Press Release
Innovate UK Awards Exagenica Research Funding to Further Development of HYDRA Technology
Exagenica Research’s HYDRA Technology Aims to Increase the Cargo Versatility of Merchant Vessels Enabling Economic Seaborne Transportation of Potable Water and Liquid CO2 to Support UN Sustainable Development Goals.
LONDON, U.K. – December 21, 2020 – Exagenica Research, an applied research company and part of the Exagenica Group, has been awarded funding by Innovate UK to progress the development of its proprietary HYDRA technology. The funding was awarded as a part of Innovate UK’s round 2 of the Sustainable Innovation Fund.
Exagenica Research is developing HYDRA as a maritime technology capable of increasing the transport versatility of vessels and enabling them to carry a wider array of cargoes – without the need to clean cargo holds between differing cargoes. While HYDRA will have more mainstream commercial applications, Exagenica Research is developing HYDRA with two key climate change related cargoes in mind: potable water and liquid CO2.
Increasing water utilisation, pollution, population growth and climate change mean that water demand is expected to outstrip accessible supply by 40% within 20 years2. This global deficit cannot be met solely through continued expansion of desalination capacity - not least because brine outputs will increase salinity levels, potentially making future desalination too expensive. Consequently, future generations may face wars over water resources.
By bringing HYDRA to market, Exagenica Research aims to enable potable water to be shipped economically, from areas in which water supply is abundant to locations with a water requirement. HYDRA achieves this by dual -purposing vessels, enabling ships - which currently run empty back to point of origin - to take on potable water on the return journey without a requirement to clean the hold between cargoes.
Leveraging existing trade routes to transport water from nations with a water surplus to those in deficit, using HYDRA dual-purposed vessels, has the potential to significantly reduce global shortages. Thus, providing nations with an alternative to desalination which is costly and environmentally damaging, both in terms of carbon output and its brine by-product. Economic diversification of water resources will enable sovereign nations’ to better withstand future climate change impacts. HYDRA-converted merchant vessels represent an opportunity for nations and their aid agencies to donate or purchase and transport water for humanitarian purposes.
HYDRA has further been designed to enable dry bulk vessels to carry liquid CO2 cargoes safely. By utilising existing vessels that have undergone a HYDRA-conversion - rather than needing to build new liquid CO2 specific vessels – it is anticipated that climate change targets will be better supported by enabling the seaborne transportation of liquid CO2. The ability to economically move liquid CO2 by sea, to sites of carbon storage or commercial carbon reutilisation will enable nations to better reduce their carbon emissions.
In addition to assisting the UK economy to ‘build back better’ from COVID-19 impacts, the Sustainable Innovation Fund aims to support UK innovation which aligns with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
About Exagenica Research
Exagenica Research is an independent, applied research company that focuses on the development of new technologies and bringing those innovations to market. As the R&D arm of the Exagenica Group, Exagenica Research actively targets complex global challenges with societally important themes and aims to overcome them by bringing together experts from a wide array of technological disciplines.
Exagenica Research works collaboratively with leading academic research institutions, governments and multi-national partners and leverages SkunkWorks resourcing models to accelerate innovation - in an agile manner.
Learn more: https://www.exagenica.com/
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Exagenica is an Anglo-Irish, multinational technology group headquartered in London. The Exagenica group is divided into two primary business units: Applied Research and Technology Services.
As an applied research and development company, Exagenica seeks to commercialise innovation through R&D activities – primarily targeting complex and societally important global challenges. Our current R&D portfolio spans a broad spectrum of technology disciplines, which bring together digital and analogue solutions in innovative formats. Our R&D model typically includes spin-out companies for successful R&D initiatives - alongside our technology partners.
Exagenica also provides a comprehensive portfolio of technology services and solutions - to a diverse corporate client base globally. Exagenica works alongside its clients in a trusted technology advisor capacity, through which, it aims to support its clients in achieving optimal deployment of technologies.