, Commercial Lead Location: Glasgow, UK 10

Technology Solution Cedeco is developing an alternative technology for wind developers who want to cut the time, cost and carbon emissions linked to installing jacket foundations. At present, the common installation process is to place the bottom of the jacket inside a seabed pile – the gap between the jacket and the pile is filled with grout and when the grout cures, the jacket is held secure. But grouting is time-consuming, expensive and all round difficult to do – so much so that Scottish Power Renewables launched an innovation competition looking for grout alternatives, a competition that Cedeco won. The company’s solution is to propose a mechanical way of securing jacket foundations. A life cycle analysis on this novel technology shows a potential reduction of up to 40% of CO2 emissions linked to installing 100 turbines compared to current technology – this stems from the removal of grout, a source of embodied carbon, from the installation process and by reducing installation times, as well as from the associated vessel emissions.

05 Dunia Innovation

Pitch Video

Representatives: Marcus Tze-Kiat Ng, CTO, Ahmed Ismail, COO and Alex Hammer, CEO Location: London, UK 12

Technology Solution Fossil fuel combustion is responsible for more than 78% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the last 30 years and leads to annual environmental and economic impacts that amounts to $45 billion. As society still relies on burning fossil fuels which in return produce water and carbon dioxide molecules, there is a need to discover new processes that take those inert molecules and convert them into value-added materials, such as chemicals and fuels. The enabling piece in the puzzle is the catalyst; catalysts make otherwise impossible chemistries possible. Currently, innovations in this field come from decades of trial and error research, an inefficient and costly process and we are in a race against time. By combining materials-aware artificial intelligence algorithms with Dunia’s state of the art roboticised catalysis platform, the traditionally slow design-make-test-analyse cycle is considerably accelerated in catalyst development. Dunia’s automated systems perform high-throughput experiments, analyse them, and decide what the next experiment should be, unlocking unprecedented speed in catalysis discovery, removing the bottleneck to scalable carbon utilisation and the circular economy. The technology has the potential to unlock scalable, subsidy-free carbon utilisation. By replacing the fossil feedstocks at the base of the trillion dollar chemical industry value chain, it can reduce CO2 emissions by 2.1 gigatonnes per year.

06 HonuWorx

Pitch Video

Representatives: Lee Wilson, CEO and Wayne Sherry, Head of Deployment Systems Location: Aberdeen, UK 14

Technology Solution Robotic vehicles are an established technology for underwater work in a range of blue economy sectors. However their legacy operating models are based on large, expensive ships with huge carbon footprints and large offshore crews working far from home in a hazardous environment. This model is no longer sustainable, nor is it scalable to meet the growing needs of sectors critical to the energy transition such as offshore renewables, which must be competitive without subsidy. HonuWorx is developing Loggerhead, a crewless submersible that hosts worker robots designed for remote subsea inspection and maintenance tasks. As an all-electric robotic system, Loggerhead promises a step change reduction in cost and carbon footprint for subsea work. Because it stays subsea, it also will be the only approach on the market to offer all-weather and all-season operations as it stays at depths that are not impacted by foul conditions above the water surface. Loggerhead uses a robotic communications and control platform with an edgecloud architecture that manages high processing requirements locally and passes the necessary information between the robots and shore for effective supervision and control. Loggerhead promises to save over 32 tonnes of CO2 per day from being emitted during a typical subsea intervention campaign by a conventionally crewed offshore support vessel. With every offshore asset requiring regular inspection such campaigns are conducted many times per year by every operator in every offshore basin, representing a significant portion of life-cycle emissions. For every crewed vessel replaced by a Loggerhead, 12,000 tonnes of CO2 is eliminated annually from the carbon footprint of subsea intervention tasks. 15

07 JET Engineering

Pitch Video

Representatives: James Thomas, CEO and Vicky Naylor, Bid Manager Location: Reading, UK 16

Technology Solution JET Engineering System Solutions is solving the problem of data and communications at sea, delivering high-value, cost-effective and resilient advanced digital 5G mesh communications and data transmission technology for critical infrastructure and operations at sea. The company’s solution is delivered through a series of off-grid 5G mesh connected floating buoy platforms, fitted with JET's 5G user equipment, enabling network capabilities within any applied maritime industry. This network provides mobile, continuous, and diverse coverage, addressing current market needs via high-speed communications, continuous multi-sensor monitoring, and data collection. JET provides an agnostic and seamless stream of connectivity and data availability via reliable communication channels and custom web portals, displaying buoy data to end-users. JET’s 5G solution facilitates carbon reductions across the maritime sector and accelerates cleaner energy solutions in the UK. Employing JET's 5G solution within the offshore wind sector has the tangible potential to deliver improved efficiency and simultaneous planning operations during installation, reducing the reliance on carbon intensive surveying vessels during commissioning, with net savings of £40million per gigawatt and faster installation opportunities. Increased connectivity and communications have the potential to reduce around 900,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually within port operations, via increased port efficiency and real-time decision making capabilities.

08 PJP Eye

Pitch Video

Representative: Inketsu Okina, CIO Location: Fukuoka-shi, Japan 18

Technology Solution The continued adoption of rare metal batteries may be at risk due to forecasted resource depletion of metals like cobalt and lithium, as well as the environmental impact associated with mining and processing of these metals. Only 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled, with the majority ending up in landfills causing pollution in our oceans and soils. PJP Eye is currently developing an alternative, revolutionary solution; rechargeable plant-based dual carbon batteries that instead utilise industrial waste, without compromising performance. Produced using organic cotton and dense carbon, the batteries are non-explosive and can be charged 10x faster than those made with commercial lithium. With potential applications in marine and aviation, the batteries offer an extended life of up to 20 years resulting in less waste while reducing the demand for reproduction of batteries. Based on the Impact Forecasting Method, PJP Eye’s battery technology could reduce 260 tonnes of CO2 per 1 MWh of battery installed compared to conventional NMC-based lithium-ion batteries.

09 RepAir Carbon Capture

Pitch Video

Representatives: Amir Shiner, CEO and Ben Achrai, CTO Location: Haifa, Israel 20

Technology Solution RepAir Carbon Capture are developing a highly efficient, modular, and scalable DAC system that can play a crucial role in restoring the global CO2 balance. RepAir's novel Direct Air Capture (DAC) solution is based on a proprietary electrochemical device that utilises electrical current to separate CO2 molecules from the air. Since they capture the CO2 from the atmosphere, RepAir's DAC systems can be deployed at the locations of permanent carbon storage or utilisation for products. This way, arable land is saved and expensive CO2 transport is avoided. In addition, the electrochemical device is powered solely by electrical energy (no additional heat source is required). This energy will come from renewable sources, hence minimising operating costs as well as the carbon footprint of the capturing process. RepAir’s laboratory pilot consumes only 650 kWh/tCO2 – less than one third of the energy required by the other DAC solutions. Operating the electrochemical process in mild temperatures allows for using low-cost materials for the cell hardware. In large-scale facilities utilising multiple cell stacks, the carbon capture capacity will be increased significantly while the total capture cost will fall well below $100/tCO2. The RepAir DAC system removes CO2 directly out of the air in massive quantities. This is a highly efficient, net-negative solution that is powered solely by renewable electricity with a huge potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

10 T-Omega Wind

Pitch Video

Representatives: Brita Osmundsvaag-Formato, CEO and Jim Papadopoulos, CTO Location: Boston, USA 22

Technology Solution Today's offshore wind farms mate upsized land-style turbines to heavy oil and gas style platforms. While reliable, this costly approach requires ultra-heavy structures – components that aren't manufactured in the UK. Innovation is cautious because repair is slow/expensive. T-Omega Wind takes a fresh approach to platform design, swinging to face the wind like a ship at anchor, and tolerating shallow-draft wave motion. 80% of tower weight is saved through a broad-base design, as is 90% of platform weight. The company is developing a platform and tower that can reduce installedturbine cost by about 55% relative to fixed bottom, and 68% relative to other floating designs. The entire system is optimised for manufacturing, installation and maintenance. This means easy local fabrication of the structure, launch without port improvements, and much-reduced maintenance cost. Further benefits include economical use in far deeper waters, or in locations where the population cannot support a multi-megawatt wind farm. There is great potential to contribute to a future green-fuel economy, by adding known synthesis hardware to movable turbines (classed as vessels), to produce affordable and transportable fuel. This could deliver thousands of gigawatts from remote and international waters, with minimal restrictions or permit delays.

11 UP Catalyst

Pitch Video

Representative: Gary Urb, CEO Location: Tallinn, Estonia 24

Technology Solution UP Catalyst uses CO2 rich flue gases from heavy industry emitters as a feedstock for producing sustainable carbon nanomaterials and graphite, a critical raw material both in the EU and the US. The company’s solution is not only able to solve the increasing graphite supply problem in Europe, but also source carbon materials in an environmentally friendly method. Thus, with already proven traction from the market, UP Catalyst technology holds huge potential for revolutionising the energy storage industry. The strength of UP Catalyst is a strong scientific background, continuous R&D and innovation, and the future possibility of licensing the technology to the large corporate players in the industry. The technology consumes 3.7 tonnes of CO2 per each tonne of graphite or carbon nanomaterial produced, while competitors emit between 5.3-2000 tonnes of CO2 per each tonne of material produced, respectively. As this solution relies on renewable energy sources, it is carbon negative. UP Catalyst's carbon capture target for 2030 is 300 kilotonnes per year.

12 ZEM Fuel Systems

Pitch Video

Representatives: John Irvine, CTO and Sneh Jain, COO Location: St. Andrews, UK 26

Technology Solution ZEM Fuel Systems is developing a novel fuel cell system which converts green ammonia to electric power, generating only nitrogen and water as waste products – a direct ammonia fuel cell (DAFC). This energy generation device is being developed for maritime applications where there is an urgent need to decarbonise both off-shore and on-shore activities. For offshore activities a DAFC/electric drive could be retrofitted into existing fleet, saving the cost of embedded carbon in existing sea-going vessels. Ammonia has significantly higher energy density than hydrogen making it a more suitable energy vector for long-distance shipping. ZEM’s technology produces no CO2, NOx, SOx or particulate matter making it an ideal candidate for decarbonising the sector and reducing air and water pollution resulting from global shipping. ZEM Fuel Systems’ technology target market is responsible for 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions; the company seeks to significantly reduce this.

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