Diesel engines are the workhorses of freight and agriculture and, by extension, keep the economy fueled and well-supplied. They also have a dirty side.
The founders of ClearFlame Engine Technologies, a four-year startup based in Geneva, Illinois, say they've found a way to clean them up.
The company, which entered ProWellTech Disrupt's Startup Battlefield 2020 competition, has developed a new way to run diesel engines on renewable fuels like ethanol. The technology essentially combines the performance benefits of diesel engine design with the low cost and low emissions associated with these alternative fuels, co-founder and CEO BJ Johnson he said in a recent interview with ProWellTech.
By replacing 100% petroleum-derived fuel with a decarbonised fuel such as ethanol, ClearFlame says its technology reduces net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% and reduces particulate matter and smog (NOx) to near zero levels. .
ClearFlame is not redesigning the diesel engine. Instead, Johnson and co-founder and CTO Julie Blumreiter developed a way to modify the engine's internal components to alter their thermodynamics to be able to ignite and burn decarbonized fuels quickly. According to Johnson, the company's technology means that 80% to 90% of the diesel engine parts remain unchanged.
The result is technology that provides a fast and cost-effective way to reduce emissions, Johnson told ProWellTech. It's the kind of solution companies may need when local, state and national governments tighten emissions regulations.
The technology can be adapted to existing old diesel engines or applied to new engines that have yet to be installed on trucks or used in other industrial applications. ClearFlame aims to work directly with the engine manufacturer, which will still give the company access to the secondary market because each OEM has their own aftermarket parts group, Johnson said.
"We want to leverage their supply chain, their ability to scale and reach these markets and the trusted name that goes with them," Johnson said, explaining the company's reasoning for targeting OEMs.
The technology was first developed in a laboratory at Stanford University, where Blumreiter and Johnson earned their PhDs. degrees. At Stanford, they focused primarily on ethanol and methanol, which are simple liquid alcohols. However, Johnson noted that further research has shown that the same concept works equally well with natural gas and ammonia.
"The big difference here is that you have to modify the injection system if you want to move away from normal environmental liquid fuel," Johnson said. "There's only a ton of business value in being able to run an engine efficiently and cleanly with a fuel that is in a glass at room conditions, which is what those alcohols do."
ClearFlame has already made progress with its technology, including landing partnerships and raising capital. The company completed a test demonstration of its technology on a Caterpillar engine at Argonne National Laboratory. ClearFlame is also conducting a demonstration on a Cummins engine platform supported by Department of Energy funding.
In April, ClearFlame announced that it raised $ 3 million in a round led by CleanEnergy Ventures. The company has also earned several million dollars in grants, including the National Science Foundation, DOE, and US Department of Agriculture Small Business Innovation Research Awards.