Hydron Energy Receives Funding from B.C. Clean Energy Catalyst in its Inaugural Open Call for Innovation

The B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) selected Hydron, as well as seven other innovators, from more than 75 initial applications.

NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, July 12, 2022 — Hydron Energy Inc., the cleaner fuel company that is commercializing a revolutionary gas upgrading solution, announced today it has received one of the first funding awards granted from newly established B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE). Hydron is building a first-of-a-kind gas upgrader, the INTRUPTor™ I-Multi, to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from biogas.

“Hydron is commercializing a proven platform technology new to the clean fuel market. This timely support will help demonstrate how our breakthrough product significantly reduces the cost of upgrading biogas to RNG  and saves cash for both project developer and site owner,” said Hydron Energy President and CEO Soheil Khiavi. “Our team is leveraging decades of experience developing gas separation systems to launch a new pre-combustion platform technology that removes carbon dioxide and other contaminants from product gases. As a result, INTRUPTors will create highly valued gas streams such as RNG, blue and turquoise hydrogen, green ammonia, and others from waste.”

The funding from CICE will help Hydron complete both phases of the field-testing program of its mobile pilot and establish the INTRUPTor I-Multi Mobile RNG Solution Centre. After its field testing programs are completed, the INTRUPTor I-Multi Mobile RNG Solution Centre will travel to key sites and demonstrate how the INTRUPTor system, and biogas upgrading, works in a real-world context. “Our goal is to create an engaging mobile experience that enables us to demonstrate the INTRUPTor on a new level across North America and encourage participation from agriculture and agri-food waste producers,” added Khiavi.

“The market needs small-scale biogas upgrading systems to match the size of dispersed feedstocks to reduce methane emissions from our agriculture industry,” said Hydron Energy Business Development Manager Alison Cartier. “But conventional technologies become financially unfeasible at this scope because of the scale of the ancillary equipment and towers needed to support their process.”

The INTRUPTor™, an acronym for Intensified Regenerative Upgrading Platform Technology, operates in ambient conditions and therefore does not require any feed compressors, vacuum pumps, feed gas drying units, or exhaust gas post-treatment systems to produce pipeline-quality RNG. As a result, the INTRUPTor reduces the capital and operating costs by up to 50% and delivers an industry-leading carbon intensity score.

 “We expected a handful of companies to submit proposals – instead, we received over 75 amazing video applications asking for over 30 times what we were initially expecting to fund,” said CICE Deputy Executive Director Yemi Adefulu. “This is a true testament to the brilliance of B.C.’s innovators, and after a rigorous and efficient due diligence process, we are excited to be awarding $3.4 million to 8 successful companies.”

Founded by the Government of British Columbia and Shell and supported by the Canadian Federal Government, CICE issued its first Open Call in January 2022, 90 days following the Centre’s incorporation, inviting innovators with low-carbon solutions from across the province to submit applications. For more information about the Inaugural Open Call, read the press release by B.C. Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE).