CEN Staff-Reported

CEN Staff Reported

BOULDER - 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.

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.”

For more information visit www.ion-engineering.com.