EPIC applied research helping a local cleantech company reduce greenhouse gas emissions

The Energy & Power Innovation Centre at Mohawk College, EPIC, has partnered with a Hamilton-based cleantech company to fine-tune its innovative energy recovery system for use on hot water boiler systems.

The EPIC team, part of Mohawk’s IDEAWORKS applied research division, will help Carbon Cap Inc. further develop its energy recovery system. Carbon Cap’s technology is designed to increase the efficiency of boiler systems in buildings by reusing the heat from exhaust flue gas, therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Funding for the project was announced by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).

“The EPIC team was able to provide resources and expertise to accelerate the demonstration process at our pilot plant facility through the automation, monitoring and evaluation phases,” says Raphael Kolenko, Managing Director of Operations of Carbon Cap, who credits the support of Mariano Arriaga, General Manager of EPIC and Rubaid Khan, faculty in Mohawk’s School of Engineering Technology, as key experts in the SDTC-funded project. “The use of EPIC’s facilities, equipment and team member efforts was critical to develop and validate our system.”

The funding will allow EPIC to join a small consortium of technology and research organizations supporting Carbon Cap, to provide additional energy expertise to help the company commercialize its product.

EPIC has previously partnered with Carbon Cap to support the automation of its energy recovery system, including preliminary programming of the control system, designing a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and setting up its remote access, as well as analyzing sample cases of the system performance at Carbon Cap’s pilot plant facility.

“The funding from SDTC illustrates the continued value of college expertise and applied research to Canadian innovation,” says Jeffrey McIsaac, Dean of Applied Research at Mohawk. “Having an innovative idea isn’t always enough. Entrepreneurs and small businesses need hands-on support to build new products and get them into the market. We have worked closely with Carbon Cap over several years, at many stages of their development, and it is exciting to see them take this next step. We’re proud of the role that our energy expertise has played to help bring Carbon Cap’s product to the national stage.”

The single-biggest investor in Canadian cleantech companies, SDTC is a foundation created by the Government of Canada in 2001 to invest in clean technologies that address climate change, air quality, clean water and clean soil.