C-Capture win National Shell Springboard Final 2016
Following their success in the regional finals, C-Capture, a spin out company from the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds, has gone on to win the Shell Springboard National Final.
They finished first out of the 140 low carbon technology companies that originally applied.
The photograph shows (left to right): Martin Powell, Head of Urban Development, Siemens; Prof. Chris Rayner, C-Capture and University of Leeds; Caspar Schoolderman, C-Capture; Erik Bonino, Chairman, Shell UK
The company receives a total of £150,000 as prize money, as well as the prestige and publicity associated with winning such a highly competitive national award.
The team of Caspar Schoolderman, Doug Barnes, Gergely Jakab and David Lawlor, led by Prof. Chris Rayner, have worked closely together to develop highly innovative solvent systems for the removal of CO2 from gas streams. These could be from large scale point sources such as power stations to smaller scale applications such as biogas upgrading technologies.
Importantly the new process uses between 50-90% less energy than current technologies, and is also expected to be cheaper to install and run. It is currently being demonstrated in real environments using their portable containerised module capable of separating up to 1 tonne of CO2 per day.
The Shell Springboard winner was chosen by an independent panel of judges, comprising of some of the leading experts in the low-carbon and enterprise sectors, including Professor Samuel Fankhauser, co-director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and Martin Powell, Head of Urban Development at Siemens. Powell said: “The innovative enterprises coming through this year's Shell Springboard programme are exactly the sort of technologies we need to accelerate the journey to low-carbon cities of the future. It is encouraging to see such a breadth of inventions and I wish all the finalists success in bringing their products onto the market."
Shell UK chairman, Erik Bonino, said: “The Shell Springboard National Winner, C-Capture, and Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner, Tom Robinson from Adaptavate, are inspiring examples of how combining bright ideas with an entrepreneurial approach can help us meet the UK’s low carbon challenge, without compromising our economic prosperity.”
Having previously received funding from the Department for Energy and Climate Change under their prestigious Energy Entrepreneurs programme, and from IP Group plc, the timing of additional funding from Shell comes at an important time in the development of C-Capture, as they intend to launch their first commercial system later this year.
More information about C-Capture can be found at www.c-capture.co.uk.
Shell Springboard is a nationwide awards programme for the next breakthrough in low-carbon enterprise. It is part of Shell’s strategy to support bright energy ideas and provide a platform for innovation, collaboration and conversation about the global energy challenge, while helping to create jobs and growth among UK small businesses. Since 2005 Shell Springboard programme has awarded £3.15 million to 98 low-carbon entrepreneurs, who have gone on to create over 250 new jobs and have an annual combined turnover of £60 million. More information about Shell Springboard can be found at www.shellspringboard.org.
