De-carbonized natural gas goal of next ARCTIC technology challenge

$500,000 in funding available for combined Challenge Sprint and Field Testing

Natural gas is already the cleanest fossil fuel, but a new competition aims to “de-carbonize” Canada’s gas supply even further, possibly helping the country meet its Paris Climate Accord commitments. In this podcast, I interview Neil Huff of the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre and and Paolo Bomben of Delphi Group about the ARCTIC Innovation Challenge.

Foresight and Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) launched the challenge to find technologies that will reduce or remove carbon from natural gas, which is used as a fuel source for power generation, heating applications, and as a hydrogen source for bitumen upgrading, according to a press release.

The successful technology is expected to provide a combustion fuel that emits fewer greenhouse gases compared to natural gas, while also generating a valuable carbon-rich or carbon black by-product.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, fossil fuels contribute the following pounds of CO2 emitted per million British thermal units  of energy: coal (228.6), gasoline without ethanol (157.2), and natural gas (117).

Other industry sectors that use significant quantities of natural gas will also benefit from the solutions developed in the ARCTIC Innovation Challenge.

Neil Huff, managing director of Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre.

“The natural gas de-carbonization challenge is an excellent opportunity for innovators to identify and prepare field trial-ready solutions to a real operational and environmental issue in the resource sector,” said Huff, managing director of Foresight.

“Supplying oil sands operators with a carbon-lean fuel source will significantly reduce GHGs and ensure they are operating more efficiently and sustainably.”

The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2018. Shortlisted candidates will be selected in January 2018, followed by a Challenge Sprint process.

Following the Challenge Sprint, one solution will be selected for additional funding for Field Testing.

A total of up to $500,000 in funding will be available for the combined Challenge Sprint and Field Testing.

Full details are available here.