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Canadian firm gets $4.7m to implement oil sands carbon solution

24th January 2013

By: Henry Lazenby

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

  

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Canadian government on Thursday made a $4.7-million investment through its ecoENERGY Innovation Initiative to support the development of Canadian innovator CO2 Solution’s carbon capture technology in the Alberta oil sands.

CO2 Solutions is developing carbon capture technology for use in oil sands production, including in-position methods such as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), and bitumen upgrading.

Results from the pilot project would also support the broader application of the company’s technology in other natural gas combustion sources, such as gas-fired power plants.

“We have improved on existing carbon-capturing technologies by introducing naturally occurring enzymes to capture carbon, thereby improving the efficiency of such systems, while reducing the cost,” CO2 Solutions CEO Glenn Kelly told Mining Weekly Online.

The company’s technology lowers the cost barrier by taking advantage of a powerful naturally occurring enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, which regulates carbon dioxide (CO2) management in all living organisms.

Kelly explained the enzyme is one of the most efficient known ways of absorbing CO2, and after heating the CO2-laden solution to release the CO2 for compression and storage, could be reused in a closed circuit.

The technology can be retrofitted to existing carbon capture systems, as well as installed in new emissions sources.

“The [Stephen] Harper government is committed to supporting advanced clean energy technologies that will contribute to sustainable energy production in Canada’s oil sands. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) reduces GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions from energy production and this investment demonstrates our commitment to exploring CCS and assisting the growth of Canada’s innovative clean technology companies, which generate jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for Canadians,” Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said in a statement.

Kelly said a pilot plant is under construction in the Netherlands, which would be installed with a pilot partner on Alberta’s oil sands.

“This project will demonstrate our technology’s ability to cost-effectively address a critical environmental challenge facing the oil sands. The results from this project will also enable us to apply our technology to other large sources of natural gas combustion emissions, including the rapidly growing number of natural-gas-fired power plants,” Kelly said.

Unconventional oil production methods, such as SAGD used in the oil sands, have a somewhat higher carbon footprint than conventional oil production methods. Both industry and government are focused on ways to reduce emissions from the oil sands, with carbon capture being a key option.

However, the cost of conventional carbon capture and sequestration systems is too high for broad commercial deployment. CO2 Solutions expects the overall cost of the project to be C$7.5-million.

CO2 Solutions said more funds for this project are being obtained through grants from Alberta’s Climate Change and Emissions Corporation, which, in October 2012, invested C$500 000, with the balance of the project’s costs to be funded by CO2 Solutions and partnership capital from private entities.

The company’s TSX-V-listed shares rose sharply on Thursday, climbing 28.57% to trade at nine Canadian cents apiece by noon.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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