ClearFlame Engine Technologies, a US startup dedicated to the development of clean engine technology, says it has secured US$2.5m in additional financing from several investors, including the Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Illinois Corn Growers Associations.
ClearFlame says that its technology enables low-carbon and carbon-negative fuels to be easily integrated into existing diesel engine platforms, offering a more sustainable and cost-effective solution than diesel fuel while utilizing existing liquid fuel infrastructure. This, it claims, provides the same performance, efficiency and rugged practicality associated with diesel engines while eliminating the need for complex aftertreatment solutions.
The new funding will help ClearFlame deploy pilot Class 8 trucks with its technology, and the company plans to have demonstration trucks on the road by the end of 2021. “This new investment and our recent technological progress allow us to rapidly put our solution in the hands of our future customers,” said Bernard Johnson, ClearFlame CEO and co-founder. “Our new investors believe in the need to make an impact on climate change as soon as possible by replacing diesel fuel with a solution for cleaner heavy-duty engines. Putting trucks on the road is the final step toward our full commercialization.”
The company has previously received over US$2m in R&D funding from the US National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Midwest Energy Research Consortium and Stanford University, as well as US$3m in equity funding from Clean Energy Ventures.