Overview
Precision Combustion, Inc.
Three Decades of Green Energy Innovation in Action
Long before it was cool, North Haven-based Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) was in the business of clean energy. For the last 30 years, the company has been developing technology that maximizes the efficiency of energy generation while minimizing the release of atmospheric pollutants in the process.
A privately held company, PCI continues to be an energy innovator — developing and manufacturing new components and systems for clean and efficient power generation, combustion, emissions control and chemical processes.
PCI started up in 1986 to develop cleaner, more efficient approaches to combustion. CEO and co-founder Kevin Burns, a native of Virginia, recalls, “We started with two federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts, two employees and two rooms in Yale/New Haven’s Science Park incubator.”
“The incubator was energizing with many other high-growth potential companies around us. The region had an active and supportive innovation ecosystem, and we got lots of encouragement, including support from Connecticut’s SBIR office, which helped us win more Federal R&D.”
"That was a great start-up atmosphere in which to thrive, and key to our early success.”
PCI also leveraged other state programs to fuel their growth. Alongside other Connecticut companies, they’ve exhibited in the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) booth at Hannover Messe — the world’s leading international trade show for industrial technology. For a fraction of the cost of what it would have taken to sponsor their own booth, they were able to get in front of hundreds of international prospects.
Burns also sees Connecticut’s robust aerospace ecosystem as a huge benefit to doing business here, providing both a source of highly skilled employees and access to global aerospace leaders as customers.
Over the past five years, PCI has also seen a significant increase in business from an expanding roster of government agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, and the U.S. EPA.
Recently, the company won a contract with the U.S. Navy to develop a compact, low-pressure filter to remove copper from jet fuel to reduce engine wear, as well as an Army contract for a lightweight power generator for soldiers and a DOE grant for a new CO2 capture system.
All of these organizations chose PCI for its innovations offering to transform performance and efficiency.
“We’re always looking for new approaches that can transform results now,” says Burns. “But our work isn’t always on new concepts. We’re also maturing portfolio innovations we began developing back in the 2000s that are now advancing to production and market entry.”
To get such diverse solutions, PCI hires scientists and engineers with varied backgrounds. Explains CEO Kevin Burns, “Innovation takes skill, insight into alternatives, determination and mental nimbleness. And the spark to create something new and better.”
As the company has grown, it has been able to attract talented millennials from across Connecticut, from other states and even from other countries. For example, Saurabh A. Vilekar, Ph.D., who has been with the company for 10 years, is originally from India. His career at PCI has given him the opportunity to truly make an impact not only within the company, but in the world.
“PCI gives me the opportunity to innovate and solve real world problems. For example, right now, I’m working with NASA on projects designed to keep the cabin air clean for astronauts,” Vilekar says.
When beginning his career, Vilekar had a choice between a larger corporation and PCI, but decided on PCI.
“I knew I was going to get more experience working for a smaller company. Someplace else, I’d just be involved in one aspect of the project.”
Many younger employees are also drawn to PCI’s focus on clean energy. As PCI senior research engineer Codruta Zoican-Loebick explains, “People in my generation and younger are increasingly concerned about the environment. They’re passionate about doing work that will actually help protect it.”
Zoican-Loebick, who earned her Ph.D. from Yale before going to work for PCI, likes living as well as working here in Connecticut. “I just fell in love with this state. It’s a beautiful state to live in, raise a family, work,” she says.
Burns agrees. “Connecticut offers a great quality of life. There’s a lot to love about living here. The environment, the schools, the culture, the diversity and friendliness.”
Burns is also committed to making PCI a great place to work. Work/life balance is encouraged, both individual and team success are celebrated, and dogs and children are frequent visitors to the office.
“Our team members really put their heart into what they do. The work is challenging but they’re very capable and work hard, because they care and know they can make a difference,” says Burns. “Knowing what an impact our work can have makes it worthwhile for all of us.”
To learn more, please visit precision-combustion.com
