Business

Catagen plan 100 new jobs to support green tech developments

Catagen founders Dr Andrew Woods and Prof Roy Douglas.
Catagen founders Dr Andrew Woods and Prof Roy Douglas. Catagen founders Dr Andrew Woods and Prof Roy Douglas.

A BELFAST green tech firm is expecting to create around 100 new jobs after developing a new way of making green hydrogen.

Catagen, which was spun out of the research of Queen’s University academic Dr Andrew Woods, has announced five new green energy products.

A specialist in emissions data, the Titanic Quarter-based company has grown fast in recent months on the back of its technical advances in climate technology.

Earlier this year it secured UK Government funding as part of a programme to replace red diesel.

Now Catagen has launched five prototypes under its new ClimaHtech brand, with plans to plans to scale the business significantly in the next 3-5 years.

The company is expected to more than double its workforce from 36 to 75 over the next year, with plans to pass 130 people the following year.

The new technology it has developed include new ways to generate green hydrogen, bio-hydrogen and e-fuels, as well as complementary systems for carbon capture and hydrogen compression.

Dr Andrew Woods said Catagen expect to have full-scale demonstrators by 2024.

“We are creating new technologies that clean and decarbonise the air, applying our innovations to decarbonising challenging sectors such as industry, shipping, and aviation,” he said.

“This technology is scalable and by adopting efficient green hydrogen energy powered by renewable sources such as wind and solar, we can help fulfil net zero pledges across multi sector industries.”

Catagen is working with Fermanagh building products group Mannok to explore how its technology could reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete industry.

“Decarbonisation of our operations, including cement production is a significant challenge,” said Kevin Lunney, operations director at Mannok Build.

“The Mannok board has commissioned Catagen to develop a feasibility study to understand the benefits of integrating Catagen’s hydrogen production and e-fuel production techniques using waste heat from the cement manufacturing process to reduce emissions.

“Catagen is an exciting company developing needed technologies and we look forward to being with them on this journey,” he said.

Professor Roy Douglas is Catagen’s chief technical officer. He said the company has shown real ingenuity to develop the prototypes, which he said has put the firm on a path to delivering industrial-scale system solutions.

“We are seeing tremendous demand for these innovations across manufacturing, electricity, agriculture and transportation but there are steps still to take to make our climate technology system a mass deployed commercial reality,” he said.

“Industry has to change and has to become cleaner, cutting its carbon-dioxide emissions to zero. “Working in partnership with the UK Government and industry leaders, our goal is to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels to cleaner greener energy, helping to decarbonise and reduce emissions in the most challenging sectors of industry.”