Clean industrial carbon produced from coal feedstock.

Clean Carbon · Coal to Materials

From raw coal to clean carbon.

One proprietary low-temperature process converts run-of-mine coal into solid industrial carbon, fuel oil, and process gas, before combustion, with the carbon sold as a material instead of burned.

Download the brochure The technology →
The opportunity

Security of supply on one side. Carbon demand on the other.

Burning raw coal destroys everything of value in it. The carbon that gives coal its energy is also a strategic industrial material, and once it is combusted, that value is gone for good.

Demand for industrial carbon keeps climbing across concrete, steel, agriculture, and energy storage. Conventional carbon-black pricing keeps many of these uses as research only.

TiPs converts coal into a solid carbon material at a modeled $0.10/lb, far below market. Cheap carbon makes whole new markets economically viable.

The gap between the carbon coal contains and what the market pays for it is the opportunity.

$0.10/lb Modeled carbon selling price, far below the $0.50 to $1.90/lb carbon-black market.
~4B Tons of cement produced each year, a vast market for affordable bulk carbon.
190M Tons of fertilizer applied each year. Carbon helps soil hold water and nutrients.
440K Tons of industrial carbon produced each year from a single six-unit line.
The technology

The TiPs process

The Thermal-static internal Pyrophinic system (TiPs) is a sealed, low-temperature, vacuum-driven thermal mechanical depolymerization process. Instead of burning the coal, it converts it into carbon, fuel oil, and process gas before combustion.

Feedstock Crushed run-of-mine coal
Outputs Industrial carbon, coal-fuel-oil, process gas, and mineral ash
10,000+ Hours operated at full scale across feedstocks: tires, coal, oil sands. TRL 8.
24/7 Continuous feed operation, self-powered after a one-time grid startup.
100% Of every ton of feedstock becomes product, recovered water, or sold residue.
Zero Waste streams. Every fraction is sold or used in the process.
Feedstock · Coal

How it works here

Burning raw coal burns everything in it. TiPs separates the value before combustion. Carbon comes out as a solid industrial material at a modeled $0.10/lb, well below carbon-black pricing.

Mineral ash stays entrained in the carbon for concrete and agriculture, with cyclone separation available for higher-grade buyers such as steel. The model is built on the carbon composition, not a single location.

Outputs: industrial carbon, 1.63M barrels of coal-fuel-oil per year, mineral ash to cement, and closed-loop process gas that powers the plant.

The TiPs system behind this project is the same one validated independently on tire feedstock (Tokai Carbon / Sid Richardson analysis, see the End-of-Life Tires page). Feedstock-specific validation is completed as part of each project business case, built on the assay of the actual feedstock.

What a ton of coal becomes

Select a product stream to see its uses and the market it sells into.

  • Carbon · 50%
  • Fuel oil · 25%
  • Mineral ash · 15%
  • Process gas · 10%

Carbon · 50%

Solid industrial carbon at a modeled $0.10/lb, priced to open markets that conventional carbon-black pricing kept as research only.

Use cases

  • Advanced concrete
  • Metallurgical carbon for steel
  • Soil enrichment and agriculture
  • Activated carbon

Size of the industry

  • About 4 billion tons of cement are produced each year, a vast outlet for affordable bulk carbon.
  • Steelmaking consumes more than 500 million tons of metallurgical coke a year, a market clean carbon can enter.
  • About 190 million tons of fertilizer are applied each year; carbon helps soil hold water and nutrients.

Fuel oil · 25%

High-aromatic coal-fuel-oil, about 1.63 million barrels a year from one six-unit line.

Use cases

  • Industrial heating
  • Marine and bunker fuel
  • Refining feedstock
  • Diluent blending

Size of the industry

  • The global fuel oil market is worth roughly $190B a year.
  • Marine shipping alone burns more than 300 million tons of bunker fuel a year.

Mineral ash · 15%

Mineral ash stays entrained in the carbon for concrete and agriculture, with cyclone separation available for higher-grade buyers such as steel.

Use cases

  • Cement and concrete
  • Aggregate
  • Higher-grade separation for steel buyers

Size of the industry

  • Supplementary cementitious materials are a global market worth more than $17B a year.

Process gas · 10%

Non-condensable gas captured during processing. It powers the plant and upstream drying.

Use cases

  • Powers the plant
  • Runs feedstock drying
  • Closed loop after startup
  • Zero external fuel

Size of the industry

  • Not sold: it replaces purchased fuel, so the plant runs with zero external fuel after startup.

Product split per ton of coal. The exact assay varies by seam; each project is built on the actual feedstock.

The products

Three commodity-grade revenue streams.

Every TiPs output is a commercial-grade product, not a downgraded byproduct. Carbon is sold as a material into concrete, steel, and agriculture, with fuel oil and process gas alongside it. The model is built on product value.

Carbon

Solid industrial carbon at a modeled $0.10/lb, well below carbon-black pricing.

  • Advanced concrete
  • Metallurgical carbon for steel
  • Soil enrichment and agriculture
  • Activated carbon

Fuel oil & diluent

High-aromatic industrial oil with established offtake markets across multiple sectors.

  • Industrial heating
  • Marine and bunker fuel
  • Refining feedstock
  • Diluent blending

Process gas

Non-condensable gas captured during processing. It powers the plant and upstream drying.

  • Powers the plant
  • Runs feedstock drying
  • Closed loop after startup
  • Zero external fuel

Cheap carbon makes uses like advanced concrete economically viable that conventional pricing kept as research only.

TiPs vs the incumbents

How TiPs compares

Coal has an incumbent route: combustion. TiPs replaces it with material recovery before any carbon is burned.

TiPsPyrolysisRaw coal combustionRaw coal + bolt-on CCS
Process Sealed, low-temperature thermal mechanical depolymerization under vacuum.High-temperature thermochemical cracking, 400 to 800C.Raw coal burned directly in a boiler, 850C and above.Raw coal combustion with CO2 capture bolted on.
Products Carbon, fuel oil, process gas, mineral ash.Fuel oil, low-grade char, syngas.Heat and power, with fly ash and bottom ash.Power, plus captured CO2 at high cost.
Material value Preserved and sold into product markets.Partially destroyed, lower-value byproducts.Destroyed in combustion.Destroyed in combustion.
Environmental Zero waste streams, no combustion in the process.Energy-intensive, higher emissions.Fly ash, NOx, SOx, and particulate emissions.Regulated pollutants remain, capture is costly.
Deployment Modular, distributed, on-site at the mine.Large centralized plants.Large centralized plants.Large capture plant per facility.
880K t/yr Coal processed on one mine-mouth line across six TiPs units.
TRL 8 Technology readiness proven across 10,000+ hours of full-scale operation.
Modular Units are added as feedstock and demand grow. No giant central plant required.

Take the full project with you.

SENS delivers clean carbon solutions at scale. Whether you represent a mining operator, a government, a materials buyer, or an investment fund, we invite you to explore what TiPs can do with coal in your region.

SENS · Coal to Clean Carbon Full project brochure, including the project economics (PDF)
More project types

One process, four projects

End-of-Life Tires

End-of-life tires become tread-grade N330 carbon black, high-aromatic oil, and closed-loop process gas.

Explore →

Municipal Solid Waste

A city's sorted waste becomes industrial carbon, fuel oil, and potable water, with nothing sent to landfill.

Explore →

Clean Carbon to Power

TiPs runs in front of the boiler: 400 MW of cleaner baseload power plus exportable fuel oil from one line.

Explore →