Canadian carbon-capture developer Delta CleanTech Inc. is running to keep up with interest in its carbon-capture and processing systems amid changes to the nation's tax system that turned emissions into large liabilities.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company was already well known for its projects, which include supplying pure CO2 to the finalists in Canada's NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE competition, streaming the gas from a natural gas-fired generation station owned by Capital Power Corp. and ENMAX Corp. to a C$20 million facility designed for the competition. More recently, Canada announced an increase in its federal emissions levy to C$170/tonne by 2030 from C$40/tonne, sparking a rush of interest in the company's technology that pulls CO2 out of smokestacks and provides a pure stream of the gas that can be sequestered or diverted for industrial uses.

"We're in the business of capturing the CO2 and handing that CO2 over, purified and ready to be used, to a CO2 user," Delta Cleantech Executive Chairman Lionel Kambeitz said in an interview. "We're primarily in post-combustion. We like to say that every smokestack is our potential customer."

The company has drawn on Alberta's deep talent pool in the natural gas midstream business where engineers have for decades designed large-scale systems to separate, purify and deliver streams of gases and liquids. Alberta's history of carbon capture and sequestration stretches back more than a decade with the government-backed and Royal Dutch Shell PLC-operated Quest Carbon Capture and Sequestration facility, which is one of the largest onshore storage sites in the world. Pipeline operators Pembina Pipeline Corp. and TC Energy Corp. recently announced a "carbon grid" in Alberta that will utilize new and existing pipelines to transport CO2 around the province. Kambeitz said the depth of expertise in Alberta provides comfort to companies unfamiliar with the technology but suddenly facing a need to embrace it because of increasing carbon costs.

'Shocking moment'

"It's been a shocking moment for some of the executives when they have really determined what that invoice from Ottawa is going to look like," Kambeitz said. "We're used to supplying people like Capital Power: They're sophisticated, they understand the process, they want technology that is robust and workable and they don't want a science experiment from their CO2 capture. That kind of customer is a pleasure to work with, but some of the other customers on the inbound calls to us, they just don't know where to start."

That starting point is often an assessment of the customer's carbon capture needs, their plans for the end-use of the CO2, and financing options. Canada has funding available for carbon capture projects under the emissions levy program and is establishing a verification and trading system for offsets. Customers can license a capture solution from Delta Cleantech, which it then designs and builds with an engineering, procurement and construction contractor, or EPC.

"The customer has a technology license from us, and with that, we design the entire plant," Kambeitz said. "We assist the EPC through the process of building from a design perspective. We commission the plant, and we provide a solvent formulation, customized to the needs of that customer, so they can properly scavenge the CO2 out of the exhaust." The company identified 1,066 prospective customers in Canada, the majority of which are located in Alberta. It recently announced the opening of five foreign branches — in Beijing; London; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Houston; and Sydney — as interest in carbon capture, utilization and storage grows globally. Still, Kambeitz sees the biggest opportunity in Alberta.

"The industry of decarbonizing energy and the importance of that to Alberta for the next 50 years is so significant that we like the adoption, we like the cooperation that we're getting right across the board in Alberta," Kambeitz said.

Alberta's energy industry has a "certain kind of impatience," according to Kambeitz, that has led to fast-track construction techniques and the embrace of new technology.

"They like modular construction, they want it yesterday, and I think that culture's going to work quite well," Kambeitz said. "If someone wants 1,000 tonnes of CO2/day tomorrow, we'll design 1,000 tonnes by morning. If someone wants 100 tonnes, we'll design those ... We like where we are. It's a good time to be in this business."