About

MNLT commercialises innovative Catalyst Based Emission Control System for Heavy Duty Vehicles (HDVs). Despite the fact that Public-use Heavy Duty Vehicles (waste collection, trucks, lorries, cranes etc.) represent the 5% of vehicles, they contribute to the 33% of the emissions produced within urban centers due to their outdated emission control technology. Given their low levels of fatigue they may remain in circulation even up to 22 years given the high cost associated to their replacement (above 150,000€). Thus, the circulation of technologically obsolete Heavy Duty Vehicles (even Euro I) adversely affect the cities’ quality of atmosphere throughout Europe. It is indicative that in 2016 the concentration of carcinogenic benzene at Patission Station (according to the atmospheric pollution measurements of the Ministry of Environment) returned to the levels of 2006 by 2016, while it had been previously reduced by 50%.

Solution & Product

MNLT brings into the market Innovative Catalyst Based Emission Control Systems for Heavy Duty Vehicles, which will significantly impact the environment, dramatically reducing GHGs nd air pollutant emissions. This will allow for their adherence to the requirement standards set by the EU for air quality and emissions levels. The reduction in toxic emissions can be achieved by the use of nanotechnology for the production of multi-metallic catalytic substrates. During the last yeats, this innovative catalytic technology has ben demonstrated (in real conditions) on 10 vehicles of the Municipality of Galatsi (Greece). These 10 vehicles have been upgraded as per the European emissions measuring system from EURO IV to EURO VI. It has been estimated that the specific upgrade of the heavy vehicles will result in 95% reduction of the main toxic emissions.

Innovation & Scalability

The main innovations of MNLT's product are: a) The utilization of Copper Nanoparticles in the catalyst of HDVs instead of Platinum Group Metals which results to the reduction of the cost while at the same time secures the supply of PGMs which faces huge problems in the last years. On the contrary, the existing solutions neccesitate additional PGMs to achieve the required emission control which increases the final cost. b) The exisiting solutions that fulfill the emissions control standards do not achieve reduction of NO2 at low temperatures which occurs in urban areas,while MNLT's innovation achieves a 99,7 reduction of NOx. MNLT aims to become a major key player/manufacturer of catalytic converters to the EU HDVs. For an initial annual production of 13,000 autocatalysts, an investment of 5 Million Euro is expected which will bring an increase in revenues of the level of 1 Million Euro per year, while in order to create a 5% share of the total HDVs catalyst market, it is required an investment of at least 15 Million euro. The two main barriers for the growth potential are: 1) The high amount of investment that is needed due to the fact that the company is small. Even if the innovation is high and has a great potential for application, it is difficult to convince investors and attract a high amount of budget from VCs or other sources. 2) The second barrier aims to the already established market, dominated by few key manufacturers, which seems very difficult to penetrate.

Traction & achievements

The proposed system has already been developed and validated in medium scale (TRL 7), while similar technology has been patented and applied in passenger cars with sucess. In the passenger cars case a substitution of up to 67% of the PGMs used in automotive catalysts has been achived, while maintaining their performance and durability at high levels. The proposed catalyst based emission control device for HDVs has currently reached TRL 7 and is validated in real life trucks. The successful validation will constitute the major milestone for the production process and the company. Upon achieving this, next steps include the further development of the product and customisation of the technology to serve different types of vehicles (e.g. ships, trucks, buses, etc.) and brands/models. This will be the next milestone for the process which will bring the product at TRL 9 (commercial product). The overall target is to make a universal emission control system serving all different HDVs needs.

Team & Why Us

MEng. Ekaterini Polyzou (Female). She obtained her MEng degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). She has published three research papers in international scientific journals. She is the co-founder of MNLT Innovations P.C and the managing director. MEng. Iakovos Yakoumis (Male). He obtained his MEng degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1997. He has published 14 research papers in international scientific journals. He participates actively in MNLT activities and is the Head of Business Development. Dr. Moschovi Anastasia (Female). She has a degree in Material Science and received her Master and PhD from the Chemical Engineering Department of Patras Polytechnic School. She is member of the Research and Development scientific group of MNLT . Dr. Stylianos Spathariotis (Male). He holds a PhD from the University of Leicester and works in MNLT as Business Developer.

Funding Needs

MNLT aims to become a major key player/manufacturer of catalytic converters to the EU HDVs. For an initial annual production of 13,000 autocatalysts, an investment of 5 Million Euro is expected which will bring an increase in revenues of the level of 1 Million Euro per year, while in order to create a 5% share of the total HDVs catalyst market, it is required an investment of at least 15 Million euro. There are two cases of creating revenues on the specific innovation. The one aims to the manufacturing/production and direct selling the innovative catalyst for the HDVs which is the initial target of the company. This can bring an extreme growth on MNLT since over a 10 year projection timeframe it can reach revenues of 45,4 Million Euro with an NPV of 34 Million Euro and IRR of 73%. However this case neccesitates an initial investment of at least 15 Million Euro in order to set-up a large production unit that can cover a small percentage (ca. 5%) of the existing HDVs in Europe intially. The second case aims to the patent sharing and to the creation of revenues of selling the IPs in interested large industries. Based on the fact that the idea involves a high level innovation, there is a chance of selling the whole idea to an existing producer which will adopt the idea of MNLT in the production line.