Steaming ahead with energy recovery

Prof Dan Wright explains how wet steam compression works with the clarity of a man who has convinced board directors, MPs and apprentices alike how high-value engineering works and how it can make money. “I learnt early on that anything you make has  to make money,” he said, quoting ex-Ford vice- president Murray Reichenstein, who said that  it was money, not cars, that Ford made. Wright hopes to do that with Heliex Power, his latest company in an engineering career that spans four decades. Indeed, figures suggest there are more than one million customers for this clever energy reclaim technology in China alone.

A born engineer and petrol head, inventor and businessman Wright founded Heliex  in 2009, based on a technology he had investigated while at Howden Compressors, in Glasgow and Johnannesburg, in the mid-1970s with technical support from City University London. His resumé before Heliex reads  like a British engineering almanac. A degree  in aeronautical engineering from Glasgow University was followed by senior engineering and management positions at Ford, Formula One, Fleming Thermodynamics, Ogle Design, Johnston Sweepers, GKN Wheels, consultancy, government advisory and more.