Florida R&D company Cyclone to partner with CleanCarbon in Australia

26 Jun 2012

Florida-based engineering company Cyclone Power Technologies, which has developed a heat regenerative external combustion engine, is to partner with Australian firm CleanCarbon to pursue clean-tech projects around sustainable farming in Australia.

The publicly traded Cyclone (CYPW) confirmed today that the projects will include government and private contracts for the commercialisation of Cyclone technology for the agricultural and municipal waste industries in Australia.

CleanCarbon itself is a clean-tech commercialisation and management company based in Australia. It works with the farming organisation SANTFA (South Australian No-Till Farmers Association), which aims to encourage sustainable farming by integrating new clean-tech technologies.

Cyclone said the primary focus of the partnership will hone in on opportunities related to bio-fuel usage and waste-to-energy systems.

The two companies are aiming to draw upon Cyclone’s technology to help more than 135,000 farms in Australia generate revenue from the country’s Federal Clean Energy Futures programme.

Cyclone said the alliance will aim to help these farmers reduce on-farm costs, waste and greenhouse emissions by producing and using their own fuels to power farm equipment and electrical generators.

In relation to onsite power generation from waste products, both Cyclone and CleanCarbon will also be working with Enginuity Energy. The latter has pioneered gasifier technology with the aim of converting both high and low-quality biomass, including animal biowaste, into thermal energy. Cyclone entered into a teaming agreement with Enginuity Energy back in March.

As for Cyclone’s external combustion engine, the company’s founder and CEO Harry Schoell invented the engine. He designed it so it could run on almost any fuel, including biodiesel, to achieve high thermal efficiencies via a compact heat-regenerative process.

Corn-cutting image via Shutterstock

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

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