ION Engineering Unveils New Technology to Capture and Control Greenhouse Emissions
University of Colorado Researchers Discover Scientific Breakthrough Using Ionic Liquids
BOULDER, CO – February 18, 2009 – Founded by University of Colorado scientists, ION Engineering is a new company that is the first to successfully integrate ionic liquid solutions into carbon capture and emissions control technology.
“A scientific breakthrough discovered at the University of Colorado has spawned a new clean-tech company,” said ION Engineering CEO Alfred “Buz” Brown, PhD. “Using new solutions based around ionic liquid technology, we’ve developed the most economical way for the global energy industry to remove CO2 and other contaminants from fossil fuel power plant emissions and raw natural gas.”
Ionic liquids are molten salts that do not evaporate, and can be used to replace the current, inefficient, aqueous (water-based) amine technology that was, up until now, the state-of-the-art in emissions control technology with proprietary ionic liquid – amine technology. ION’s scientific process is the most efficient way to capture carbon from coal-fired plant emissions, and it enhances natural gas “sweetening” processes and will vastly increase access to worldwide natural gas reserves. “Sour,” or contaminated natural gas represents more than half of worldwide reserves.
“Congratulations to ION, whose partnership with Colorado’s academic research institutions and private investors has created a commercial solution to one of the world’s biggest energy and environmental problems,” said Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. “ION’s technological advancements in clean, modern energy are helping to build Colorado’s New Energy Economy.”
ION Engineering founders Drs. Jason Bara and Dean Camper developed the ionic liquid-based solutions while postdoctoral fellows at CU-Boulder, and have become some of the world’s leading experts in the application of ionic liquids for CO2 capture (see their most-recent article published in the American Chemical Society’s peer-reviewed journal, http://pubs.acs.org/doi.abs/10.1021/ie8016237).
Dr. Chris Gabriel, currently a scientist at CU-Boulder, will also join ION to provide expertise in ionic liquid synthesis and chemical analysis. CEO Brown has an extensive background in science and business management, and university start-ups and early stage investing.
In addition to business advisory and networking support from the CU Technology Transfer Office and the Boulder Innovation Center (BIC), Professors Richard D. Noble and Douglas L. Gin of CU’s Chemical and Biological Engineering Department, and also inventors, serve as advisors. Gin is well known for his work in polymers and organic chemistry and Noble has over 30 years’ experience in gas separation technology. Both are recent recipients of CU-Boulder’s Inventor of the Year Award. The BIC also facilitated initial connections that brought Buz Brown and Industry Strategist Linda Olsson to the ION team.
“Our process has the potential to change the way a $50 Billion market does business,” said Brown. “We’re applying a radically new solution that can be incorporated into existing gas processing infrastructure, and are already receiving tremendous industry feedback. ION’s solution will be a boon to natural gas processing worldwide as the industry moves to develop more highly sour gas reserves.”
About ION Engineering
Based at the center of the emerging alternative energy industry in Boulder, ION Engineering is the first clean-tech company to successfully introduce ionic liquid solutions for carbon capture in the global energy industry. The company’s proprietary scientific solution is the most economical way to capture carbon from coal-fired plant emissions. In addition, ION’s breakthrough natural gas “sweetening” solvents significantly reduce operating and capital costs for cleaning contaminated or “sour” raw gas – offering the potential to greatly increase the volume of economically recoverable gas reserves. To learn more about ION Engineering’s bold science for clean energy, please visit www.ion-engineering.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: ION Engineering will be presenting at Venture Capital in the Rockies at Beaver Creek, March 3-5, 2009. For more information, please see http://www.vcirwinter.com/.
Media Contacts:
Alfred “Buz” Brown, PhD, brown@ion-engineering.com, 303-720-9079
John Metzger, john@metzger.com, 303-786-7000