Felix Nelles
Co-Founder and Managing Director, Litherm Technologies
Felix joins Breakthrough Energy’s Innovator Fellows program from Litherm Technologies GmbH in Krefeld, Germany. Felix has more than eight years of professional experience in the field of innovative energy technologies and has expertise in project development, data evaluation, and project management. At Litherm Technologies, Felix and his team are working to eliminate the need for fossil fuels in lime and cement production and capture remaining CO2 emissions before they are released into the atmosphere.
Litherm is developing an electric heated reactor to replace conventional fossil fuel fired kilns. When powered by clean energy, the technology will remove fossil fuels – and the associated CO2 emissions – from lime and cement production. Further, Litherm uses indirect heat which allows for capture and storage of additional CO2 emissions from the production process. Through the Fellows program, Litherm will demonstrate the feasibility of this concept with a pilot plant.
Felix earned a Diplom-Ingenieur degree in Process and Energy Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. He began his career working at a biomass gasification startup and was responsible for the upscaling of components within the gasification process. In his last position, he managed the group’s energy efficiency strategy and energy efficiency projects.
Q&A
What is your favorite word and why?
I like the word systematic very much because, regardless of whether it is used in the context of an analysis or project development, it requires that you think about the underlying system.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love to cook, garden and craft projects, and my favorite thing to do on vacation is go mountain hiking.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
As a child I wanted to become a cabinetmaker.