Ergo Exergy - UCG

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Ergo Exergy’s εUCG™ Technology in Successful Demonstration of a Core Process for Enhanced Hydrogen Recovery Project in Alberta

MONTREAL, QC, March 15, 2022 – The εUCG™ technology has been used in a successful field test of CO2 injection and sequestration in deep coal seams completed by Cv̄ictus Inc. on March 7, 2022. Cv̄ictus is a Canadian company developing an Enhanced Hydrogen Recovery (EHR™) project east of Red Deer, Alberta, under a license from Ergo Exergy. The preliminary results confirm key parameters of supercritical CO2 injection into deep virgin coal seams for carbon sequestration. The test outcomes prove viability of the εUCG™ C¯ INTERMENT™ method that is vital for increasing H:C ratio in the product syngas and drastically reducing the carbon footprint of εUCG™ process.

The demonstration facility included a shallow aquifer monitoring well along with three deep vertical wells directionally drilled and completed in the 12m-thick Mannville coal seam at the depth of 1500 m. One of the deep wells was used to inject supercritical CO2, whereas the others served for monitoring of groundwater, formation gases and the injected CO2. The test wells have been equipped with multiple sensors for registering pore pressure, temperature and vibration as well as a fiberoptic cable for DAS & DTS monitoring. Process diagnostics methods included a pioneering seismic cross-well tomography technique.

Overall, 1527 metric tons of supercritical CO2 were injected within a 6-day period, maintaining essentially steady flow rates of 6.1 tph, 11.5 tph and 17.0 tph for 48 h each. The flow rates far exceed the historically achieved short-term maximum of 3.7 tph. A massive data set acquired in the test is being interpreted and analyzed in collaboration with research groups at the University of Calgary led by Prof. Christopher Clarkson.

“The successful test of the C¯ INTERMENT™ method in the Mannville EHR Project developed by Cv̄ictus Inc. is a quantum leap in reducing carbon footprint of UCG technology. Supported by other εUCG™ carbon management methods, namely C¯ RETENTION™, C¯ QUENCHING™ and C¯ REFLUX™, which will be employed in the Cv̄ictus EHR™ project in Alberta, it will lead to a radical increase of hydrogen content of our syngas and an overall drop in carbon footprint of our process,” said Ergo Exergy’s Director of Operations Michael Blinderman. “The low-carbon εUCG™ process delivering high-hydrogen syngas at very low cost will enable a plethora of low-carbon industries helping to bring down carbon concentration in the Earth's atmosphere.”

The Cv̄ictus EHR™ project in Alberta is scheduled to launch commercial production of low-carbon, low-cost hydrogen in March 2024.

Based out of Montreal, Quebec, Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc. is leading the world in the commercial development of UCG technology. Ergo Exergy has developed εUCG™ projects in Australia, South Africa, Canada, the United States, India, and New Zealand and is currently engaged in other international εUCG™ projects at various stages of advancement.

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