ClearSign Technologies Corporation designs and develops products and technologies to enhance emission and operational performance, energy efficiency, and safety.
The company’s patented ClearSign Core technology can enhance the performance of combustion systems in a broad range of markets, including the energy (upstream oil production and down-stream refining), institutional, commercial and industrial boiler, chemical, and petrochemical industries. The company’s ClearSign Core technology, which...
ClearSign Technologies Corporation designs and develops products and technologies to enhance emission and operational performance, energy efficiency, and safety.
The company’s patented ClearSign Core technology can enhance the performance of combustion systems in a broad range of markets, including the energy (upstream oil production and down-stream refining), institutional, commercial and industrial boiler, chemical, and petrochemical industries. The company’s ClearSign Core technology, which is its primary technology, uses either a porous ceramic structure or metal flame holder device held at a distance from the injection planes of a burner to significantly reduce flame length and achieve low emissions without the need for external flue gas recirculation, selective catalytic reduction, or high excess air systems.
The company’s combustion technology has been successfully deployed in commercial projects, such as down-stream refining and upstream oil production. These applications include both the company’s process burner and boiler burner technologies. The company’s process burner technology is able to operate in high-intensity multiple burner industrial applications at sites that are required to meet low air pollutant emissions. The company’s boiler burner technology, which has been proven to achieve ground-breaking low air pollutant emissions, has been deployed in the U.S. and is undergoing commercialization in China.
Based on the operating data the company has obtained from its installed products, burners utilizing ClearSign Core technology can provide increased heat transfer efficiency as compared to other emission reducing technologies. The flames in a ClearSign Core system are established from a predominantly premixed stream of fuel, combustion air and flue gasses stabilized on a downstream structure that promotes turbulence and ignition with minimal bulking up. The company’s technology also enables burners to function better in tightly spaced heaters compared to the flames of traditional low NOx burners. Most importantly, using the company’s technology has the potential to decrease process downtime required during installation compared to retrofits utilizing the legacy technology of SCRs or flue gas recirculation systems.
The company is also designing and commercializing a range of sensing products called the ClearSign Eye for two potential markets. The primary addressable market is similar to that of the company’s ClearSign Core technology, although not limited to regions requiring emissions reduction. The flame sensing products are applicable to all installed burners that use a pilot for ignition.
The secondary potential market for the company’s sensing technology is outside of the typical combustion industry and includes transportation industries. Overall, the company’s sensing technologies could provide future diversification, as well as the opportunity for continued business expansion and growth beyond the maturation of its combustion-related businesses.
Proprietary Technology
ClearSign Core Burner Technology
The name ClearSign Core was adopted to describe the inclusion of ClearSign’s burner technology in the products of original equipment manufacturers (OEM). Including the company’s technology in OEM burner products enables it to leverage its technology by providing OEMs with the ability to offer a new product range with its technologies’ unique capabilities and differentiated product performance. The company’s ClearSign Core burner technology consists of an industrial burner body and a downstream flame stabilizing structure made of either porous ceramic or metal.
ClearSign Core Process Burner Technology
The company’s ClearSign Core burners provide a simplified, pre-engineered and standardized direct burner replacement for traditional refinery process heaters. This product minimizes the customized engineering associated with retrofits and lends itself to mass production. The product was designed to enable quick and easy installation in single burner or multi-burner heaters or furnaces. The simplicity of the actions required to retrofit refinery process heaters with the ClearSign Core technology, and the potential ability to install these burners will potentially contribute to demand for the company’s ClearSign Core process burners.
ClearSign Core Boiler Burner Technology
The company’s ClearSign Core technology for boiler burners is essentially the same as its technology for process burners, but with different component details. The company’s go to market strategy of incorporating the ClearSign Core technology into a typical OEM process burner is the same as for its boiler burners.
ClearSign Core Flaring Burners
The company’s ClearSign Core flaring technology incorporates the same mechanisms as its burner technology, namely directing the fuel gas (typically waste gas), into an air stream with that air and gas mixture forming a flame stabilized downstream on a flame stabilizing structure. The company has designed standardized flare configurations with standard firing capacities that can be combined in varying quantities to produce flares with different firing rates.
ClearSign Eye Flame Sensor
The ClearSign Eye flame sensor is an electrical flame sensor for industrial applications. The company is continuing to pursue first adopter installation opportunities for this patented sensing technology. The company has multiple options open to it as channels to market, one of which includes manufacturing the sensors itself as an OEM and selling them to customers either directly or indirectly through intermediaries, and another being licensing. The company’s sensing technology is valuable because it potentially provides a very reliable alternative or replacement technology for critical industrial burner safety equipment. The company’s flame sensors can potentially be used with other combustion equipment, such as flares, thermal oxidizer burners and boiler burners.
The company’s sensing technology can detect the capacitance of a flame while being physically outside of the flame envelope. As a result, the company’s sensors can be easily retrofitted into existing burner technology.
Development of Technology
As of December 31, 2023, the company had deployed its ClearSign Core technology through retrofits and replacements of existing burners and complete replacement units in the case of its process burner and boiler burner products. The company has also developed the ClearSign Core flare technology into similar repeatable forms to aid its inclusion in standard industry installations on a commercial scale with multiple installations operational in California.
For simplification and marketing, the company has adopted the term ClearSign Core to refer to the inclusion of its standardized proprietary combustion technology into a variety of combustion equipment types, including but not limited to, process heater burners, boiler burners, burners for thermal oxidizers and flares. Earlier ClearSign technology-based heater retrofits, in which a continuous ceramic wall was suspended above the existing burners, also continue to operate, and are referred to as Duplex technology.
ClearSign Core burners operate in multiple boilers, heaters and flares and meet new compliance standards enacted by California air authority. The company also has products in commercial use in Europe and certified for sale in the Chinese boiler market. The company’s principal technologies have been developed into standardized designs. The company’s business development activities are focused on developing customer acceptance and adoption within what are the most efficient channels to market. The company also seeks to provide comprehensive technical support to its sales efforts, as well as demonstrate its technology and products in operation. The company is able to demonstrate its products while operating in rental boilers, industrial scale process burner test furnaces, and at customer locations when permissible.
ClearSign Core Technology Product Applications
As of December 31, 2023, the company had deployed its ClearSign Core technology through the retrofit or replacement of existing burners. By developing its ClearSign Core technology into a replacement product, the company has been able to standardize its designs and simplify supply-chain demands. In addition, the company has enabled collaboration with other commercial equipment suppliers with the intent to incorporate its ClearSign Core technology into their standard product lines.
Process Heaters in the Oil Refining, Petrochemical and Gas Processing Industries
As of December 31, 2023, the company had retrofitted six process heaters with its new ClearSign Core process burners for refineries and fuel distributors, some of which are owned by global supermajor companies and Fortune 500 companies. The ClearSign Core design provides a more simplified, pre-engineered and standardized direct burner replacement for traditional refinery process heaters that can be mass produced and reduce the need for the customized engineering associated with typical retrofits. The ClearSign Core design (including the boiler burner version) is the company’s most developed burner product. It operates essentially in the same way as a standard burner, including fitting into a heater and integrating with existing control systems. This product is suitable for licensing, as well as potential manufacturing arrangements with OEMs that have established manufacturing and distribution capabilities. At this time, the company has a collaboration agreement in place with Zeeco Inc., one of the world’s largest combustion equipment manufacturers (Zeeco). The selling and marketing of the company’s process burners pursuant to this agreement.
In 2021, the company received its first international purchase order for a ClearSign Core refining process heater from a global supermajor refining company. This marked the second order the company received from a global supermajor company. The company fulfilled a multi-burner order for a Fortune 500 infrastructure company that continues to consistently meet all performance requirements, including compliance with the California site’s air quality permit. The company also received a purchase order in 2022 from a California refinery for its ClearSign Core process burners. To date, this purchase order is the largest received by ClearSign with the total order quantity amounting to twenty burners. On May 18, 2023, the company received an order for thirteen process burners from an existing California refinery customer.
In 2023, the company received a purchase order from a heater manufacturer to install a modified ClearSign Core boiler burner into a horizontally fired process heater.
Hydrogen Process Burners
The company is in the research and development phase to design a one-hundred percent 100% hydrogen capable ClearSign Core process burner. The company has received a series of grants from the Department of Energy (DOE) to fund the development of this technology.
Industrial Commercial Boilers
The company’s Core boiler burner technology has been developed to enable it to be used in a series of consistently designed sizes ranging from small fire tube boilers up to large industrial water tube boilers. For fire tube products, the company has developed its own patent protected burner replacement product that is similar in concept to its ClearSign Core burners for process heaters. These boiler burners have achieved performance levels meeting the most stringent new California NOx regulations, in a typical commercial fire tube boiler produced by one of the industry’s largest suppliers in the U.S. For instance, through the company’s collaboration agreement in place with California Boiler to sell, deliver, install and service fire tube boiler burners in the U.S., it is able access larger sizes of fire tube boilers in order to verify the function of a range of fire tube boiler burners.
In 2023, the company received two purchase orders for its ClearSign Core boiler burner technology. Both boiler burner purchase orders were sold as a package with its partner California Boiler into the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District of California. The NOx emission permits for these boilers vary, with one boiler noted at 5ppm and the other at 2.5ppm. Third-party source testing has validated the 5ppm emission order, but due to customer on-site construction delays, the other order has yet to be installed.
Additionally, the company demonstrated the operation of its small fire tube burner for Chinese officials, who subsequently certified it for sale in China. The company plans to seek certification of larger fire tube and water tube boiler burners with its collaborative partner Jiangsu Shuang Liang Boiler Co. Ltd, which is a subsidiary of China's Shuang Liang Group Co. Ltd and one of China's top 500 enterprises. The company anticipates making continued progress during 2024 both demonstrating and commercializing such equipment.
Wellhead Enclosed Flares
The company has adapted ClearSign Core technology to suit this application. The company’s collaboration agreement with the field engineering and servicing company California Boiler includes flare sales and installation. As of December 31, 2023, the company had four flare units installed and operating in California resulting from this California Boiler collaboration agreement.
OTSGs for the Enhanced Oil Recovery Industry
The company has successfully installed its Duplex technology in three OTSG projects in the enhanced oil recovery industry in California. Field data reported by the company’s customers indicates significant efficiency improvements resulting from the installation of the ClearSign technology.
Sensing Products
The company is seeking first adopters to install its flame sensors for field demonstration. The target market for this technology is potentially every burner with a pilot on which flame sensors are deployed, providing a global and very high-volume opportunity.
The company is assessing the possibility of manufacturing the sensing products itself, as well as partnering with one or more established OEM suppliers. The company is also exploring alternative paths to monetize the technology, including opportunities to license its technology.
Target Markets
The company’s ClearSign Core products compete in the combustion and emissions control markets. These industries are highly competitive and dominated by companies that have comparatively more established products and substantially greater infrastructure, customer support networks, and financial resources. The company’s ClearSign Core technology provides several unique and powerful business solutions for its customers. The company is targeting the following segments of the combustion market for adoption of its ClearSign Core technology, such as institutional, commercial and industrial boilers; refinery, energy infrastructure and petrochemical process heaters; enclosed flares; and enhanced oil recovery steam generators.
The company is marketing solutions that include its ClearSign Core technology which could simultaneously improve productivity, operational efficiency and pollution control.
The company prioritizes its activities in target market segments geographically based on the needs of the local industries and the current and anticipated future requirements imposed by local environmental regulation.
Suppliers and Subcontractors
The company’s subcontractor, for the process burner product line, is intentionally single sourced through a collaborative agreement with a well-known and established industry leader, Zeeco.
Intellectual Property Protection
As of December 31, 2023, the company had 103 active patent grants and another 34 patents pending with Patent Offices in the United States, China, and various European countries. The company maintains an active review process to monitor for new inventions across the globe that threaten its intellectual property protection.
History
The company was founded in 2008. The company was incorporated in 2008. It was formerly known as ClearSign Combustion Corporation and changed its name ClearSign Technologies Corporation in 2019.
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