BRISBANE, QLD, AUSTRALIA: Underground miners could be breathing easier thanks to the OneVentures Innnovation Fund’s first clean technology investment, to support Brisbane-based company Peak3 Pty Ltd to commercialise products and services for the management, treatment and monitoring of diesel engine particular emissions.
Diesel emissions include up to 41 toxic compounds – which pose health risks to underground miners. The existing solutions such as filters and catalytic convertors do not efficiently manage the smaller particulates, which are among the most harmful.
There are strict emissions regulations being implemented globally and Peak3 aims to become the ‘standard’ for end-to-end emissions management in the mining industry – providing accurate monitoring equipment and services and equipment to ‘agglomerate’ these small particles so they are effectively captured by companion devices such as filters.
The potential of the Peak3 technology has been recognised by the Federal Government who recently awarded Peak3 a $866,284 Commercialisation Australia Grant.
Peak3 technology also has the potential to effectively manage diesel emissions above ground (for example for fleet vehicles such as buses) and to monitor and manage other air borne particulate matter such as dust.
OneVentures General Partner Anne-Marie Birkill believes Peak3 technologies have the potential to deliver significant OH&S, environmental and productivity benefits to the underground mining industry.
“The Peak3 team has developed solutions that meet the clear market need. This investment will enable the first commercial installations of their monitoring and management services and devices, and will support the scale up of the company’s manufacturing and business development capability,” she said.
Along with significant internal technical capability, Peak3 has long-standing collaborative research agreements with expert teams at both CSIRO and the Queensland University of Technology.
Both the Queensland and Federal Governments have also provided considerable support to the work done by Peak3 in developing world-leading mine emissions reduction and monitoring technologies via grant funding.
Peak3 CEO Col Chandler said “Peak3 has already established itself as a leader in the management of mining emissions, and with OneVentures on board we are much better placed to meet the challenges of growth that this leadership brings.”
