(Chicago, IL) June 6, 2011 – Westec Environmental Solutions (WES), LLC announced today that Spanish utility company Iberdrola, through Perseo
[1], has chosen to invest in WES, LLC for its carbon capture technology. Iberdrola, a one-hundred-year-old company with operations in Europe, Latin America and the United States, is the fifth largest utility and the largest renewable energy operator in the world.
Iberdrola recognized the importance of the WES Absorber technology for its ability to capture CO2 from combustion gas flues in electric power generation, and thus fight the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The WES Absorber offers significant capital cost reductions over conventional CO2 capture systems by reducing the size of the absorbers by up to 50%. The WES Absorber also consumes significantly less energy than existing technologies.
“We are delighted to have Iberdrola as a partner,” said Mr. Frank Huebner, CEO of WES. “This is a recognition that the WES Absorber stands to revolutionize absorption across a huge range of industries. The investment will fast track our commercialization program through funding of our first pilot projects in carbon capture. The first of these is now scheduled to be built in Australia in early 2012,” added Mr. Huebner.
In addition to CO2 capture, WES Absorber technology offers unprecedented solutions to critical requirements in the areas of pollution control, natural gas processing, indoor air quality (IAQ) and other industrial gas/liquid processes. Applications include gas sweetening, gas dehydration, gas purification and NOx removal in industries ranging from carbon capture, oil and gas, LNG production, mining, pharmaceutical, fertilizer production and general industrial markets.
“Westec Environmental Solutions offers a CO2 absorption technology that uses smaller gas absorption devices than the current industry standard, while achieving equal effectiveness for less cost,” stated Agustín Delgado, Director of R&D for Iberdrola. “This system applies to all industrial processes that require gas/liquid transfer through absorption, and has been designed to optimize the gas/liquid mass transfer processes in a wide variety of market sectors and applications.”
WES, LLC was selected in October 2010 as a winner of Iberdrola’s inaugural Perseo Awards in the CO2 Capture and Clean Combustion Category for the WES Absorber technology. The Perseo Awards are designed to promote research and support state-of-the-art initiatives with innovative technological applications in the clean energies sector, targeting technology projects or companies in their initial stage of development. Perseo will become a 20% shareholder in WES, LLC through the award’s equity investment.
Westec Environmental Solutions, LLC has corporate offices in Chicago and London. WES Research and Development is headquartered in Hawaii and is partnered with international engineering firm Process Group Pty Ltd. in Melbourne. Process Group is a specialized engineering group and world leader in carbon capture and industrial gas separation processes.
More information about Perseo: Technological Inititatives - PERSEO
[1] Perseo is an IBERDROLA development capital initiative designed to invest in innovative renewable electric power generation technologies and other technologies that reduce the environmental impact of existing generation systems. For this purpose, Perseo has an annual budget of €6 million in order to ensure IBERDROLA's presence in future technologies.
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