Three Northern Ireland firms scoop project worth £8.1million to decarbonise heavy duty machinery

Three Northern Ireland firms, Catagen, Terex and Wrightbus, have been awarded £6.27million funding by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero through Phase 2 of the Red Diesel Replacement programme, as part of the £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).

In total this funding is part of an £8.1million project to decarbonise non road mobile machinery, which will create 15 highly skilled jobs and highlight Northern Ireland’s manufacturing and engineering expertise that is now being used to reduce emissions globally.

Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability, Amanda Solloway, said: “As we continue towards our goal of reaching net zero by 2050, we want to ensure businesses have all the support they need to power our transition to a cleaner, cheaper energy system. Our funding will support ground-breaking projects in malting, construction and manufacturing so businesses can incorporate green energy into their day-to-day operations.”

The project will deliver a decarbonised end-to-end demonstration of a Terex crusher and screen, powered by green hydrogen and e-diesel at a working quarry site in Northern Ireland in 2025.

Specifically, the Terex equipment will be fuelled by Catagen’s ClimaHtech e-fuel gen and compressor technology and Wrightbus is supporting the development of a mobile hydrogen refueller.

Dr Andrew Woods, CEO and co-founder at Catagen, continued: “The pathway to decarbonise the off-road mobile machinery is difficult, these vehicles tend to be larger, built for extreme conditions, have long duty cycles and high-power demand. There is no one-size-fits-all solution so we are delighted to be making this bold step with Terex and Wrighbus to develop an end-to-end decarbonised solution. This will showcase a Terex crusher and screener at a quarry, powered by a dual fuel hydrogen e-diesel genset, produced and fuelled by the ClimaHtech system and the Wrightbus Hydrogen refueller. Catagen’s purpose is to clean and decarbonise the air and this project brings us one step closer to our goal to reduce global emissions.”

The consortium comprises a blend of two global industry leaders Terex and Wrightbus with Catagen a net zero technology company that is pioneering world-class innovative solutions that have the potential to advance the net zero ambitions of these two global businesses.

David Trimble, group engineering director at Terex, explained: “This project builds on the success of Catagen and Terex’s Phase 1 projects to now demonstrate an end-to-end solution for the decarbonisation of Terex crushing and screening equipment through driveline efficiency improvements and displacement of fossil diesel with e-diesel and green hydrogen. The main aim is to produce a robust set of equipment for the quarrying and recycling industries with net zero carbon emissions and a significant reduction in all engine emissions.”

The project will further develop the evolution of the Terex crusher and screen for improved energy efficiency through low-carbon power supply. It will also develop the pilot-scale production of Catagen’s e-diesel technology (ClimaHtech e-fuel gen) a drop-in fuel that

requires no change to the current infrastructure as well as the integration of Catagen’s hybrid compression and dispensing technology (ClimaHtech compressor).

Dr Andy Harris, advanced engineering manager at Wrightbus, added: “We are delighted to be involved with this highly innovative project with fellow leaders in Northern Ireland’s low/zero-emission industry, supporting the development of a mobile hydrogen refueler for off-highway demonstrations. Having developed the World’s First Hydrogen Double-Deck Bus, Wrightbus are well-placed to aid in knowledge transfer to adjacent sectors and lessons learned will be key to developing a sustainable decarbonisation roadmap for the entire transport industry.”

The objectives are to develop this complete solution to pre-production readiness level and demonstrate the full systems’ approach at two demonstration sites in 2025. The benefits of this concept lie in the integration of well-proven equipment with innovative technology that will be capable of delivering a fully decarbonised, robust solution for the industry.