Low Carbon Accelerator, an investment fund specialising in low carbon services, has announced a £1.24m investment in Canadian gas separation company Vaperma.
The investment is part of a CAN$6.9m (£3.7m) funding round, which includes investment in Emerald Technology Ventures, Volvo Technology Transfer Corporation, BDC Capital and Fonds d'investissement en developpement durable (FIDD).
Vaperma has used the initial funding to expand its commercial operations and further develop its Siftek membrane-based ethanol dewatering system.
The technology is said to offer potential energy savings of up to seven cents per
Dr. Stephen Mahon, chief investment officer at Low Carbon Investors, said: ‘Vaperma has made its first sales and has built excellent channel partnerships with leading players in the biofuels industry.
‘It will use this additional funding to finance further opportunities in its sales pipeline and to develop and commercialise second generation membranes for use across a range of new applications and industries.’
Siftek works by using polymeric hollow fibres that allow selective permeance of water across a membrane.
The system can replace distillation columns and molecular sieve units (MSU) in a conventional process.
According to the company, it has the potential to reduce carbon emissions while enhancing the cost effectiveness of ethanol production.
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