Inside GO2 maker Cerion's labs

"Our scientists have developed a process to make cerium oxide and other nanoparticles at a size and consistency that no one can match," Landon Mertz, who is CEO of Cerion says. "And not only can we make these amazing compounds on the lab bench, we have the best guys from Kodak who are able to scale those processes up to manufacturing. We can do 150 metric tonnes a year at present and we can continue to scale that up."

The company's first breakthrough product, the GO2 fuel additive that catalyzes a more efficient and cleaner fuel burn in diesel engines, is only one of many potential solutions this CEO is pioneering.



But for the yacht market, GO2 presents an interesting option for both fuel savings and lower soot emissions. While the main engine manufacturers keep quiet on any fuel additive, GO2's presence in the market is on the rise, with Richard Franklin, GO2's exclusive yacht market distributor saying he believes the fluid is dosing about 5 per cent of the fleet.



"We'd like to see that get to 20 per cent," Mertz said as we inspected the test engine facility, the research lab and the manufacturing plant on the site of what was once the 90,000 strong Kodak facility. Cerion, which started in 2007, has capitalised massively on both the research and manufacturing experience of former Kodak employees and the site's existing infrastructure. Now, the company finds new markets for its patented chemical processes which allows it to produce nanoparticles to exceedingly high levels of consistency, precision and capability.



With the recent CRN-built Chopi Chopi and at least two other yachts now equipped with dosing mechanisms and a potential deal with a major fuel distributor in works, GO2 is one of the yachting industry's fastest growing new technologies. A full report on the visit to the lab and manufacturing plant will appear in an upcoming issue of The Superyacht Report.

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