4 minutes with… B.B. Klaversteijn, Co-Founder, Fairchar

Tell us about your company and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.

Responsible for and engaged in the development of portable biomethanol production units for the on site conversion of wood from invasive trees (Africa) to biomethanol and pyrolysis oil. The most prominent systems component is a pyrolysis system developed by Nettenergy. Pyrolysis oil and woodgas are feedstock for the methanol production.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.

Fairchar is ideator and project developer

Prominent South African client will buy after proof of performance

Remaining funds required for development still to bre obtained

Decission to be made whether oxygen wiil produced by means of pressure swing absordbtion or electrlysiswith

Pyrolysis oil systen by Nettenergy bv.

Power and waste heat recovery system by Triogen bv., The Netherlands

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?  

Users of biomethanol should be prepared to pay a premium for bio-methanol as it is CO2 neutral renewable

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change? 

Leave the playing field skewed but put Advanced Bioeconomy on the high side.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?  

Will create more jobs and much more pleasant and rewarding jobs than any other industry,

Where are you from? 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway?

Engineering, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, MBA Houston, Texas.

Who do you consider your mentors – could be personal, business, or just people you have read about and admire. What have you learned from them?

My first mentor was my superior (project manager) at my first job (1970) at an engineering company called Selas of America later called KTI. We build cracking furnaces and hydrogen repormers. His name is Drewes Hielema. He saw the hydrogen economy and talked about all the time. Later when he wordked at a compay calles Schwarze Pumpe (black pumps) in what was Eastern Germany he became exposed to gasiscifation technology. Hielama ended up spending all his savings on attempts to build biomethanol plants. Both od us gor invloved in the large bio-methanol plant Bio-MVC in the North of The Netherlands.

The project which Fairchar is now undertaking could be seen as a continuation of what Hielema started in 1970

Later George Olah “Beyond Oil and Gas The methanol economy” received my admiration for his vision.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?  

Do not stop trying because new opportunities emerge from it or come within reach. Sometimes these are nicer and better the the original one which gave adversity.

To give an example. With four parners we developed a ZEPP (Zero Emission Power Plant). The primary financier withdrew and our venture collpased after 7 year of investing. I continued thinking about how to capture and store CO2 (CCS) and ideated a company which uses biochar to store European CO2 in Africa, Fairchar.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry?

Mountain biking

What are 3 books you’d want to have with you, if you were stranded on a desert island

No Time, Naomi Klein

The Hart of Boeddha’s teachings , Thich Nhat Nanh

The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?  

Several Dutch books

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?

South of France, Cap dÁntibes