On Wednesday, Swedish Stirling AB, the Nasdaq First North-listed, Stockholm-based energy recycling company whose modular gas pressure engine (the PWR-BLOK 400-F) can convert industrial and residual flare gases into clean electricity, announced that it has won a major contract. The company has signed an energy service agreement with commodity giant Glencore’s Merafe Venture, a South African mine that produces chrome ore, ferrochrome and vanadium.
Under the terms of the agreement, Swedish Stirling will install 25 of its PWR BLOK 400-F engines (each PWR BLOK containing 14 Stirling engines) at the mine‘s Lion Ferrochrome smelter, one of the world’s largest such smelters. The contract is to remain in force for eight years, with an option for Glencore Merafe Venture to extend the contract by another seven years. During that time, the engines are expected to offset more than 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the Lion smelter.
“The Lion smelter is one of the world’s largest ferrochrome smelters. For Swedish Stirling, this development is recognition that the PWR BLOK is a key solution for energy recovery in the metallurgical industry, and is the starting point for a large commercial roll-out,” Swedish Stirling CEO Gunnar Larsson said in a comment on the deal.
“We are excited to implement this project which we hope will reduce both our production costs and carbon dioxide emissions,” Glencore’s Head of Ferroalloys Industrial Assets Japie Fullard, adding that the project is part of Glencore’s goal of achieving net-zero total emissions by 2050.
While Swedish Stirling (founded in 2008) is still a relatively young company, its proprietary technology is built around the concept of the 19th century Stirling engine, which was traditionally used to power submarines. This engine design can operate using virtually any heat source, efficiently converting thermal energy to kinetic energy.
Cost benefits
According to Swedish Stirling, electricity produced via its PWR BLOK conveys a couple of key cost advantages. Fuel used to produce the electricity is often “free,” as flare gas is classed as a waste byproduct of industrial activity. Additionally, the PWR BLOK can run all day, and does not have the same operational limitations that intermittent energy sources like wind and solar do. Its primary costs are the investment in the modular block itself, and any associated financing costs. The company cites a cost analysis of the PWR
Swedish Stirling has made its initial market push in the ferrochrome metal industries, which account for a significant proportion of global CO2 emissions produced through residual gas (flaring), particularly in the smelting process: emissions that can hopefully be recovered and usefully converted to electricity. In the South African metals market alone, where Swedish Stirling has focused its first phase of commercialization, the company says its PWR BLOK can reduce the need for bought electricity by 15 percent.
Additionally, it says, the engine block is particularly well suited to cut CO2 emissions, given that 87 percent of South Africa’s electricity consumption is produced using fossil fuels (primarily coal), and estimates its own technology could be four times as effective as solar panels at reducing emissions in South Africa.
Eventually, the company says it plans to bring its technology to the petroleum industry, which uses flaring on a large scale globally, along with other industries and applications where surplus fuels (e.g. hydrogen gas, biogas, ethanol, digester gas) can be fed into the PWR BLOK to produce electricity.
Last month, Swedish Stirling signed an agreement with German metals giant SMS Group GmBH to install PWR BLOK technology for energy recovery projects in the European ferroalloys industry. The partnership will initially focus on the Spanish market. Worldwide, just within the ferroalloys market, Swedish Stirling says its addressable market is 6,500 PWR BLOK units.
Swedish Stirling has been a public company since November 2016, and is currently listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market.
