The Cleantech Show #017 (MP3 - 14MB - 37min)
Interview with Phil Kithill, Atmocean Inc.

In February 2007, Richard Branson and Al Gore announced a new global science and technology prize - The Virgin Earth challenge  - whereby an individual or group can demonstrate a solution that can remove at least 1 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year for at least ten years. The objective is to act as a saftey and long term mechanism to help reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The prize? $25 million, but the solution has to be commercially viable and registrations are open until 2010 (wiki)

One company which many have high hopes for being eligible for this prize and a candidate for large scale CO2 sequestration is Atmocean based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our guest on this weeks show is Phil Kithil the founder and CEO of Atmocean Inc and inventor of the company’s wave-driven ocean upwelling system.

Previously Phil founded and led Advanced Safety Concepts, Inc., an automotive safety technology business where he was awarded 12 US and international patents on occupant sensing and crash sensing, which he sold to Methode Electronics (a Chicago-based automotive supplier) in 2004.

Atmocean is developing its proprietary wave-driven ocean upwelling system to cool the upper ocean and enhance natural biological processes to absorb CO2. When widely deployed across critical ocean regions, the Atmocean technology can help fight global warming by sequestering massive amounts of CO2 on the ocean floor, reduce hurricane intensity, and help revive ocean fisheries.

If you would like to understand how the technology works, the Atmocean website has some good animations and video clips explaining the technology

Currently the company is a significant research phase testing and refining the technology. When deployed estimates are that a 100,000 sq km array of 25,000 pumps would be able to sequester 2.5 million tonnes of CO2.  Phil and his team are also raising capital for further development of the technology.

So in the comments this week, do you think this technology can achieve what is says? Are there other technologies that are better placed to sequester carbon dioxide. Lets hear your thoughts.

Enjoy the show.

cheers
Nick Bruse

Subscribe to TPN :: The Cleantech Show by Email - More about the host

Energy Generation from Biomass is one of the technologies that is being developed as a significant contributor to the renewable energy mix in developing countries and countries with high agricultural waste products that can be feed stocks. India is spending a great deal of effort and research in this area due to its sizable off-grid population in rural agricultural areas.

In more developed countries and regions, its also being seen as an effective co-generation technology for using the waste materials from agriculture and food process industries.

MIT Tech review Extract: ‘a new research paper published online in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy argues that the battle against global warming may be better served by instead heating the biomass in an oxygen-starved process called pyrolysis, extracting methane, hydrogen, and other by-products for combustion, and burying the resulting carbon-rich char’ full story

Nick Bruse