Kerionics pumps in $228,000

Kerionics, a Spain-based oxygen generation system manufacturer partly based on Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) research, has received €200,000 ($228,000) of funding from Tech Transfer UPV,  the university’s tech transfer fund, Valencia Plaza has reported.
Founded in 2014, Kerionics is working on an oxygen production system that outputs large quantities of the gas for industrial clients by converting waste and residual heat piped in from their production plants.
The oxygen is refined in a reactor powered by ionic-electronic ceramic membranes which extract contaminants such as nitrogen and argon.
Kerionics’ approach is intended to provide better oxygen quality, energy efficiency and CO2 capture than conventional alternatives.
The cash will sustain its efforts to develop and commercialise the underlying technology, which will initially cater to oxy-fuel combustion plants that rely on pure oxygen to burn fuels.
Kerionics has now amassed $1.1m of funding in total, according to Valencia Plaza, however the tally is likely to include money from grants.
The spinout’s co-founders include Jose Manuel Serra Alfaro, a research professor at the Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica, which is a partnership between UPV and national research agency Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
Pedro de Álava, director of Tech Transfer UPV, said: “The project responds to the needs of the market, which requires initiatives and solutions in an environment with ever-greater demands in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency.”
“For Tech Transfer UPV it is a strategic investment, since it allows a company with a very high impact technology whose main market is companies in the Valencian community but is also adaptable to international markets to be incorporated into the portfolio.”