B.C. facility aims to make vehicle fuel from carbon pulled out of the atmosphere
The B.C. government, a First Nation in the Interior and a pair of Squamish-based companies are working together on a project that they say could revolutionize the transportation industry by all but eliminating its carbon dioxide emissions.
The province is providing $2 million from its Innovative Clean Energy fund to support the engineering and design work for the project, which aims to be the world's first large-scale fuel production plant that uses carbon captured directly from the atmosphere.
Squamish-based Huron Clean Energy expects to build the commercial plant on Upper Nicola Band land near Merritt, B.C., and has entered into an equity partnership and land-lease agreement with the First Nation.
The facility - which is currently in the design phase, with construction slated to begin next year at the earliest - will use "direct air capture" technology developed by Carbon Engineering, another Squamish-based company.
When it's completed - something the project's backers hope will happen by 2025 - the plant will run on renewable energy from BC Hydro, which it will use to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Other Carbon Engineering projects remove the carbon and store it underground, but the proposed facility in the Interior will instead use more renewable electricity to electrolyze water, splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen.
The fuel plant will then recombine the hydrogen and the carbon dioxide to create hydrocarbons that can be used in place of traditional petroleum-based fuels.
According to the Carbon Engineering website, burning the synthetic fuels re-releases the carbon that was captured to make them, but adds no new emissions to the air. Beyond that, because the energy used to create the fuel is renewable, the fuels have an "ultra-low lifecycle carbon intensity."
"If we can make the fuel carbon neutral, our vehicles, our ships, our planes become carbon neutral," said Carbon Engineering CEO Steve Oldham at a news conference in Squamish on Thursday.
Oldham said the plant, once completed, would produce about 100 million litres of fuel annually - a substantial amount, but a tiny drop in the bucket compared to global oil consumption, estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration to be 97.47 million barrels of oil per day in 2021.
A barrel of oil contains approximately 159 litres, meaning global oil consumption is more than 15 billion litres per day, though only a fraction of that is refined into fuel.
Oldham and the other partners in the project who spoke Thursday said the Upper Nicola plant is the beginning, not the end goal.
"I'm confident that it will be successful," said Bruce Ralston, B.C.'s minister of energy, mines and low-carbon innovation.
"When it's successful, it will be something that can be replicated around the world. This is, really, genuinely, globally leading technology."
The province estimates that the facility will create 620 jobs during the design phase, 4,780 during construction and 340 long-term jobs associated with operating the plant.
Oldham and Huron Clean Energy CEO Michael Hutchison each expressed a desire to see more projects of this type constructed in the coming years, and a confidence that it would happen.
"The plant itself is a first of a kind that anybody in the world that has renewable energy can emulate," Hutchison said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. tenants evicted for landlord's use after refusing large rent increase to take over neighbouring suite
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
Expert warns of food consumption habits amid rising prices
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump
As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.
Here's why provinces aren't following Saskatchewan's lead on the carbon tax home heating fight
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would still send Canada Carbon Rebate cheques to Saskatchewan residents, despite Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating, questions were raised about whether other provinces would follow suit. CTV News reached out across the country and here's what we found out.
Montreal actress calls Weinstein ruling 'discouraging' but not surprising
A Montreal actress, who has previously detailed incidents she had with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, says a New York Court of Appeals decision overturning his 2020 rape conviction is 'discouraging' but not surprising.
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye make it four NFL drafts with quarterbacks going 1-3
Caleb Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.