A Vancouver-based company hopes to revolutionize the mining industry by converting carbon into something other than waste.
Terra CO2 Technologies is developing a method to take two types of waste — acidic drainage and carbon dioxide emissions — and combine them into a stable, environmentally-friendly byproduct.
Terra CO2 is the only B.C. company in the running for the NRG Cosia Carbon XPrize, a competition funded by companies looking for solutions to a carbon-intense economy. At stake is a $20-million grand prize.
“We’re on the map now of clean-tech companies, specifically for carbon reduction but also in many other applications,” Dylan Jones of Terra CO2 said.
Re-purposing carbon has some limitations. At this point, the energy requirements are significant and any commercial successes might be a ways off.
But for Terra CO2, getting to the next round of the competition means exposure and possible interest from investors.
“We’re moving forward in a way we want to move forward,” Jones said.
The XPrize semifinal begins in August with a full-scale industrial test in store for the finalists.
– With files from Aaron McArthur
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