Fighting Global Energy And Water Shortage

Two of the biggest global issues are shortage of clean energy and clean water. Despite of the present economic downturn, fossil fuels are not the answer to the ever growing energy need. While some new technologies offer possibilities for providing electrical energy there are few technologies that address the need for truly sustainable transportation fuels. The second issue has an even greater impact but is not yet addressed as such. The lack of clean water is impairing complete nations from Latin America, through Sub-Saharan Africa to South-East Asia. Approximately 1,1 billion people have no access to clean water. There is some initial research being done on how to clean and distribute the water and less on how to produce it.

At Antecy we are working on technology that will solve both problems in the same process. We have developed the technology that can provide both water and energy. Once fully developed this technology has a tremendous potential. It can in fact be applied to make communities completely self-reliant.

Our answer to the energy problem is solar-fuels. These are fuels, liquids, like gasoline, or ethanol, but produced out of solar energy and air. The chemistry behind the process is that water (H₂O) and carbon di-oxide (CO₂) are collected from air and converted to methanol by use of solar energy. This process does not only offer a solution for energy storage but also produces a transportation fuel that can fuel a car. The ratio between the two is variable and depends on many factors such as energy use, solar radiation, and such.

In the very first step where CO₂ is concentrated, also humidity (water in the air) gets concentrated and is recovered. Some of the water is used to produce methanol but water is also a very important by-product. Producing water out of “thin air” is a great step forward in solving the water-crisis.

The team behind ANTECY has been active in renewable energy for quite a while. Paul O'Connor founded BIOeCON in 2006 for conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals.

in 2007 BIOeCON started a JV in the US together with one of the major VC's. Last year this joint venture named KiOR went public in an IPO and is now traded on NASDAQ. Paul is on the board of directors of KiOR , which is bout to start its first commercial plant for production of cellulosic gasoline and diesel.

In 2010 BIOeCON entered into a joint development agreement with Petrobras (a state owned oil giant). Project named BiCHEM is focused on technology for production of high value chemicals and fuels additives.

About ANTECY
ANTECY's vision of providing chemicals and fuels directly from solar energy is the logical next step in the continuous history and development of energy resources, whereby the sun has always been the provider and we have been reaping her fruits in different ways; first fossil fuels, today biofuels and in the future as direct solar fuels.

SOURCE: ANTECY