How Economy Solution Group’s ‘liquid fuel catalyst’ helping old cars last longer

He was presented with the 2015 Global Green Future Leadership Award by the World CSR Congress in Mumbai and in 2016, following a research finding by the World Sustainability Congress, he was presented with the 100 Global Sustainable Leaders Award at their annual event in Dubai. And now with over three decades of experience in business, Tim Patterson leads Economy Solution Group, the UK-based global consultancy providing scalable solutions in fuel economy and CO2/NOx reduction in road transport, rail, marine and power generation sectors, among others. Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Tim Patterson, CEO, Economy Solution Group, shares the cutting-edge perspectives on fuel economy and other green economy solutions and his ideas of conducting green economy educational workshops for key decision makers who want to stay up to date with the latest issues that may influence their decisions on investment in equipment, services from suppliers

When we met last, some three years ago, you were focussing on fuel economy. But over these years you have expanded your horizon. So which are your new focus areas now?

Yes, you are right. Under the Economy Solution Group, we now have different subsidiaries, focussing on different areas like carbon economy solution, health economy solution, mining economy solution, coal economy solution and finance economy solution. Our experience suggested that many companies along their green journey are seeking and looking for finances and therefore we have included this vertical- Finance Economy Solution Group to help those who are seeking funds for various green economy solutions.

What are you doing under Finance Economy Solution vertical?

We are financing the Green and Health economy transitions out of Covid, the uncertainty in global energy created by the Russia-Ukrain war as well as the lack of institutional investment makes finance our key area of our focus. Working with banks, high net worth individuals and organisations interested in available (invitation only) trade programmes, Economy Solution Group Limited and Finance Economy Solution Group are interested in working with individuals and organisations to leverage investment and work with state and central government programme to establish wherever possible, match funded projects.

What does your company do to address and solve fuel related problem?

Our company can supply to the Indian market an aftermarket liquid combustion catalyst which can not only help in internal combustion engine efficiency improvements but is particularly helpful in managing and reducing the impact of using different fuel and engine standards. This is always a problem when an engine is running on a fuel it was not designed for. There will always be combustion efficiency issues with the older engines. The opportunities for combustion efficiency improvements in older engines running on lower sulphur fuel than it is designed for can reach in excess of 10 per cent. In BSIV equipment running on BSIV fuel we would expect between 8.5 and 10 per cent efficiency improvements. All these savings would be accompanied by reductions across all greenhouse gases, with up to 75 per cent reduction in black smoke.

We are aware that there may be Indian or European OEMs out there who are re-selling their unsold or ex-lease BSIII vehicles stock into other less developed emissions controlled markets e.g. Africa. However, as they may be discovering by now since that cut off in April 2017, the difference in the (predominantly) BSI/II fuel available in many of those markets, and the lower sulphur BSIII engines for resale may well create challenges for main dealers running OEM R&M programmes. The damage to engines and costs to repair will be greater than usual and profits can suffer as a result.

You must be looking for some Indian partner to carry out these initiatives and do your business in India?

Yes we are. Initially, we are looking for a partner to help us with our core business, product testing in the commercial road transport sector and to handle product supply to those customers. We are keen on working with an innovative technology partner, who can by using GPS not only accurately track vehicle movements and clearly demonstrate the fuel efficiency changes that may occur after testing a combustion improver such as that provided by Fuel Economy Solution, but the software platform offers so much more value to customers. Value is critical to green economy transformation and our partnership with any Indian company will deliver significant value to the existing Indian road transport sector.

Besides, combustion technology, your company is also working on supercapacitors and planning to bring that to India as well. Isn’t it?

Yes we are. If you ask me, I think that is the future. I think supercapacitors will replace lithium ion batteries, going forward. In the UK alone, an increasing number of incidents of fire are getting reported every day caused by lithium ion battering. Mind you that the supercapacitor is used for energy storage undergoing frequent charge and discharge cycles at high current and short duration. The most significant difference between a capacitor and a supercapacitor is that a capacitor has low capacitance value and high voltage rating, whereas a supercapacitor has high capacitance value and low voltage rating. Supercapacitors are used in applications requiring many rapid charge/discharge cycles, rather than long-term compact energy storage - in automobiles, buses, trains, cranes and elevators, where they are used for regenerative braking, short-term energy storage, or burst-mode power delivery. Importantly, these supercapacitors have a design life of 25 years and can be charged and discharged for 1 million times.

What are you doing on the decarbonisation front and what are your thoughts?

Building a green and just transition does not start with 100 per cent green but profitable, viable and practical engineering to move away from fossil fuels. This includes decarbonisation of coal, from cleaner combustion, reducing coal volume used, decarbonising the coal mining processes, equipment and machinery and eventually carbon capture, storage and utilisation to achieve carbon-neutral coal. Combined with our finance activities and offshore merchant banking links to the IMF, UN, and World Bank, re-investment of operational savings in fossil fuels use cannot only lower current energy costs but pay for the green transition. We can develop and technical and financial solutions in mining. The use of graphene solid state supercapacitors not only opens up a new option for low cost public and domestic transport but moves us away from the expensive, unaffordable and generally uncyclable lithium ion batteries-driven EV revolution. Additionally, in all off-grid, micro-grid and power back up diesel generators, the use of supercapacitors energy storage, when used in conjunction with diesel PG, can result in fossil fuel savings of over 50 per cent.