OTTAWA, ON (August 16, 2022) NGIF Industry Grants, a division of NGIF Capital Corporation, is supporting Salacia’s development of a Direct Solvent Extraction (DSE) based method for seawater desalination and industrial brine treatment. The DSE is a method for purifying water-soluble salts. Through NGIF’s $316,000 committed funding, Salacia’s lab scale testing will reduce freshwater consumption while recovering the water in brine, lowering GHG emissions significantly.
Salacia, a science and engineering company in Calgary, is the first to develop and achieve a Direct Solvent Extraction (DSE) based method for the desalination of seawater with low/medium salinity (35g of salt per litre) and industrial brine waste with high and ultrahigh salinity (up to 300g of salt per litre). Their patent-pending technology can eliminate brine waste by recovering more than 97% of the water while producing valuable solid salts, resulting in lower CO2 emissions.
Currently, the project is in its scale-up unit testing phase in a live operational environment and will see a field pilot in the coming months. This unit testing, carried out in partnership with the University of Calgary, will verify technological performance, improve the design if required, and ready the technology for commercialization.
Image: Salacia’s Demo/Test Unit
Through the NGIF funding and with the collaboration of Salacia’s partner institution, the University of Calgary, Salacia can de-risk its DSE technology, which can be otherwise challenging for organizations in the cleantech space.
“The water recovery, energy-saving, and cost-saving features of cleantech startup Salacia’s DSE method will see a substantial reduction in the volume of brine waste being produced and its environmental impact,” said John Adams, President and CEO of NGIF Capital Corporation and Managing Partner of NGIF Cleantech Ventures. “NGIF Industry Grants and its focus on de-risking startups and their clean technologies through field trials and pilots is part of NGIF’s integrated model of industry validation, customer creation, and market commercialization.”
“A substantial volume of brine waste is being produced every day by different industries such as oil and gas, and existing methods and technologies for brine management are either expensive or harmful to the environment, or both. However, our technology can desalinate and treat brine waste with different levels of salt concentration at a much lower energy consumption. This technique is membrane-less and not based on evaporation phase change, so it operates at lower temperature ranges (<70 degC). Compared to existing desalination and brine treatment technologies (including evaporators and crystallizers), our scalable, cost-effective and eco-friendly brine treatment solution can recover up to 97% of the water from brine and wastewater with up to 60% energy saving, more than 50% opex saving at a comparable capex,” says Salacia’s CEO, Ali Tazari. “We are very grateful for the support provided by NGIF and its members. This opportunity not only provides financial support for our scale-up field pilot project, but it is also a demonstration of an urgent need for our technology within the industry. We are excited to be able to work with such a great and supportive organization and help our partners achieve their environmental objectives.”
“It is exciting to see Salacia’s DSE technology advance with NGIF’s support. This innovation will allow the natural gas industry to continue to support its customers with cost-effective energy solutions that improve environmental performance while enhancing reliability,” said Timothy M. Egan, President and CEO, Canadian Gas Association and Chair, NGIF Capital Corporation, which operates NGIF Industry Grants.
NGIF Investors and Project Partners
About NGIF Industry Grants
NGIF Industry Grants is a first-of-kind, industry-led grant organization to fund early-stage startups developing solutions to environmental and other challenges facing Canada’s natural gas sector. NGIF Industry Grants develops, demonstrates, and de-risks these technology solutions through field trials and pilot projects to drive innovation and support environmental goals in Canada. NGIF Industry Grants’ investment focus is on existing natural gas production, transmission, distribution, storage, and end-use applications, as well as projects that will lead to the expanded production of emerging gaseous fuels like renewable natural gas and hydrogen. The organization has built a portfolio of startups, trusted partnerships with the government for co-funding opportunities, and a robust technical evaluation investment model. NGIF Industry Grants is operated by NGIF Capital Corporation.
About NGIF Capital Corporation
NGIF Capital Corporation is a Canadian venture capital (VC) firm offering grant and equity financing for startups that deliver solutions to the environmental and other challenges facing the natural gas sector. NGIF Capital Corporation is unique in how it brings Canada’s energy industry leadership to every investment. Like other VCs, it takes new companies and their ideas from concept to commercialization. Unlike other VCs, NGIF Capital Corporation has strong connections to every part of the gas value chain, from production through to end-use, offering it a means to test, develop, and accelerate the commercial implementation of innovative gas technology wherever it fits in the sector. The model benefits consumers, investors, and Canadian society as a whole. NGIF Capital Corporation operates NGIF Industry Grants (the original Natural Gas Innovation Fund), the NGIF Emissions Testing Centre, and NGIF Cleantech Ventures. NGIF Capital Corporation is wholly owned by CGA Enterprises, a venture of the Canadian Gas Association.
About Salacia Technologies
Salacia is a Science and Engineering company, headquartered in Calgary, Canada with a focus on the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies for desalination and treatment of seawater and industrial wastewater with a wide range of salinity. Salacia is focused on further improvement of technology to reduce the environmental impact (GHG emission, freshwater use, and brine disposal) of different industries including desalination, oil and gas, mining and lithium extraction while reducing the capital and operating cost of treatment for customers.
About CGA
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. CGA’s utility members are Canadian-owned and active in eight provinces and one territory. CGA members meet 38 per cent of Canada’s energy needs through a network of over 577,000 kilometres of underground infrastructure. The versatility and resiliency of this infrastructure allows it to deliver an ever-changing gas supply mix to over 7.4 million customer locations representing approximately two-thirds of Canadians. CGA members ensure Canadians get the affordable, reliable, clean gaseous energy they want and need. CGA is also working to constantly improve that gaseous energy offering, by driving forward innovation through the Natural Gas Innovation Fund (NGIF).
Fund Information:
John Adams
President and CEO, NGIF Capital Corporation
Managing Partner, NGIF Cleantech Ventures
613-748-0057
jadams@ngif.ca
Media Information:
Ayoola Ajibare
Communications Coordinator, NGIF Capital Corporation
(403) 389-2212
aajibare@ngif.ca