Exergyn, an Irish SME, has been awarded €2.48m in EU funding to commercialise its Exergyn Drive engine, which turns waste hot water into electricity.
The specially-designed engine has been created with the application of using waste hot water created during the cooling process of manufacturing and, rather than letting it go to waste, or wasting valuable energy cooling it down again, they can use it to power their engine to create electricity.
The company, which was founded in 2012 by Alan Healy, Barry Cullen and Kevin O’Toole, has expanded to 15 staff and is targeting the European bio-gas sector as they believe that it represents an attractive commercial prospect for power generation.
The Exergyn Drive has already undergone trials and, as of the beginning of Q1 this year, the company is seeking partners to trial five 10kW engines in the bio-gas and power generation industries.
Could cut global emissions by 2pc
The company estimates that if its engine was commercialised to its full potential, it could cut global carbon emissions by as much as 2pc.
This new €2.48m in funding has been awarded from the SME Instrument of Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation funding programme, and it is the only Irish SME to have been awarded substantial funding under Phase 2 of the programme so far this year.
“This funding is crucial to our ability to move our technology forward and commercialise it — so the whole world can begin to make use of the vast amounts of low-grade waste heat produced each year,” said co-founder Alan Healy.
“I would recommend other SMEs — if they have confirmed that their business/project is the kind that fits the Horizon 2020 mould — to apply. Ireland has an active start-up/early-stage company community and the EU funding is well known to people in this community.”
Power plant at night image via Shutterstock
