Frans Bezuidenhout, the inventor of Ardau, designed it to generate electricity from fossil fuels efficiently, scalably and without emitting any greenhouse gases or other pollutants.

He built eight prototypes. The last of these, Mark 8, was tested and certified by SGS “the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company” (www.sgs.com). A copy of the certificate is available on request. It proves that an exothermic reaction in an enclosed pressure vessel can be used to generate heat and therefore steam. This is the major breakthrough that is the foundation of Ardau.

The prototypes he built all operated at a subcritical level (around 250C and 100 bar). He saw that if the pressere vessel functioned at “Advanced Ultra-Supercritical” (A-USC) temperatures and pressures (700C and 300 bar) the process would be much more efficient. He worked to develop Ardau to A-USC level, but he found that pressure vessels and turbo-expanders that operate at such high temperatures and pressures need special materials for their construction.

It is only in the last six years that such materials have become available.

Having proved that Ardau would function as required he then started to look for investors to raise the funds needed to build the first complete system. He also trained Chi-Min Pang, an engineer, to understand the technology and to be his successor in developing it.   Sadly Frans died in December 2018.