Local business backed provincially for methane reduction device
A local manufacturer has won government and industry support for a device it says vastly reduces methane emissions.
Last spring, Atlantis Research Labs set up its Medicine Hat operation to build prototypes of the PureJet system, which uses jet-engine technology to more efficiently burn the hydrocarbon.
On Friday, the provincial agency Emissions Reduction Alberta awarded nearly $800,000 toward field trials of the device for use by two of the oilpatch’s largest companies.
“The project will help (Canada) reach its reduction targets and we feel that we can do that single-handedly,” said Vlad Mravcek, head of Atlantis Labs.
“It neutralizes methane and will have the most impact. Many others involve monitoring and imaging. This will create a direct impact on the emissions.”
The grant — won by a partnership of Atlantis, the Petroleum Technology Institute of Canada, Cenovus and Husky Energy — will create a controlled test for the burner, which, if successful, could lead to certification and much wider use.
The provincial agency will contribute $772,000 toward $1.54 million in field tests.
Of the 12 projects that won ERA funding on Friday, Mravcek says his is the most aggressive in reducing actual levels of methane.
The company formed and operational partnership with local machining and metal fabrication company FormTech. Production of all future orders is planned for the 40,000-square-foot facility in Brier Park.
The company has spent the last year developing models that are now being tested by oilfield companies, said Mravcek.
Work is now underway to expand the versatility of the patented technology with new models to handle such things as different pressure levels and amounts at a variety of industry sites.
Essentially, the engine does a better job of burning methane more completely than traditional flaring, and can be employed in areas were flaring is not economical and the gas is simply released by venting.
“It’s a new product that’s being developed,” said Mravcek. “It’s a miniature incinerator that will be ideal for smaller batteries or remote locations, places where the gas was never processed before.”
While the Atlantis process creates carbon dioxide, it better eliminates methane that would otherwise survive traditional flaring and enter the atmosphere.
Methane is considered to be 25 times more potent than CO2 when it comes to climate change, meaning transformation results in a net gain.
That makes it an attractive target in plans to meet reduction targets.
Last year, Ottawa agreed with the Obama administration to reduce methane emissions by up to 45 per cent by 2025, though new U.S. policy makers have signalled they will reexamine and possibly eliminate those targets.
It was one of 12 projects tapped for $30 million in funding Friday, most of which is aimed at improved monitoring, reducing the amount of bitumen lost in oilsands tailings, and developing uses for the gas such as powering off-grid wells and instrumentation equipment.
Another two involve biologically sourced methane, including one to test dietary supplements for cattle, which produce methane in the digestion process.
In total the projects’ budgets total $83 million.
The grants are funded by money collected under a decade-old per tonne levy charged to the province’s heaviest emitters.