Kathairos has emerged as the leading North American solution for methane elimination from pneumatics, with more than 1,000 systems in operation across North America and over 40 major oil and gas producer partners.
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Kathairos Solutions is committed to providing the oil and gas industry with technological innovations that support the transition to a decarbonized tomorrow.
Kathairos’ first technology uses liquid nitrogen, an inert gas, to replace instrument gas typically used in actuating pneumatic devices, eliminating the need for methane venting. It’s simple, effective, affordable, and easily scalable to address the scope of the problem in North America, but many people are skeptical. It can’t be that easy, can it?
We think so.
Here are three frequently asked questions, answered.
Is nitrogen safe to use?
100%. Nitrogen has an extensive safety record in many other industries around the world, including the medical, metallurgical and food industries and is completely safe: after all, nitrogen comprises 78% of the earth’s atmosphere.
Nitrogen is produced from the liquefaction and distillation of air and is particularly useful as it expands into a large volume of gas, making it an excellent replacement for instrument gas in powering pneumatics. While the patent-pending use of liquid nitrogen to power well site devices is a novel concept, nitrogen has many industrial and medical uses, and has an exemplary safety record in North America.
However, like any other chemical, nitrogen has storage and handling hazards requiring specific procedures to minimize risks. Kathairos has worked to minimize these hazards, offering a safe, affordable and effective solution to the problem of methane venting.
What happens when well site production declines over time?
The Kathairos solution is designed specifically for smaller, remote well sites, which means that we account for changing production over time. Kathairos offers system right-sizing, tank re-deployments, and other accommodations to ensure optimal service for the entire life-of-well.
We offer system right-sizing and will swap out existing tanks with smaller sizes if necessary, to ensure that operators optimize nitrogen use and maintain the lowest costs possible. Whenever necessary, tanks from one site may be redeployed to service another site operated by the same producer, to address those demands.
Whatever the case, our solution ensures the lowest costs and the least administrative burden possible.
What about emissions from production and transport of nitrogen to sites?
The Kathairos solution has zero onsite emissions, but a common concern that often comes up revolves around emissions associated with the production and transport of liquid nitrogen. Simply put, emissions from these processes account only for less than 3% of the total emissions eliminated as a result of adopting the Kathairos solution.
Our seasoned in-house team of carbon accounting professionals, in partnership with third-party carbon accounting firms, have conducted extensive lifecycle assessments of the Kathairos solution, all the way from the manufacturing of a single liquid nitrogen storage tank to its eventual decommissioning. When factored into account, carbon emissions resulting from the production and transport of liquid nitrogen to well sites make up less than 3% of the cumulative emissions eliminated as a result of the solution.
In addition, our extensive nitrogen distribution network ensures that trips are made infrequently and as efficiently as possible: our field operators are able to develop optimized refill schedules that minimize distance, frequency, and delays to operators due to highly sensitive and accurate telemetry units on every single Kathairos tank.
