UCL spinout brings hydrogen power to the mainstream

5 November 2021

Bramble Energy is helping drive down carbon emissions across industry with its innovative fuel cell technology.

Hydrogen fuel cells generate power from the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen, rather than combustion. This eliminates carbon emissions and produces only water vapour and heat as by-products.

Because Bramble’s technology is inherently scalable, the company is developing a range of solutions. This includes small static fuel cells to replace dirty diesel generators as well as mobile solutions to power road haulage, shipping and aviation.

Bramble Energy was founded in 2016 by Professor Dan Brett and Dr Tom Mason from UCL’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Professor Anthony Kucernak from Imperial College London.

UCL Innovation & Enterprise has given a range of support to Bramble Energy during the company’s development. Bramble has also been supported by UCL Business (UCLB), the university’s commercialisation company (and part of UCL Innovation & Enterprise) and the UCL Technology Fund, which is managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCLB.

Funding from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council’s (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account, managed by UCL Innovation & Enterprise, enabled Dan and his team to develop a prototype fuel cell. This in turn led to the formation of Bramble Energy.

In August 2020, Bramble raised £5 million of investment in a ‘Series A’ funding round. Bramble has recently worked in collaboration with industrial partners in automotive and marine.

Professor Dan Brett comments: “It’s a big time for hydrogen at the moment and I think everyone now realises that it has an important part to play, even those who have always favoured batteries. Batteries don’t cut the mustard for haulage and freight, in terms of weight and range.”

Read the full case study on the UCL Innovation & Enterprise website

UCL spinout brings hydrogen power to the mainstream

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