Unideek in Gemert is the first company in the world to generate energy through the burning of iron powder. A technique developed at Eindhoven University of Technology. By using this new technology, the producer of polystyrene can get rid of gas and work more environmentally friendly. And that is precisely where the Unidek is to do: working sustainably.
It was quite a search for Unidek to find a good alternative to get rid of the gas, says Tim van Melis van Unidek. Like so many companies, Unidek wants to work sustainably, so no longer CO2 emissions that is harmful to the environment.
“To make styrofoam we use a lot of steam and it is currently being generated by natural gas. To find an alternative for that, we have started a whole search. We have looked at all kinds of alternatives. In fact, we came to the conclusion that they were not feasible and affordable. Until they saw a test setup at Bierbrouwer Bavaria.
Large investor
For years, students from the TU/e investigated opportunities to generate energy with iron powder. By burning iron in powder form, a lot of energy and steam is released. In the meantime, the students have set up the Rift company that is going on the market with this form of energy. That there is a lot of confidence in this technique is evident from the investors who support it.
For example, one of the lenders is none other than Bill Gates from TechGigant Microsoft. Unidek is the first company that will apply the technology, but before it is time, it will take a while. Due to, among other things, the delivery of parts, it will take another three years before it can really be applied.
Mark Verhagen is the boss of Rift and is enthusiastic: “Iron powder is just like sand particles. When we bring this into contact with air, a huge amount of heat is released to generate energy. You have to imagine that large industrial companies have huge boilers to generate heat with gas. Iron powder is an alternative to that gas, but then sustainable.”
It started with research in a laboratory with very small flames, Verhagen explains. “Ultimately, the students founded the Rift company to apply it commercially. We knew it was going to work and so we have step by step for the industry for the past three years.”
World first
At Unidek, Henri Hendriks is the project manager who is allowed to steer it all in the right direction: “Well, I think we have grabbed the world first to be the first commercial company to generate steam with this installation. We have investigated all the alternatives to gas and there is only one that was intact and that is the method developed by Rift.”
Henri does think that there will still be teething problems in the beginning, but says that gas consumption will be drastically reduced: “We now use about 2 million cubic meters of gas per year. We are expected to reduce gas consumption to eighty or ninety percent, without our production being in danger.”
Rift also applies the technology for the energy generation of five hundred households in Helmond and that is going well, says Mark Verhagen. “Now the next step installations for the industry. It is easy to apply for the customer. It is plug-and-play and without using electricity”
Because the pressure at companies is great to work sustainably, according to Verhagen, that market is enormous. “It shows a small test setup. With a little iron powder and air, a huge flame arises that generates warmth and energy. About the Deal Baas, of course, the Rift Baas is happy:” How beautiful is that isolation material that is already produced for sustainability in construction. It is indeed revolutionary, because it is a completely new technology. ”
The future for Rift looks sunny. Verhagen says that there are no less than three billion euros in assignments in the pipeline.