Terex, CATAGEN and Wrightbus have been awarded £6.27 million funding by the UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero through Phase 2 of the Red Diesel Replacement programme, as part of the £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).
The British Government funding is part of an £8.1 million project to decarbonise non-road mobile machinery, creating 15 highly skilled jobs and highlighting Northern Ireland’s manufacturing and engineering expertise that is now being used to reduce emissions globally.
Amanda Solloway, Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability, said: “As we continue towards our goal of reaching net zero by 2050, we want to ensure businesses have all the support they need to power our transition to a cleaner, cheaper energy system. Our funding will support ground-breaking projects in malting, construction and manufacturing so businesses can incorporate green energy into their day-to-day operations.”
The project will deliver a decarbonised end-to-end demonstration of a Powerscreen Premiertrak 450E crusher and Chieftain 1700XE screener powered by green hydrogen and e-diesel at a working quarry site in Northern Ireland in 2024. Specifically, the Powerscreen equipment will be fuelled by CATAGEN’s ClimaHtech E-FUEL GEN and COMPRESSOR technology, and Wrightbus is supporting the development of a mobile hydrogen refueller.
Dr Andrew Woods, CEO and Co-Founder at CATAGEN, said: “The pathway to decarbonise the off-road mobile machinery is difficult; these vehicles tend to be larger, built for extreme conditions, have long duty cycles and high-power demand. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so we are delighted to be making this bold step with Terex and Wrightbus to develop an end-to-end decarbonised solution. This will showcase a Powerscreen Premiertrak 450E crusher and Chieftain 1700XE screener at a quarry, powered by a dual-fuel hydrogen e-diesel genset, produced and fuelled by the ClimaHtech system and the Wrightbus Hydrogen refueller. CATAGEN’s purpose is to clean and decarbonise the air, and this project brings us one step closer to our goal to reduce global emissions.”
The consortium comprises an exceptional blend of two global industry leaders Terex and Wrightbus, with CATAGEN, a net-zero technology company that is pioneering world-class innovative solutions that have the potential to advance the net zero ambitions of these two global businesses.
David Trimble, group engineering director at Terex, said: “This project will demonstrate an end-to-end solution for the decarbonisation of Terex crushing and screening equipment through driveline efficiency improvements and displacement of fossil diesel with e-diesel and green hydrogen. The main aim is to produce a robust set of equipment for the quarrying and recycling industries with net zero carbon emissions and a significant reduction in all engine emissions.”
The project will further develop the evolution of the Powerscreen Premiertrak 450E crusher and Chieftain 1700XE screener for improved energy efficiency through a low-carbon power supply. It will also develop the pilot-scale production of CATAGEN’s e-diesel technology (ClimaHtech E-FUEL GEN). This drop-in fuel requires no change to the current infrastructure and the integration of CATAGEN’s hybrid compression and dispensing technology (ClimaHtech COMPRESSOR).
Dr Andy Harris, advanced engineering manager at Wrightbus, said: “We are delighted to be involved with this highly innovative project with fellow leaders in Northern Ireland’s low/zero-emission industry, supporting the development of a mobile hydrogen refueler for off-highway demonstrations. Having developed the world’s first Hydrogen Double-Deck Bus, Wrightbus are well-placed to aid in knowledge transfer to adjacent sectors, and lessons learned will be key to developing a sustainable decarbonisation roadmap for the entire transport industry.”
The objectives are to develop this complete solution to the pre-production readiness level and demonstrate the full systems approach at two demonstration sites in 2024. The benefits of this concept lie in integrating well-proven equipment with innovative technology that can deliver a fully decarbonised, robust solution for the industry.
