Mercuria CSR report 2022 - Flipbook - Page 49
CTO Julie Blumreiter and CEO BJ Johnson co-founded ClearFlame in 2016, after dedicating their
doctoral research at Stanford University to transformative solutions that make pragmatic bottomline sense while also achieving carbon reduction goals.
Clean fuels matter
While ClearFlame’s technology is fuel adaptable and can operate on a range of clean-burning liquid
fuels, its current engines are running on ethanol, which, in the US, offers the infrastructure needed
to drive rapid scalability.
In addition to being widely available across America – more than 17 billion gallons annually –
ethanol is a much greener fuel compared to diesel. According to Argonne National Laboratory’s
GREET model, ethanol reduces lifecycle CO2 by 40-50 percent compared to diesel and it is also
ripe for additional decarbonization. As new process efficiencies such as on-site carbon capture at
ethanol plants and improved farming practices become more widespread, they will contribute to
carbon intensity reduction and can ultimately result in carbon negativity.
In addition to ethanol, ClearFlame’s solution can also be powered by green methanol, a renewable
fuel that offers rapid scalability and multiple renewable pathways globally.
The road ahead
For its pilot testing, ClearFlame’s technology has been retrofitted onto a Cummins 500hp, 15L
heavy-duty engine, commonly used for long-haul truck and off-highway applications. Last year, the
company named Reviva as its initial engine remanufacturing partner, and Vander Haag’s, Inc. as the
vehicle integrator, who will reinstall the ClearFlame-enabled engines into trucks.
Four ClearFlame trucks have been running with our partners, and are continuing to accumulate
road miles. Additional pilots are scheduled for the second half of 2023 with five of the ten largest
fleet operators in North America. It is also exploring partnerships and applications for the mining,
agriculture, and power generation sectors. ClearFlame expects to achieve commercialization of its
engine modification technology as a retrofit solution by the end of this year and is currently
working with the EPA to achieve all environmental approvals.
Mercuria was an early adopter of various environmental products in its portfolio and has
committed more than fifty percent of all new investments to the energy transition. The strategic
investment that Mercuria has made in ClearFlame reflects the company’s continued commitment
to renewable fuels as part of the energy transition and the belief that ClearFlame’s technology can
economically decarbonize the heavy-duty industry by utilizing the existing liquid fueling
infrastructure.
