Energy of the Future!

We develop revolutionary technologies for energy conversion and offer unique products and solutions for your business

Encontech B.V. is a spin-off of the University of Twente, founded in 2005

Our focus is on externally heated engines and compression chemical reactors.

Our expertise lies in the fusion of engineering skills and scientific knowledge, positioning us as leaders in heat-to-mechanical energy conversion.

Why Encontech

Our Products and Solutions

With over 20 years of R&D, we’ve developed the innovative Isobaric Expansion technology, solving the cost issue of low temperature heat engines (such as ORC), and a groundbreaking chemical reactor concept — the pulsed compression chemical reactors.

Isobaric Expansion Technology

Converts heat to mechanical energy or electricity with unsurpassed efficiency, eliminating costly and complex expansion stages found in conventional heat engines. Our IE engines offer a simple, reliable, and cost-effective design that significantly reduces thermal and mechanical losses and enables efficient use of low-temperature heat sources.

IE engines deliver energy in a very convenient hydraulic or pneumatic form that can be converted to any other form of energy, and therefore they can also perform all known operations of existing heat engines. Several different heat engines have successfully been tested in the laboratory using hot water as the heat source and tap water as the heat sink for diverse applications like pumps, compressors, and power generators

Pulsed Compression Technology

Allows chemical transformations at extreme temperatures and pressures unattainable by other methods. This technology could revolutionize the chemical and petrochemical industry by producing liquid fuels not from oil, but from natural gas and ethylene, the most important chemical, from methane.

Our projects

Encontech cooperates with many industrial companies, research centers and universities including:

Shell
Tecnalia
Dow
University of Twente (UT)
Paderborn University
NDA

Encontech has successfully participated and continues to participate in various national and international energy-related projects

Current projects

SH2IPDRIVE: Advancing Hydrogen Propulsion for Maritime Sustainability

November 1, 2021 – October 31, 2025

ZHENIT: Empowering Waste Heat Recovery for Green Shipping

June 1, 2022 – November 30, 2025

Completed projects

Thermal Mechanical Refrigeration (TMR) with Low-Grade Heat

June 1, 2019 – December 31, 2022.

COMPACT — Pulsed Compression II (PCR II): Advancing Ethylene Production from Methane

January 1, 2019 – June 30, 2023

CHESTER: Innovative Compressed Heat Energy Storage for Renewables

April 1, 2018 – March, 31, 2023

Solar-Powered Water Pump for Efficient Desalination

February 10, 2016 – February 10, 2019.

PCR-1: Revolutionizing High-Temperature Chemical Reactions

January 1, 2016 – October 31, 2016

Liquid compression reactors: Advancing Energy-Efficient Chemical Processes

September 1, 2015 – August 31, 2016

Heat driven water pump: Efficient Energy Conversion Solution

March 1, 2015 – February 29, 2016

UP-THERM project: Advancing High-Efficiency Heat Engines

2013-2015

Application

Our company is ready to show the possibilities and
usefulness of our technologies in your industry

Isobaric expansion technology is very versatile. Anyone with waste heat can benefit from our heat engines by converting waste energy into mechanical energy or electricity, thereby improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This technology enables the efficient conversion of low-temperature heat into usable energy, addressing the main challenge faced by conventional low-temperature heat engines — high costs. Examples of promising applications include:

The pulsed compression technology is designed for carrying out chemical transformations at extreme temperatures and pressures which cannot be performed by the known methods, in a very efficient manner. The most important applications are:

  • Production of synthesis gas from various gaseous, liquid and solid hydrocarbons.
  • Direct conversion of natural gas (methane) to ethylene, acetylene, hydrogen, carbon black by (hydro/oxy-) pyrolysis of methane and other hydrocarbons.
  • Olefin production by dehydrogenation of paraffins.
  • Direct synthesis of nitric oxide from nitrogen and oxygen, and hydrogen cyanide from nitrogen and hydrocarbons.
  • Controlled generation of monodisperse ceramic, metallic, and amorphous nanoparticles by thermal decomposition of appropriate precursors (carbonyl- and organometallic compounds, salts, etc.).
  • Thermal destruction of impurities that are discharged in industrial process exhausts (air cleaning) and toxic compounds.
  • High pressure processes – polymerization, hydrogenation, hydroformylation etc.
  • Processing of “difficult” feeds such as coal powder and slurries, oil residues, shales or sands, biomass and biomass derived liquids and industrial wastes.
  • Fisher-Tropsch or methanol/DME synthesis.

We are a cutting-edge spin-off company of the University of Twente, established in 2005

We are renowned as international experts in Isobaric Expansion (IE) technology, a breakthrough heat-to-mechanical energy conversion process.

Encontech is equipped with significant infrastructure, including a unique pilot plant for testing process equipment, co-designed with Shell and constructed by Zeton B.V. This fully automated pilot plant, housed within a container, serves as an autonomous laboratory for testing and innovation. Additionally, we possess in-house developed heat engines capable of converting heat to mechanical energy with a power capacity of up to 100 kW.

Our founder

Alexander Kronberg

Media and our publications

Technical journals and media have featured our pulsed compression and IE technologies in numerous publications, and TV programs. Stay updated with relevant publications, products, and services showcasing our advancements in energy conversion.

Our News

Contact Us

Let’s get in touch

Contact us to learn more about our products and solutions. We are ready to help you achieve energy efficiency and sustainable development for your business.

Encontech B.V.

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