What it's really like to work for an engineering startup in Utah

(Courtesy of sesinnovation.com)


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PROVO — Sustainable Energy Solutions, an engineering startup in Utah County, is developing a technology that could be a global game changer in power plant pollution.

The company was founded in 2008 by Brigham Young University chemical engineering professor Larry Baxter and his son, Andrew Baxter. Their patented technology uses a process called cryogenic carbon capture to reduce CO2 emissions produced from burning fossil fuel.

"We're taking carbon dioxide that's mixed in with other gases in exhaust, capturing it, and separating it from the other gases," Larry Baxter said.

The solid CO2, or dry ice, is then pressurized into a liquid that can be stored underground, used for enhanced oil recovery, or put to other uses.

Larry Baxter believes that currently, carbon capture is a more realistic and economic solution to energy problems than renewable energy sources.

"Globally speaking, the use of fossil fuels is increasing faster than any other energy source," Larry Baxter said. "If we care about global climate change, and we also want to preserve the economies of nations, then we need to figure out something to do about the exhaust from burning fossil fuel."

Working at a startup

Although Larry Baxter's full time job is teaching at BYU, he started SES to devote more time towards developing the carbon capture technology.

"Starting a company is not for everyone," he said. "It's more work than you can ever imagine... I have learned more about taxes and hiring rules than I ever wanted to know."

Working for an engineering startup requires a range of creative and technical skills.

"I'm a manufacturing engineer, but I actually work on a lot of different things," said Aaron Sayre, an SES employee since 2010. "We have a lot of open-ended questions and things where there isn't really a world expert, and we have to become that expert. Sometimes it's hands on, sometimes it's design work, sometimes it's writing reports."

Even at its busiest, only about 20 people work at SES, Larry Baxter said.

"I'm not too sure we want to be much bigger," he added.

Dave Frankman, senior mechanical engineer, noticed differences between SES and his previous work at a larger engineering company in Ohio.

The staff of Sustainable Energy Solutions. (Photo: Taken with permission from sesinnovation.com)
The staff of Sustainable Energy Solutions. (Photo: Taken with permission from sesinnovation.com)

"It was surprising how flexible everything was," Frankman said. "We have to wear a lot of hats. It's a perfect environment for innovating. I like coming to work in tennis shoes and jeans. If I don't have time to shave, I don't have to."

Skyler Chamberlain, another mechanical engineer, said, "I really like engineering, but there's a lot of engineering jobs out there that would drive me crazy. In a lot of companies, you have one task that you do over and over, and you don't get involved with what other people do."

Larry Baxter said people who visit almost always comment how impressed they are with the passion and innovation that these men and women are putting into this project.

The advantages of operating a small startup are accompanied by challenges. Larry Baxter said SES has huge risks because the kinds of things they're building have never been built before.

"It's safe for a big company to do something they've done for a long time that they're good at," Chamberlain said. "We're doing something new and different."

A former BYU graduate student works with a furnace in Baxter's testing lab. (Photo: Jaren Wilkey/BYU/File Photo)
A former BYU graduate student works with a furnace in Baxter's testing lab. (Photo: Jaren Wilkey/BYU/File Photo)

Larry Baxter thinks cooperation between small and large companies is best for everyone.

"Small companies are often more nimble, more innovative, and more capable of getting an idea to where it's proven that it works," he said. "But nobody is going to hire us to build these systems. Taking it from there to the market place requires cooperation of a large established company."

Although SES is small, its technology is not. In tests, carbon capture has been shown to reduce noxious gas emissions by 96 to 98 percent, but even at a size of two to three cargo containers, the scale of the company's current system is under 1 percent of what a normal power plant produces.

"In the next few years, we're going to be scaling up and testing it at larger and larger scales," Frankman said.

The employees at SES have high hopes for the future.

"I'd like to get to the point where we have a commercially viable technology that we can implement on power plants," Chamberlain said. "It would be great for the company, but it would also be great for the energy industry and the world."


Mabel Wheeler is a sophomore at Mountain View High School in Orem, where she writes for the school newspaper, "The Bruin Post." She can be contacted at MabelEWheeler@gmail.com.

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