By Brian Wagg MSc, PEng | Director, Business Development & Strategic Initiatives, C-FER
The times are gone when you could summarize Alberta’s energy industry with two letters: O&G. Now you have to add in Wind, Solar, Biomass, Hydrogen, Geothermal, and Nuclear as emerging components of our energy system. C-FER Technologies, a subsidiary of Alberta Innovates, has been helping the global energy industry for 40 years to validate and demonstrate new technologies. To accomplish this, C-FER combines advanced engineering analysis with full-scale laboratory testing of equipment and processes in their two full-scale testing laboratories in Edmonton. This work has now expanded to include technologies required for hydrogen, geothermal, and nuclear energy development in the province. The challenges are unique in each of these three energy sectors, but they all require rigorous full-scale testing to develop and demonstrate the technologies that will be required to make them a safe and reliable part of Alberta’s energy industry.
Hydrogen
You’ve probably heard a lot about hydrogen in the last couple of years and how it is going to play a major role in reducing carbon emissions. Alberta already produces a lot of hydrogen that is used in refineries and the petrochemical industry, but the big impact will come from pipelining the hydrogen to other industries and to commercial and residential end users. C-FER is working with companies from around the world to evaluate the feasibility of blending hydrogen into the existing natural gas pipeline system. This will include burst tests of pipe specimens up to 760 mm (30”) in diameter. Since the tests must be done with high pressure hydrogen, C-FER will conduct the tests inside a Special Environments Chamber to contain any gas releases from the failed pipe.
Similar full-scale tests will also be completed for industry clients focusing on other aspects of the hydrogen value chain including:
- Well equipment used in underground hydrogen storage
- Coatings to protect pipelines from hydrogen embrittlement
- A ship to transport compressed hydrogen to foreign markets
Geothermal
If you think about it, the two key in situ production methods used in the oil sands, Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) and Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS), are just geothermal energy production, but backwards. In the oil sands, steam is injected into the ground to mobilize the bitumen. In geothermal, steam or hot water is pumped out of the ground for heat or to make electricity. Many of the technologies that have been developed to make steam injection in the oil sands more efficient could be applied to make geothermal energy production more efficient. C-FER has worked with geothermal companies from around the world to demonstrate how thermal oil sands technologies such as dual-bore wellheads, downhole instrumentation systems and well casing connection designs can improve geothermal operations. And there are still technologies like downhole flow control devices and high temperature electric submersible pumps that C-FER has worked with oil sands operators to develop and demonstrate that could still have significant impacts on the geothermal industry.
Nuclear
The concept of deploying Small Modular Reactors to provide heat and power to large industrial complexes in Alberta is being evaluated by the Clean Energy group at Alberta Innovates. C-FER is working with a technology development company to build a specialized full-scale test loop to measure the performance of the cooling system for the unique reactor design. Initial testing will not involve radioactive materials but will focus on the heat transfer efficiency in the reactor.
This is Just the Beginning
The transition to new low carbon energy systems has really just begun in Alberta. There are going to be many technologies touted as being “the next big thing” that will reduce carbon emissions, some may even reduce costs. Testing these technologies at full-scale, in a controlled environment is the best way to learn how they work, optimize their performance and develop best practices for installation and operation.
Originally published in IGNITE V8.
