Interview with Greentech founder Alexander Krajete. A new startup at the tech2b high-tech business incubation program.

Founder: Dr. Alexander Krajete

Industry segment: white biotechnology,  renewable energy, waste gas / waste management

Market: 1. Europe, 2. USA, 3. Asia

Competition: Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), biogas plants (also collaborators)

Product: GreenTech specializes in the development of a biotech process for the direct conversion of waste gases to a gaseous energy carrier. The business model ist based on technical consulting and process development in an early and medium stage. Plant design, construction and operation will be carried out by other partners.

Interview

How did you come up with the business idea?

The inspiration came suddenly during my employment in Norway on a Sunday morning in April 2007. In Chemical Engineering News, I read an article entitled ‘From Waste to Energy’, describing a company from New Zealand which uses genetically modified microbes from the company Genentech for the conversion of waste gas from steel industry to bioethanol.

As a postdoc at UC Berkeley, I gained experience in CO2 chemisty, Genentech from South San Francisco happened to be the first company to call me for an interview. I started to combine the pieces ‘CO2, Genentech, energy’, and I came up with the approach to convert waste gases to methane.

What is special about your new product?

The intention to develop and upscale a process for the converstion of waste gases to methane is new. Other biological processes as for instance fermentation in biogas plants utilize a solid / liquid raw material. GreenTech’s novel process produces a gaseous energy carrier exclusively from emission gases. GreenTech’s process has higher conversion rates due to accelerated kinetics.

What impact will your product have on the market?

The process converts waste gases like CO2 and other components. We generate value from waste which is directly linked to an increase of energy efficiency. At a later stage, we intend to combine the novel process with renewable electricity which would allow the storage of solar and wind electricity.

What do you think will be the opinion of the competition?

The acceptance of the novel technology clearly correlates with the country’s resources. The idea was originallly developed in Norway which is rich in oil and gas. The support for the novel approach was rather limited though. The situation was different in Austria and Germany. People listened enthusiastically to the novel approach, now we witness a huge support. This was one of the main reasons which made me return back to Austria after more than 5 years spent in USA and Norway.

The novel technology will be placed in a new market, I therefore see rather cooperation opportunities than  competition.

What is the future of your company?

We intend to found the company in Linz, Austria which has an amazing accompanying infrastructure in mechanical, electrical engineering and automation. Biotechnology will be a novel industry in this part of Europe. Interestingly, potential customers can be found in this region, as well.

Currently, we are designing a prototype reactor for industrial applications, the process data are being evaluated in the USA.

After completion of the engineering work, the reactor will be tested under real life conditions with industrial waste gas. In case the pilot reactor passes the validation test, we will proceed with production in big scale for the European market.

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