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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The groundbreaking project is expected to eliminate 18,720 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year across an estimated 60 remote Alberta well site locations.
CALGARY, AB, March 9, 2022 — Calgary-based cleantech startup Kathairos Solutions is honoured to be the recipient of $1.58 million in funding for its proposed Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen project, aimed at addressing methane venting on remote oil and gas well sites in northern Alberta.
The project, made possible through funding from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) and administered by the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN), is expected to enable the complete elimination of methane venting on a combined 100 wells at an estimated 60 remote locations over a two-year period. This includes 40 single-well sites with Cenovus Energy, and, pending a successful initial three-month trial, an additional 20 multi-well pads with a second industry-leading producer.
Methane venting on remote oil and gas wells is a significant environmental issue in Alberta, with more than 100,000 sites routinely releasing millions of tonnes of CO₂ equivalent each year. Until now, addressing the issue has been difficult, complex and cost prohibitive, particularly on small, low-production wells.
“The oil and gas industry faces a serious challenge in trying to eliminate methane emissions from its remote well site operations,” said Dick Brown, Kathairos co-founder and CEO. “There are a large number of technologies that measure methane, and urgent concerns around the amount of methane currently being emitted, but very few technologies that actually address the problem in an economical and scalable way.”
THE SOLUTION: LIQUID NITROGEN
Kathairos’ technology uses nitrogen – a non-toxic, non-polluting gas that constitutes 78% of the air we breathe, to power remote, unelectrified oil and gas well site devices, pumps and valves. In doing so, the need for methane as an operating fuel is eliminated, as is the need to vent the harmful gas to the environment after use.
The system is innovative in its simplicity, offering upstream producers an efficient, affordable and low-maintenance option for eliminating emissions from single-well locations in particular.
“Cenovus is very progressive in its efforts to mitigate methane emissions and achieve its net zero goals,” said Brown. “Working with them will allow us to demonstrate that we can very effectively solve a challenge they are actively trying to address.”
PROFOUND ENVIRONMENTAL AND COMMUNITY IMPACT
In addition to the immediate environmental benefits of eliminating an estimated 18,720 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year over the project period, the CRIN-funded initiative will create and support a significant number of high-skilled jobs, while engaging Alberta’s underutilized nitrogen production assets. Further, Kathairos’ telemetry and cloud-based data portal will provide producers with highly accurate and accessible emission mitigation and carbon offset data.
Additional partners in the Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen project include Chart Industries, Air Liquide Canada, Green Analytics and Iconic Electric and Controls.
"One of Chart’s key focuses is on engineering environmental cryogenic solutions for our customers and supporting end users’ ESG initiatives,” said Jillian Evanko, CEO and president of Chart Industries. “We are very proud to be a key part of the technology platform that allows Kathairos to eliminate methane emissions of their clients’ wellhead pneumatics utilizing our Perma-Cyl® tanks."
The project will substantiate the scalability of the Kathairos solution well beyond the initial 100 remote Alberta well sites involved, with the potential to seamlessly expand to tens of thousands of locations in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
“We are proud to support Kathairos in deploying this innovative solution to reduce the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, by ensuring safe, reliable and efficient supply of nitrogen," said Bertrand Masselot, President and CEO, Air Liquide Canada. "This initiative aligns perfectly with Air Liquide’s commitment to develop solutions for its customers, contributing to a more sustainable future.”
The Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen project will contribute an immediate and meaningful reduction to Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while demonstrating to the international energy industry that methane vented from pneumatic devices on remote well sites can indeed be reliably and affordably brought to zero.
For more information, please contact:
Kelly Doody, Chief Marketing Officer
Kathairos Solutions Inc.
kdoody@kathairos.com
403-969-0335
About Kathairos Solutions
Founded in 2020 by accomplished energy industry innovators Dick Brown and Jason Clarke, Kathairos is a leading Alberta-based cleantech company whose name means ‘clean air.’ Kathairos is on a mission to combat the unprecedented challenge of a warming planet, while recognizing that today’s oil and gas producers are an integral part of the transition – and the solution. We bring imperative emissions elimination technologies and carbon management tools to the changing energy industry, and champion effective and affordable solutions that support oil and gas producers in meeting aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets.
About the Clean Resource Innovation Network
The Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) is focused on ensuring Canada’s energy resources can be sustainably developed for the global energy supply. The Reducing Environmental Footprint competition is designed to advance technology solutions for high-priority environmental challenges across the oil and gas industry with the intent to export technologies internationally and for application with Canada’s industrial sector.
