Reported by Staff

BOULDER – The University of Colorado and ION Engineering, LLC, have finalized an exclusive licensing agreement to develop and commercialize technology enabling efficient and economical capture of CO2 and other contaminants from natural gas wells and coal-fired power plant emissions. ION’s breakthrough technology, developed by CU-Boulder Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering researchers Jason Bara, Dean Camper, Richard Noble and Douglas Gin, is the first to successfully integrate ionic liquid solutions into carbon capture and emissions control technology.

The viability of ION’s proprietary solvent systems has been demonstrated in the laboratory, and the company is currently optimizing their solvents for specific gas compositions and completing their engineering design for larger scale laboratory and field pilots. “The potential for ION’s technology is exciting, both with the advantages it offers natural gas processors and the opportunity to advance the effective capture of greenhouse gases in power generation,” said Dr. Alfred “Buz” Brown, the company’s CEO. Partnerships are being developed with companies around the world to demonstrate the technology and bring it to market. 

ION Engineering recently received a $100,000 Proof-of-Concept Investment from the CU Technology Transfer Office and the CU-Boulder Energy Initiative after optioning rights to the technology in December 2008. Based in Boulder, ION Engineering was formed in 2008 by Bara and Camper, along with Christopher Gabriel, a research associate at CU, and by Dr. Brown, who brings more than 30 years of technology commercialization and venture creation experience. “We believe that ION Engineering is poised for considerable impact based on this outstanding technology platform,” said David Allen, CU’s Associate Vice President for Technology Transfer.