Josh Dalby and team wins Ricardo Innovation Award for work on community-scale greenhouse gas removal and clean energy

Josh Dalby, a Chief Engineer in Ricardo’s Global Engineering team, has won the Ricardo Innovation Award (incorporating The Philip Hore Engineering & Science Excellence Award)  at the Ricardo Leading Lights Awards 2023 for the ground-breaking work that he and his team have undertaken on community-scale greenhouse gas removal and clean energy. 

Cambridge graduate Josh has worked at Ricardo for over 15 years, during which time he has been renowned for the work he has undertaken in innovation, research and development (R&D), helping shape R&D strategy, successfully applying for funding from UK Government or European Union innovation funds and then delivering these projects which have contributed to Ricardo’s distinguished track record in mobility and energy transition R&D solutions for clients. 

In winning the Innovation Award, Josh and his team were recognised for their work on an innovative carbon capture demonstrator plant, currently under construction in the south of England. Ricardo is leading the project, which has been funded through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) under the UK Government, to design, install and operate a combined heat and power demonstrator plant with a carbon negative footprint which will showcase climate repairing technology.

Josh said: “Our team at Ricardo has over 20 years’ experience in bioenergy and in CO2 capture and utilisation technologies, advising UK and international government as well as technology and project developers and operators on carbon dioxide capture, utilisation and storage. We have undertaken many due diligence and feasibility studies for combined heat and power (CHP) and district heating sites exploring fuel switching to biomass with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). We are building upon and utilising our existing expertise to develop our innovative carbon capture system and deliver it to market.”

“Ricardo, in general, has a long history, spanning several decades, of delivering engineering solutions which address complex problems. We have particular expertise in innovating to make technology cleaner, more efficient and better performing. We’re drawing on our broad expertise and knowledge and applying engineering methods and tools developed from the automotive sector, working on waste heat recovery and thermodynamic system developments to engineer an innovative and efficient system for capturing carbon from waste.”

“For our project, we have been working with consortium partners, Bluebox Energy and Woodtek Engineering who are each providing their innovations and expertise in heat recovery and pyrolysis respectively.”

“This award is a much-appreciated recognition of my technical leadership of the project. I am Chief Engineer on the project and have a brilliant team who I am privileged to guide and lead, and this award will provide a great fillip to us all as we look ahead to the next exciting phase of the project.”

Announcing the award to Josh and his team, Ricardo Chief Strategy and Digital Officer, Dr Mike Bell said: “Josh and his team are recognised for having the confidence to push and expand Ricardo into the green creativity space and delivering a superb example of stakeholder engagement across multiple business units and combining experimental technologies based on foundational capabilities of virtual engineering, mechanical engineering and chemistry. All supported by external partners and a grant funded system.”

Find out more about Josh and his project