One proprietary low-temperature process runs in front of the boiler, returning clean power, exportable fuel oil, and recovered carbon from coal that would otherwise be burned raw.
Power demand on one side. Dirty coal on the other.
Power demand is surging, from data centres and AI to smelting and developing-world growth. India, China, and Africa are scaling coal regardless of Western policy preferences.
Existing coal plants face stranded-asset risk. Bolt-on carbon capture is too expensive, retiring coal creates power gaps, and building new clean generation takes too long.
TiPs converts dirty coal into clean carbon power using existing infrastructure. It is a 30 to 40 year bridge for nations that cannot yet afford nuclear or a full renewables transition.
TiPs shifts coal combustion to a cleaner, capture-ready form using infrastructure that already exists.
120 MW Clean-carbon power built on a single six-processor line.
800K t Tonnes of coal processed each year (880,000 short tons) across six TiPs processors.
24/7 Continuous feed, self-powered after a one-time grid startup.
Zero Fly ash. Volatiles are removed before the carbon is combusted.
Nothing is wasted.
Every tonne of coal splits into clean power and four exportable streams. Select a stream to see where it goes.
Carbon · 46% Fuel oil · 23% Mineral ash · 14% Water · 8% Process gas · 9%
Carbon · 46%
Cleaned carbon burned for baseload power. With the volatiles removed first, it burns with no fly ash and capture-ready flue gas.
Use cases
- Utility baseload power
- Grid stability
- Industrial offtake
- Materials upside for offtake partners
Size of the industry
- One six-processor line supports 120 MW of clean-carbon power, priced against what the plant already pays per BTU for raw coal.
- Bolt-on CO2 capture on raw coal runs roughly $40 to $60 per ton avoided (IEA); capture-ready flue gas cuts that cost where projects add it.
Fuel oil · 23%
The volatiles leave as exportable high-aromatic fuel oil instead of burning in the boiler.
Use cases
- Industrial heating
- Marine and bunker fuel
- Refining feedstock
- Diluent blending
Size of the industry
- The global fuel oil market is worth roughly $190B a year.
- Marine shipping alone burns more than 300 million tonnes of bunker fuel a year.
Mineral ash · 14%
Bottom ash sold into cement rather than ponded. There is no fly ash to manage.
Use cases
- Cement and concrete
- Aggregate
Size of the industry
- Supplementary cementitious materials are a global market worth more than $17B a year.
Water · 8%
The coal’s own moisture, captured during processing and returned as potable water instead of leaving the stack as steam. Nothing is drawn from local supply.
Use cases
- Recovered as clean water
- Returned to the process loop
- Dust and site control
- Cuts net freshwater draw
Size of the industry
- Lignite can carry 30 to 40% moisture as received, so recovered volume scales with rank.
- A closed loop returns recovered moisture rather than drawing from local supply.
Process gas · 9%
Captured process gas keeps the TiPs line self-powered, with zero parasitic load on the power block at steady state.
Use cases
- Powers the TiPs line
- Runs feedstock drying
- Closed loop after startup
- Zero external fuel
Size of the industry
- Not sold: it replaces purchased fuel, so the plant runs with zero external fuel after startup.
Product split per tonne of coal. The carbon is burned for clean power; fuel oil is exported and ash is sold into cement. Fractions vary with the seam and the actual feedstock assay.
How TiPs compares
A coal power plant has an incumbent route: burn the coal raw. TiPs replaces it with a cleaner, capture-ready combustion that recovers value first.
| TiPs | Pyrolysis | Raw coal combustion | Raw coal + bolt-on CCS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process | Sealed, low-temperature processing in front of the boiler. | High-temperature thermochemical cracking, 400 to 800°C. | Raw coal burned directly in a boiler, 850°C and above. | Raw coal combustion with CO2 capture bolted on. |
| Products | Power, fuel oil, recovered carbon, bottom ash. | Fuel oil, low-grade char, syngas. | Heat and power, with fly ash and bottom ash. | Power, plus captured CO2 at high cost. |
| Material value | Volatiles exported as oil; carbon burned cleaner. | Partially destroyed, lower-value byproducts. | Destroyed in combustion. | Destroyed in combustion. |
| Environmental | No fly ash, capture-ready flue gas, lower NOx and SOx. | Energy-intensive, higher emissions. | Fly ash, NOx, SOx, and particulate emissions. | Regulated pollutants remain, capture is costly. |
| Deployment | Modular, mine-mouth, on existing infrastructure. | Large centralized plants. | Large centralized plants. | Large capture plant per facility. |
120 MW Clean-carbon power from a single six-processor line.
TRL 8 Technology readiness proven across 10,000+ hours of full-scale operation.
Modular Processors are added as the project scales. Existing infrastructure is preserved.
Take the full project with you.
SENS delivers clean carbon power at scale. Whether you represent a utility, a mining operator, a host-country government, or a project finance fund, we invite you to explore what TiPs can do with coal in your region.
SENS · Clean Carbon to Power Full project brochure, including the project economics (PDF)