2024 Winners

The Carbon Capture Project Award recognizes small, medium, and large-scale projects globally. Projects in this category will be judged on technological advancement and impact on the community. All projects entered will need to be either completed within the 2023/2024 time period or will be projected to be completed by the end of 2024 in order to be considered.

Winner is:

Blindman Brewing

Carbon Capture and Utilization from Fermentation

Blindman Brewing is the first brewery in Canada and one of the first in the world to use a new technology from Earthly Labs to capture and utilize CO2 from fermentation of beer. This allows Blindman to demonstrate to the tens of thousands of small- and medium-sized breweries across the world that carbon capture and use can be implemented in a way that is practical and with a financial payback in a few years from the elimination of the need to purchase CO2 to carbonate beer.

The Carbon Remover Award recognizes technology and processes that advance solutions to accomplish CO2 removal. All technologies in this category should be in full production mode.

Winner is:

SBI BioEnergy Inc.

Golu-H2: Modular DAC CO2 Capture & Renewable Carbon-Negative Energy Generator

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture from flue gases or gaseous streams using amine-based solutions is a proven technological approach which has been practiced in operation for many decades. The first 800 TPD CO2 capture plant is still in operation by Sealers Valley Minerals (SVM) for more than 45 years in Trona, California, USA. This plant is based on a conventional process configuration and uses 20 wt% mono-ethanolamine solution (MEA) to capture CO2 from flue gases, which is used as a raw material to produce Soda Ash. However, experts believe that the main reasons behind the recent two unsuccessful large-scale CO2 capture plants, which are Boundary Dam in Saskatchewan, Canada and Petra Nova in Texas, USA, are mainly four-fold: (i) the implementation of complex process configurations to save energy; (ii) use of proprietary new formulated solvents; (iii) the wrong design of unit operations; and/or (iv) unsuitable operating conditions.  The technology proposed is CO2 absorption into amine-based solutions that takes into consideration the following main design consideration: 1. Simple process flowsheet to meet the production capacity and the cleanup targets at minimum capital costs. 2. Optimum operating parameters to minimize the operating costs.  3. Using suitable commercial solvents based on the flue gases/gaseous streams composition and conditions. 4. Integrating suitable solvent reclaiming to maintain the solvent efficiency. 5. Modular design approach for the complete plant.

The Carbon Storage Award recognizes technology and processes that demonstrates innovation in the advancement of carbon storage. All technologies in this category should be in full production mode.

Winner is:

Enhance Energy Inc. 

Enhance's 5 Million Tonne Milestone at the Clive CCUS Sequestration Facility

We’re Enhance, and we provide solutions for the world’s transition to net-zero. We develop world-class, efficient and trusted CCUS projects that decarbonize global commodities and the energy we produce. And with more than 5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions permanently stored at our project sites in Central Alberta, we know we are on the right track.

The CCUS First Adopter Award recognizes pioneers in the realm of climate change mitigation who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation, and commitment to advancing CCUS technologies. This prestigious accolade celebrates organizations that have been at the forefront of implementing CCUS solutions through investment in pilot or first-of-a-kind demonstration projects within industrial assets, thereby playing a critical role in technology commercialization. 

Winner is:

Exterra Carbon Solutions 

Turning waste into a powerful tool against climate change

Exterra Carbon Solutions is developing a pioneering low-carbon metal oxide production process to transform mineral waste into valuable byproducts and durable carbon storage. By leveraging silicate mine tailings, we produce low-carbon, highly reactive magnesium oxide and other critical minerals, offering an alternative to traditional underground CO2 storage. Our solution not only enables carbon reductions and removals but also repurposes mining waste, providing significant environmental and economic benefits.

The CCUS Leader of the Year Award acknowledges an individual whose efforts have made a significant contribution to their organization, industry or community that go above and beyond their normal day to day duties. The nominee should stand out in terms of strategic thinking, leadership, community involvement and the pursuit of excellence in their field. The nominees in this category will have been in the industry for 5 or more years. Self-nominations are permitted in this category.

Winner is:

Breanne O'Reilly, Vice President, Business Development & Strategic Initiatives, International CCS Knowledge Centre 

As Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Initiatives, Breanne O’Reilly leads the delivery of initiatives that advance the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions across Canada. She has demonstrated a long standing commitment to efforts in carbon capture where her expertise provides support to organizations developing solutions to reduce carbon emissions.  Her role leads consulting and communications efforts, implements knowledge sharing activities, and pursues new funding opportunities.  With a career devoted to Canada’s energy landscape, Breanne fosters collaborative relationships and shares critical information with industry, government, and the public. Breanne played a pivotal role in aligning CCS research and technology organizations to effectively market expertise and facilities for validating capture, conversion and storage solutions. With a strong foundation in public relations, Breanne brings a wealth of experience, combining strategic thinking with hands-on expertise to drive meaningful change in the pursuit of a low-carbon future.

The Emerging CCUS Leader Award acknowledges an up-and-coming individual whose efforts have already made a significant contribution to their organization, industry or community that go above and beyond their normal day to day duties. The nominee should stand out in terms of strategic thinking, leadership, community involvement and the pursuit of excellence in their field. The nominees in this category will have been in the industry for 5 or less years. Self-nominations are permitted in this category.

Winner is:

Sarah Petrevan, Vice President, Industrial Decarbonization and Sustainability, Cement Association of Canada 

Sarah is a leader in the conversations and actions required to achieve decarbonization of heavy industry while remaining competitive in a carbon-constrained world. By playing a leadership role in defining the path to net-zero for Canada’s cement and concrete industry, through then publication, Concrete Zero, Sarah has presented credible, transparent pathways in an accountable plan that clearly articulates the need for technology solutions. This includes the vital and necessary role that carbon capture, utilization and storage plays in the cement industry’s transition ? CCUS will be responsible for 28% of the cement and concrete industry’s emissions reductions on the path to net-zero.

The Innovation in CCUS Technology Award recognizes highly disruptive innovations in equipment, controls or digital technology that have had a major impact on energy efficiency, emissions, economics, scheduling, or quality. All technologies in this category should be at either: initial production and rollout, full production mode, or commercial (post-pilot).

Winner is:

Nuada

Nuada's MOF-Based VPSA Carbon Capture Technology

Nuada is a pure-play carbon capture technology provider that is poised to decarbonize heavy industries through its next-generation technology. The company builds energy-efficient filtration machines that capture CO2 from industrial off-gases, empowering emitters to reduce their carbon footprint with minimum impact on their bottom line. Despite the imperative role of carbon capture in decarbonizing hard-to-abate industrial sectors, the deployment of the technology falls behind the necessary schedule to meet global climate mitigation targets. The current go-to CO2 capture methods are based on liquid amine solvents and energy-intensive processes that pose a significant cost barrier to the economic viability of carbon capture projects. Nuada has developed a next-generation point-source capture technology that redefines carbon capture and addresses the energy, cost, and integrational challenges of conventional solutions. The technology combines advanced solid sorbents, named Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), with mature vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) technology to enable the separation of CO2 from flue gases, using pressure rather than heat. This combination represents a step change in carbon capture innovation and yields a process that slashes the associated energy penalty by up to 80% compared to incumbent solutions and significantly reduces the cost of capture. Nuada’s technology is an end-of-pipe, electrically driven solution that can be easily retrofitted into industrial plants with minimum process modifications. Nuada built the first-of-its-kind MOF-based VPSA plants which are now being deployed at a pilot scale by industry leaders within the cement and waste-to-energy sectors. Backed by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), Nuada collaborates with leading cement producers to deploy the technology as a cornerstone solution for low-carbon cement production. The successful demonstrations in cement, waste-to-energy, and other sectors such as lime, steel, and blue hydrogen, fast-track the wide commercialisation of Nuada’s technology and accelerate industrial decarbonisation through a vital energy-efficient and cost-effective solution.