Green technologies are the need of the hour as we try to move on from conventional ones. At deMITasse Energies, a group of enthusiastic engineers culminated a one-of-a-kind innovation: a zero-emission engine that uses low-grade fuel to generate power extremely efficiently, reliably, and inexpensively. This engine can also store off-peak and/or industrial waste/process thermal energy for months. This budding company is headed by two environmentally aware individuals Megha Rawat and Vijay Prateik who are driven by their passion for sustainability.
While the company was registered in 2016, about 10 years of hard work and research had already been done prior. In accordance to Megha, with energy being one of the biggest challenges the current generation is facing, deMITasse is “specialized in storing energy for a very long time, from a layman’s perspective, which regular lithium batteries can store for few hours, if we use our technology, we can store it for well beyond 18 or 19 months — and up to grid scales.”
According to Vijay, there were two main issues deMITasse Energies wanted to address, “energy storage and inefficiencies thermodynamic cycles presently being used in power plants”. The engine design was aimed at solving both issues by making energy storage viable, cost-effective, and durable especially from renewable sources, and cutting down the 70% of energy loss as low-grade fuel by eliminating the energy-inefficient processes currently in place in the said cycle. By using a propriety fluid and catalytic processes deMITasse Energies can increase the efficiency of the best available cycles by 25-30%. In addition, “lab-scale demonstrations have resulted in efficiencies of up to 70% and we are sure that we can increase overall round-trip efficiencies up to 75 to even 80% with better materials”, said Vijay.
Being inexpensive gives the company an edge; this is mainly because all components, chemicals, and processes used in the system already exist in the industry. “We haven’t invented the wheel, we just repurposed the wheel”, said Vijay.
Innovations like these do not come without challenges; taking 6 years to get the technicalities of the engine right down to the last gear, a boot-strapped investment, and a lack of skilled individuals were some of the main challenges faced by DeMITasse Energies. To an extent, a lack of awareness about problems amongst the people also presented as a challenge. By overcoming these challenges the company’s ultimate goal is to “be the market leader in terms of grid-scale energy storage and adopt solar and wind onto the power grid and therefore phase out fossil fuel power plants.”
At present, the company is developing smaller scale engines that can be used by various sectors in industries such as textile and telecom. By recovering energy and channeling it back into the industry or a power grid, energy loss is greatly decreased. This in turn allows industries to do away with expensive power plants making the industry most cost-effective and energy-efficient. Lastly, the company is also working with the Indian military in conducting cutting-edge research.
deMITasse Energies’ technology allows for the advancement of the adoption of renewable or green technology onto the power grid making it impossible to completely go green without innovations like theirs. Loss of employment is also not an issue as workers would only be shifting jobs instead of being left unemployed. As none of the components are imported, this allows for jobs to stay within the country and help push India onto the global map.
Innovations like deMITasse Energies show that passion and skill goes a long way into helping curb crisis like climate change. The company hopes to inspire more engineers to come up with technology doing their bit in fighting the climate and energy crisis.
Written by
Oynessa