Natural Gas Innovation Fund Helps New Home Furnace Technology Move Closer to Commercialization

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Natural Gas Innovation Fund Helps New Home Furnace Technology Move Closer to Commercialization


September 6, 2018

September 06, 2018
Ottawa, Ontario

The Natural Gas Innovation FundTM (NGIF) announced today that iGEN Technologies Inc.’s home furnace technology has successfully advanced through a key milestone in product testing.

In 2017, NGIF announced an investment of $165,000 into a project lead by iGEN Technologies Inc. to support the testing, validation, and demonstration of a self-powered natural gas furnace named the i2 Hybrid Smart Furnace (HSF).  We are pleased to announce the iGEN i2 HFS’s performance has been evaluated at three testing centres for prototype validation and certificate preparation. In addition, NGIF’s funding has also helped iGEN to expand their facility capacity and create jobs with two new full-time employees.  iGEN is now turning its attention to the remaining part of its project including prototype certification and manufacturing protocol.

The i2 HSF has a unique patented system that uses natural gas to generate both heat and electricity for use in the home; a first of its kind.  Built in Canada for the North American market, the self-powered i2 HSF will be ideal for retrofit and new construction standard ductwork, ready-to-install as a replacement for traditional residential natural gas furnaces with no extra connections.  The production of both heat and electricity will give the i2 a distinct advantage over conventional high-efficiency furnaces as it will provide critical power supply during a power outage while boasting an overall efficiency that is greater than any traditional high-efficiency furnace.

With solar and battery integration, the i2 HSF will provide even more energy freedom, flexible applications in micro-grids, sustainable community developments, along with a much needed solution for remote areas. Based on average Canadian electricity costs, typical savings for a household using an i2 HSF are projected to be up to $400 annually compared to a conventional furnace.

NGIF funding to iGEN was contributed by NGIF and the Canadian Gas Association’s (CGA) member companies, ATCO, FortisBC, Pacific Northern Gas Inc. and SaskEnergy.  Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. is also contributing to the project through Utilization Technology Development NFP, a research funding organization partnership with other gas utilities. CGA member company Énergir has also contributed to this project.

iGEN Technologies Inc. has also received funding to support development of the i2 HSF’s technology from the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), BLOOM, and the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP).

Natural gas has a central place in Canada’s energy mix meeting over 34 per cent of the country’s energy needs.  Today almost seven million customers representing well over 20 million Canadians rely on natural gas for heat and power in homes, apartments, buildings, businesses, hospitals and schools.

 NGIF iGEN Technologies Project Funders

Quotes 

“The home furnace has not seen a breakthrough industry change that can keep up with the fast pace of North America’s changing energy needs – until now. The i2 Hybrid Smart Furnace delivers performance, savings, and security through its patented technology while generating, storing and using its own electricity. iGEN believes the i2 will truly revolutionize the existing home comfort platform with enhanced resiliency, emission reduction and lower heating bills.” 

Michael Chatzigrigoriou
iGEN Technologies Inc., CEO and Co-Founder

“We are pleased and excited to see an important milestone reached on the testing of iGEN’s i2 Hybrid Smart Furnace technology. This product will offer sustained heating during a black out complimented by a small emergency electrical power source.”

John Adams
Managing Director, Natural Gas Innovation FundTM

“This technology builds on what Canadian natural gas customers really value and want – affordable, reliable, and clean energy.”

Timothy M. Egan
President and CEO, Canadian Gas Association

Associated Links

iGEN Technologies Inc.
Natural Gas Innovation Fund
Canadian Gas Association
@ngifund

For More Information:

Annik Aubry
Manager, Communications
Canadian Gas Association
613-748-0057 ext. 325
aaubry@cga.ca

Michael Chatzigrigoriou
CEO and Co-Founder
iGEN Technologies Inc.
905-709-6893
info@igentechnologies.ca

Related Resources

At NGIF, we invest in companies who are leading in the development of clean technologies for energy and who have the potential to demonstrate significant and quantifiable environmental and economic returns.

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    commitee-member-placeholder

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    commitee-member-placeholder

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    Kinitics Automation

    Kinitics Automation is proposing to introduce its electric valve actuator as a direct replacement for methane-venting pneumatic devices currently deployed at production well sites in Alberta. Using electric valve actuators will eliminate the venting of methane at the sites, significantly reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. Kinitics actuators, based on shape memory alloys and the company’s Bundled Wire technology, connect to AC or DC power sources, require minimal infrastructure and maintenance, and provide exceptional valve positional accuracy. Due to the core operating principle of the Bundled Wire technology, the actuator will achieve a known fail state upon shutdown. Kinitics is running tests on system accuracy and performance at the ETC lab, followed by a long-term field program to evaluate system reliability and performance in an operational gas well site facility.

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    Marathon Compression

    The Marathon KL8 is an instrument air and power unit. Powered by a new-to-industry industrial 5 kW engine, the KL8 can provide tscfm of dry instrument air at 100 psig along with 1.5 kW 24 VDC power for meters, plc’s, etc. At the ETC, the Marathon compressor has been installed in an operating gas well site facility. The main goal is proving run-time and equipment durability, mostly of the engine, on raw field-quality natural gas.

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    Packair Industries Inc

    Packair Industries has developed a new air compressor that is compact and highly efficient. The design uses 10 pistons in a circle, each with its own valve system and can be driven by either AC or DC power. The compressor can deliver full pressure of up to 130 psig and up to 10 cfm. The compressor can be packaged in a small compact space as an air solution for remote Oil & Gas well sites to reduce methane emissions that run pneumatically driven devices. This solution is proposed as being cost-effective and requiring minimal downtime for installation. The ETC lab testing focused on demonstrating that the Packair compressor works, along with measuring the ability of the Packair compressor to deliver air at different rates and conditions, and the power requirements for these various configurations.

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    Clear Rush Co

    A solution that reduces emissions and complies with regulations is to collect and combust the waste gas emitted by well site pneumatic devices through an enclosed vapour combustor. The gas from the pneumatic instruments is collected into a main header outside of the well site separator building and sent to a low-pressure combustor for incineration. Enclosed vapour combustors are virtually maintenance-free and require few changes to existing infrastructure prior to commissioning. At the ETC, the scope of the project will involve the investigation of the destruction efficiencies during operational conditions to understand its effectiveness with turndown ratios. Manufacturer specifications state the destruction efficiency of the vapour combustor is greater than 99.9% and meets the requirements of AER Directive 60, however, in-field data is limited to validate the performance given the novelty of the solution.

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    Kuva

    Kuva is a leading methane monitoring technology provider committed to making emissions quantifiable and manageable. Kuva is participating in NGIF’s Emissions Testing Centre (ETC) program to conduct a field demonstration of their emissions-detecting cameras that uses short-wave infrared light to detect and monitor hydrocarbon gas emissions in real-time.

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    mCloud

    mCloud Corp. is a software/hardware company that is focused on tackling the Fugitive Gas dilemma using Software, Cloud Computing, and AI in conjunction with Ultrasonic Hardware. The goal is to detect gas in real-time and help drive action and correction sooner than traditional expensive methods. mCloud is working with the ETC lab to test their mobile ultrasonic sensor on variable emission rates and single vs. multiple source points, with and without the presence of external noise.

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    Precision Drilling

    Drilling rig engine generators provide up to 4 MW of electrical power to the rig; they are large fuel consumers and hence GHG emitters. Precision Drilling has several types of engines and fuel type setups, including diesel, bi-fuel (diesel & natural gas), natural gas hybrid (gas and battery power), and zero fuel (electrical highline power) systems. Four Precision rigs are equipped with instrumentation for fuel and power measurement. The goal of field testing with ETC is to understand the fuel and energy efficiency of the various power systems across Tourmaline’s drilling operations.

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    Trican

    Frac pumpers are large fuel consumers that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Current fracturing equipment in Alberta is typically powered by diesel-based or bi-fuel (diesel & natural gas) bolt-on kit (Tier 2) engines. Trican’s Caterpillar Tier 4 Dynamic Gas Blending engine proposes to displace up to 85% of diesel with natural gas. The goal of field testing at ETC is to understand the performance of the Tier 4 Engines during operations in Canada. This includes, but is not limited to, diesel displacement performance during seasonal conditions, validation of the low emissions fracturing spread, and emissions performance compared to diesel and Tier 2 engines.

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    Convrg Innovations Inc.

    Convrg Innovations is a remote power generation company aiming to improve environmental sustainability in the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry. Convrg is leading the way to enable certifiable zero emissions hydrocarbon production through its Engineered Power on Demand (“EPOD”) product. EPOD is a proven solution which eliminates up to 99.5% of methane emissions from pneumatic devices while reducing capital and operations costs, improving reliability, and generating carbon credits for oil and gas producers

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    ARIX

    ARIX develops and operates robots for pipe corrosion detection and management for the oil and gas industry to reduce costs, enhance data, and improve safety.

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    Lelantos Inc.

    Lelantos is a developer of miniaturized semiconductor gas sensors based in New York, NY. Lelantos novel gas sensing technology is targeted to high-value Internet-of-Things applications in environmental and air quality monitoring, threat detection, industrial safety, as well as medical diagnostics.

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    HOMY Building Solutions Inc.

    Customization of first of a kind, Residential Hybrid Gas absorption Heat pump (GAHP) Technology

    HOMY’s hybrid technology combines GAHP and Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP), maximising the potential of both technologies. Its smart control system monitors and controls energy consumption effectively, offering the potential to reduce energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions.
    The expected outcomes of the project include the successful development and launch of the customized GAHP technology, improved energy efficiency and cost savings for homeowners, and increased adoption of the technology in the North American market.

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    Anodyne Chemistries Inc.

    Demonstration of electrochemical conversion of Carbon dioxide and Methane into Methanol using enzymatic pathways

    Anodyne’s proprietary technology and first of a kind reactor harnesses enzymes for carbon utilization and turns harmful emissions into low carbon fuels and speciality chemicals. The project aims to develop protocols for producing four enzymes and their corresponding immobilization complexes, while also collecting operational data for enzyme endurance, current efficiencies, and voltages in an electrochemical cell. The objective of upscaling the electrochemical cell and investigating immobilization feasibility contributes to advancing enzymatic methanol conversion technology.

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    BKR Energy

    Developing Smart Fuel Switching Controller for Residential purposes

    The project provides an opportunity for BKR Energy to develop its smart fuel-switching controllers to boost emissions reductions with cost effectiveness. The design will accelerate the efficiency and affordability of hybrid HVAC systems when switching between electricity and natural gas.

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    CarboNet

    CarboNet applies advanced chemistry to industrial wastewater, reducing the need for chemicals, increasing water treatment performance, and boosting the world’s freshwater reserves.

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    Qube Technologies, Inc.

    Qube Technologies is a Calgary, AB-based hardware-enabled SaaS business helping primary industries reduce emissions through continuous monitoring. Qube’s solution utilizes a three-step approach to emissions management: detecting emissions (using Qube devices deployed in the field), measuring (inferring leak location, quantifying, and classification), and reducing (managing repairs and reducing emissions using Qube’s dashboard).

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