A £700 million British clean-tech export deal has been announced to extract and store up to half a million tonnes of CO2e in the United Arab Emirates.
Cambridge-based Levidian has contracted to supply 500 of its LOOP50 systems to UAE-based Zero Carbon Ventures, a company created with the express mission of stripping climate-wrecking methane out of the Middle East’s petrochemicals and oil extraction industries.
The LOOP family of products uses plasma technology to create graphene, the so-called ‘miracle synthesis’ compound. During the process, methane is split into its constituent atoms of carbon, locked by the process into graphene, as well as of increasingly valuable hydrogen. The latter can either be stored or used immediately.
The technology can strip 40% of a gas’s carbon components instantly, or so Levidian claims.
The first Levidian LOOP device will be delivered in coming weeks, to operate on an industrial site in Abu Dhabi owned by IDC, the Gulf states’ industrial development company.
Over its life, the deal will create 100 new high-skilled jobs in Cambridge where the devices will be made.
Led by CEO John Hartley, the pioneering company says its technology fits easily into existing infrastructure at any site with a supply of natural gas.
A single LOOP50 device utilising waste gas reduces CO2 equivalent by 100 tonnes per year. Over the course of Levidian’s 10-year agreement with Zero Carbon, the 500 LOOP devices will remove half a million tonnes of CO2e.
The National Grid is currently trialling LOOP in the UK, according to Levidian.
“It is very exciting to see our first Levidian LOOP device deployed in the UAE,” CEO Hartley commented.
“LOOP is at its most powerful when decarbonising waste gas to generate hydrogen and graphene. Methane is the most potent greenhouse gas and Levidian’s mission is to turn this gas into a powerful tool for decarbonisation. We look forward to seeing Zero Carbon’s network of LOOPs growing over the coming years.”
Martin Reynolds, CEO of Zero Carbon Ventures said the company existed to find carbon-reducing innovations that can make a hugely positive impact in the Middle East
“There’s no doubt that Levidian’s game-changing LOOP devices will do just that, producing both green hydrogen and high-quality graphene, right here in the UAE”, Reynolds added.
“Both products in turn will have a positive impact on many industrial processes. We can’t wait to get started.”
