CALGARY (DECEMBER 08, 2023): NGIF Accelerator through its Industry Grants program is proud to announce funding of $100,000 to launch an innovative carbon capture bench-scale prototype development project by Calgary-based Vortis Carbon Corp.(Vortis).
Vortis has developed a groundbreaking approach that holds the potential to significantly reduce the complexity and cost associated with carbon capture. This breakthrough technology offers a promising solution to one of the most pressing GHG-management challenges faced by industries today.
Vortis’s spinning disc separator (SDS) uses motion and vortices to separate CO2 based on its molecular weight. The SDS has demonstrated significant advantages compared to traditional carbon capture technologies and has the potential to deliver significant reductions in energy requirements and costs to remove carbon from flue gas emissions.
Image: Spinning disc separator that can separate CO2 based on its molecular weight.
“Industries are putting more and more effort into solving the carbon capture challenge, and Vortis’s cost-effective and efficient technology offers a unique potential solution. NGIF is pleased to support Vortis’s technology development as they work towards validation and scale-up to make CO2 capture more cost effective and simple. The Industry Grants program and its focus on de-risking clean technologies through field trials and pilots of technologies like this one are part of NGIF’s integrated model of industry validation, customer creation, and technology commercialization,” said John Adams, President and CEO of NGIF Accelerator and Managing Partner of NGIF Cleantech Ventures.
“The Industry Grants program demonstrates the confidence of the natural gas industry in Vortis’s approach to novel carbon capture technology,” said Andrew McGovern, President, and CEO of Vortis. “All emitters are faced with a big challenge to decarbonize their operations cost-effectively. Current carbon capture technologies don’t deliver this, and there is a real need for simple and affordable ways for emitters to reduce their carbon emissions, at the scales required at their operations.”
The funding will allow Vortis to commercially demonstrate the technology at scale with select industry partners in Alberta in 2025 with a commercial rollout in 2026.
“Canadians want and need the affordable, reliable, clean energy service offering they have come to expect from the natural gas industry. When we created NGIF, it was our vision to bring the entire natural gas value chain together to support cleantech development that enhances environmental and economic performance for the sector. I am glad to see our vision in action, as its Industry Grants program continues to support technologies like Vortis,” said Timothy M. Egan, President and CEO, Canadian Gas Association and Chair, NGIF Capital Corporation.
Industry Grants Participants and Project Partners
About Industry Grants program
The Industry Grants program is industry-led and offers non-dilutive grants to fund early-stage startups for technology development and field demonstration. The program specifically de-risks pre-commercial technology solutions that have the potential to increase the environmental performance of the natural gas sector. Each project in the program will accelerate technology readiness level progressions through controlled pilot testing and field trials to advance commercialization. The Industry Grants program is operated by the NGIF Accelerator.
About NGIF Accelerator
NGIF Accelerator is the not-for-profit arm of NGIF Capital and will operate all technology and innovation programs. The NGIF Accelerator mandate is to de-risk and accelerate technology development by supporting startups through their pilot projects, field trials, and industry validation. It will coordinate with federal and provincial governments to co-fund projects to advance market commercialization. NGIF Accelerator currently operates the Industry Grants program and the Emissions Testing Centre program.
About Vortis Carbon Corp.
Vortis Carbon Corp. (Vortis) is a carbon management company based in Calgary, Alberta focused on developing simple and affordable ways to capture, convert, and market carbon emissions. Over the past three years in partnership with the University of British Columbia – Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC). Vortis has developed a novel approach to carbon capture which promises to dramatically reduce the complexity and cost of carbon capture.
About Canadian Gas Association
The Canadian Gas Association (CGA) is the voice of Canada’s gaseous energy delivery industry, including natural gas, renewable natural gas (RNG), and hydrogen. CGA membership includes energy distribution and transmission companies, equipment manufacturers, and suppliers of goods and services to the industry.
Fund Information:
John Adams
President and CEO, NGIF Accelerator
President and CEO, NGIF Capital Corporation
Managing Partner, NGIF Cleantech Ventures
(613)-748-0057
jadams@ngif.ca
Media Information:
Dini Philip
Communications Coordinator, NGIF Capital Corporation
(403)-389-2090
Dphilip@ngif.ca
