1. Summary

 

WTM Solutions is a team of developers who have created the world's first cost-effective gas cleaning unit with carbon dioxide destruction (GDT) based on magnetrons (microwave radiation generators), which reduces the content of carbon dioxide to 86%, and reduces the content of hydrocarbon elements, sulfur and nitrogen compounds to almost zero.

 

2. Uniqueness of the technology

 

The most important feature of the GDT method is its cost-effectiveness. With conventional high-temperature gas cleaning, heating elements or a torch are not able to heat the entire volume of gas uniformly and, moreover, do not affect complex chemical chains. When using GDT, special ceramic elements are heated, and the heating goes from the center to the periphery, interacting with all elements passing through the gas cleaning chamber and destroying their chemical bonds. The technology has not yet been patented.

 

3. Current stage of development

 

The WTM Solutions team has extensive practical experience working with microwave radiation units. The first pilot unit in Riga has demonstrated a high degree of reliability and relatively low operating costs, cleaning gas vapors during transshipment of petrochemical products at the OVI terminal. Another microwave gas cleaning unit operates at the Palemono plant in Kaunas, Lithuania, to clean gases generated in the distillation column during the processing of oil waste and waste oils. This unit is assembled from microwave components and electronics developed and manufactured by WTM Solutions engineers. Similar equipment can be used at any oil refineries.

The latest control measurements carried out in June 2024 at the two above-mentioned units showed the efficiency of reducing the concentration of aromatic hydrocarbons to 99.99%, destroying CO2 to 87%, CO to 92% and NOx to 95% (without the use of chemical reagents). 4. Company goals

WTM's short-term goal is to demonstrate the high efficiency of GDT technology in gas cleaning on seagoing vessels, widely publicize the successful results of these tests in the European press, and certify them in the EU.

WTM's long-term goal is to reduce hydrocarbon emissions with an efficiency of up to 99% and reduce CO, CO2, NOx, SOx emissions up to 10 times.

 

5. Brief description of the business

 

The business involves selling a unique (unparalleled in the world) GDT unit to ship-owners interested in reducing the amount of payments for CO2 emissions. WTM has developed a gas cleaning unit with dry sulfur separation and CO2 destruction. The first sea trials will take place at the end of 2024 on the Riga hydrographic vessel Liva.

WTM has also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on sea trials with Stena Line, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, to confirm the following gas cleaning efficiency indicators in real ship operating conditions on high-sulphur fuel:

• hydrocarbons and CO2 – cleaning up to 99%

• SOx and NOx – compliance with current EU standards

 

Stena Line will undertake sea trials and technology certification (coordination with Lloyd's Register) - this is a confirmation of the high degree of confidence of the largest ferry operator in Europe in the WTM development.

 

6. Unique timing

 

On January 1, 2024, the new rules of the EU Emissions Trading System (hereinafter EU ETS) came into force, a new industry was included in it: shipping. The agreement on this was adopted and finalized on May 16, 2023 after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. From 2024, the ETS will cover shipping activities in the European Economic Area (EEA), which consists of EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. As a result, ship operators will have to monitor and report their emissions to regulators and purchase allowances for every tonne of CO2 emitted.

Under the new law, carbon prices in the EU ETS are determined not by the volume of cargo, but by the volume of fuel burned. In addition to introducing carbon prices for ships sailing between EU countries, the law also has extraterritorial application. This means that if a ship sails between an EU port and a non-EU port, half of the emissions from that voyage will also fall under the EU ETS. From 1 January 2024, shipping companies are required to purchase allowances for the following emissions:

• 50% of the emissions from voyages from an EU port to a non-EU port and vice versa;

• 100% of the emissions from voyages between EU ports;

• 100% of emissions from ships moored in an EU port.

At the moment, the only option for ship owners to reduce fines is to install scrubbers, the cost of which is significantly higher than the cost of installing a GDT. For example, the cost of a scrubber on the Stena Scandica ferry is 8 million euros, while the cost of installing a GDT does not exceed 2 million euros. With a CO2 price of 80 euros per ton, the savings compared to a scrubber will amount to at least 1.4 million euros per year.

 

7. Goal

WTM has set a goal to cover in the next 20 years at least 1% of the ship market, which implies the sale of about 1 thousand units.