Cleantech startup Sapphire Technologies announced that it has raised $18 million in a Series C funding round, with proceeds aimed at growing its business and expanding its clean energy technology.

Founded in 2021, California-based Sapphire develops and manufactures energy recovery systems, including its turboexpander generator product FreeSpin, to convert energy wasted in pressure reduction processes into electric power.

In the energy sector, for example, which often contain ready-to-develop pressure resources, like natural gas wells that must be choked prior to processing or transmission pipelines that must be let down before interconnecting with local distribution pipelines, instead of letting that energy dissipate, turboexpanders turn it into electricity without adding carbon emissions. The systems can be scaled from small kilowatt-level projects to large megawatt installations.