Dolphin N2 Ltd has been created by Ricardo — a global engineering and environmental consultancy that specialises in the transport, energy and ‘scarce resources’ sectors — to own all CryoPower intellectual property rights (IPR) and assets, and it is now seeking additional investors.

The company says that the Ricardo (www.ricardo.com) CryoPower concept is a potentially game-changing engine technology, designed to substantially increase the fuel efficiency while reducing the operating costs and CO2 emissions of long-haul trucks and other heavy-duty applications.

Ricardo has been working on this technology for about 10 years, and it has demonstrated the potential to reduce operating fuel costs and fuel usage by 20 and 30% respectively, when compared with current heavy-duty engines (allowing for the financial and energy costs of the liquid nitrogen used by CryoPower, in addition to the fuel).

By virtue of its entirely new approach to combustion, CryoPower offers the potential for significant reductions in ‘engine out’ emissions without compromising efficiency.

In a heavy-duty truck application Ricardo estimates that CryoPower would provide potential operator savings of about £9,000 per year for each vehicle, or £180,000 per MW in a distributed power generation application.

The Ricardo CryoPower split-cycle engine concept is based on the use of a separate induction and compression cylinder from that used for combustion and exhaust.

This enables the recovery of otherwise wasted exhaust heat to the ‘working gas’ after the end of compression; the compression process is carried out isothermally, cooled via the injection of a small amount of liquid nitrogen.

The liquid nitrogen is thus both a coolant and an additional ‘energy vector’, which offsets some of the fuel requirement. The combustion process uses either renewable or traditional fuels (liquid or gaseous), and delivers heat energy back to the chilled and compressed intake air.

However, its most important benefit is to enable otherwise unachievable improvements in fuel economy, reduced CO₂ and other emissions through improved internal thermal efficiency.

Simon Brewster, CEO of Dolphin N2, says: “CryoPower is a potentially game-changing, commercially and environmentally attractive technology whose time really has come.

“The development of the conventional heavy-duty engine is reaching the point of diminishing returns with regard to fuel efficiency and CO₂; to go significantly beyond the current ‘state of the art’ technology requires a completely new approach.

“CryoPower offers a step-change improvement in both fuel efficiency and operating fuel cost, but it requires further significant investment to reach full system demonstration, pilot applications and industrialisation — hence the forming of Dolphin N2 as an entity independent from Ricardo.”

"The company will be vested with all CryoPower assets and IPR, and Ricardo will acquire a minority shareholding. We are now seeking further investors to join us in taking this exciting concept forwards towards commercial development.”