HELPING THE ENVIRONMENT ONE PARTICULATE AT A TIME

A LOGANHOLME emissions reduction technology company plans to use the mining boom to help Mother Nature and increase revenue by up to 40 per cent this financial year.

Peak3 has high expectations for its new Particulate Management Platform emissions reduction product, which uses the ‘van der Waals’ scientific principle to combine small airborne particulates to become larger ones.

“It came as a result of industry demand; the CSIRO and Australian Coal Research Association (ACRA) asked us to develop the technology,” says CEO Col Chandler (pictured).

“It is fitted on the exhaust post of a diesel vehicle engine to douse exhaust particulates with ultrasonic sound, which increases the size of the particulates to make them easier to treat.”

Chandler praises the platform as a greatly anticipated solution to long-standing health and safety concerns over the harmful effects of exhaust fumes at mining and industrial sites.

“It can be integrated with the Remote Emissions Monitoring Platform, which allows vehicle health and emissions performance to be monitored from anywhere via the internet,” he says.

“The Intelligent Secondary Fuel Integration system can also be combined to control injection of secondary fuels such as liquefied natural gas into large diesel systems to increase thermodynamic efficiency and reduce harmful emissions.

“Our trials achieved a consistent 82 per cent reduction in exhaust particulates, meaning you can increase productivity by having more machines and people operating in mines. This was hard to achieve due to the high temperature of diesel exhaust fumes and the robust environment they work in.”

The Federal Government has awarded Peak3 a Commercialisation Australia Grant worth $866,284. The technology was developed in collaboration with CSIRO, Queensland University of Technology and ACRA.

Peak3’s client base includes hard rock exploration company Barminco, ACRA and a major government body that is trialling the technology on four of its buses.

“We also received international sales enquiries from Chile, Peru, China and India. There is definitely potential for overseas export work and we will host delegations from China and Singapore later this year,” says Chandler.

The company has operated for three years, has 10 employees and reported revenues totalling $600,000 in the 2011 financial year.

Chandler predicts the flourishing pipeline of work in the resources sector will help increase revenue by 30 to 40 per cent during the 2012 financial year.

“We also provided advisory services on maintenance and practices to reduce emissions. Most people think our prices are moderate,” he says.

The company intends to expand to Western Australia and mainland China, which has mandated the reduction of exhaust particulate levels in all cities.

“China is an attractive market because it is taking very early regulatory action to reduce diesel particulates that we specialise in treating,” says Chandler.

Peak3 also plans to increase employee numbers this year with an emphasis on recruiting more scientists and engineers.

“We are looking for innovative and lateral thinkers who can understand operational problems faced by clients. Previous resources industry experience and knowledge of diesel emissions is desirable,” says Chandler.