As the journey to net zero intensifies, the climatech market is growing exponentially in lockstep. One of the most exciting recent innovations is focused on overcoming the intermittency of renewable energy in Power-to-X processes, and comes courtesy of two recent graduates of Cambridge University’s impulse innovation programme.
Professor Laura Torrente Murciano and Dr Collin Smith, co-founders of Cambridge Innovations in Ammonia (CIA), completed the three-month innovation programme last year [2024]. The company is looking at the design and optimisation of technologies for the decarbonisation of chemical processes.
The chemical industry provides over 60,000 products underpinning every aspect of modern life – but is also currently responsible for over 15% of global CO2 emissions, largely due to the use of fossil fuels as an energy source in chemical production.
The decarbonisation of the industry therefore relies heavily on the use of renewable energy to power future processes and produce renewable feeds in what is called Power-to-X (P2X). These new processes can convert renewable electricity into molecules such as green ammonia or methanol which can be used in sectors that are difficult to electrify or stored for later use.
However, while new technologies are being developed for Power-to-X, most of the processes are not economically competitive with the fossil-fuel driven ones - which is why CIA has developed a novel optimisation framework for Power-to-X processes which additionally enhances their economic competitiveness whilst providing robust business models.
CIA’s AI-powered algorithms take a holistic approach to chemical processes, using long-term historical weather data (>40 years), to deliver project-specific solutions in a quick and efficient way.
Dr Collin Smith explains: “The intermittency of the renewable energy remains one of the main technological and economic challenges in Power-to-X processes. Conventional processes have been developed and optimised over the last century to run in large-scale, 24/7 plants benefiting from the continuous supply of fossil fuels. When shifting to intermittent renewable energy supply, the traditional paradigms of process design in the chemical industry need to be re-optimized for the novel constraints of renewable energy.”
Professor Laura Torrente Murciano says: “If we want to decarbonise as a society, we need to find a way to effectively store renewable energy which is typically intermittent. We believe that ammonia is a great way of storing renewable energy, and it is also carbon-free.
“The long-term storage of renewable energy in the chemical bonds of green ammonia and methanol is additionally poised to decarbonise other sectors such as transport and the electrical grid, making their economic production a top priority to achieve the 2050 net zero targets.
“Accelerating the decarbonisation of chemical processes is an area where close collaboration between academia and industry is critical. We are engaging with renewable energy developers, engineering firms and investment funds to bring state-of-the-art optimisation algorithms to market, to de-risk green projects form early development stages in our quest to decarbonise the society while providing growth and energy security.”
Applications are now open for impulse 2025: https://www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk/apply-impulse. Sponsored Fellowships are available for certain technology and research areas. To increase your chances of being matched with an available fellowship, please apply in the first round which closes on 3 February 2025. The second and final round for applications is 3 March 2025.
The three-month hybrid programme runs from 29 April to 11 July 2025, and is held at the University of Cambridge's Maxwell Centre. The action-learning initiative is designed to accelerate high-potential innovations into commercial propositions, guided by top-tier innovators and mentors from the Cambridge innovation cluster.
Alumni include the founders of: Riverlane, Abselion, Nu Quantum , Xampla, Echion Technologies, Wave Photonics, AllFocal Optics (formerly Lark Optics), Semarion, About:Energy.
