Aduro’s Disruptive Oil Upgrading Technology Moves Closer to Commercialization

 

Aduro’s Disruptive Oil Upgrading Technology Moves Closer to Commercialization

Alberta’s oil sands produce vast amounts of heavy bitumen crude oil. But this oil needs to be upgraded into lighter synthetic crude or diluted with condensate before it can be refined into fuels like gasoline. These upgrading and diluting processes are major sources of CO2 emissions from the oil sands.  

To reach net zero emissions by 2050, the Pathways Alliance of major oil sands producers is seeking technologies like Aduro Clean Technologies’ innovative Hydrochemolytic bitumen upgrading process.  

Aduro’s patented Hydrochemolytic (HBU) technology offers advantages over existing methods, including lower emissions, costs and higher oil quality. The company is now moving ahead with plans to build a pilot plant capable of processing 50 barrels per day with its partner Prospera Energy.

Successful pilot testing could demonstrate HBU’s potential to enable the oil industry to reduce its environmental impact.

Aduro has already proven HBU at the bench and small continuous flow scale. Its R2 HBU Reactor is a demonstration unit that will show the technology works with customer inputs.

The Prospera partnership will now advance HBU to a larger R3 pilot system. Aduro has also been working with a major oil sands producer since 2019. Pilot results could convince the broader industry to adopt the scalable technology.

The potential market for HBU in the Alberta oil sands is enormous. The region’s four upgraders have 1.4 million barrels per day of capacity, processing just under half of bitumen output. The rest requires diluting or becomes asphalt. The company believes that this technology has a market of 50 billion dollars globally.

HBU’s flexibility gives Aduro options to pitch its licensing model. It could help existing upgraders be more efficient, upgrade bitumen near extraction sites to reduce transportation emissions, or potentially replace less efficient upgraders entirely.

This aligns well with the Pathways Alliance’s $16.5 billion carbon capture project and additional $7.6 billion budget for emissions-reducing technologies like HBU. For a $52 million company like Aduro, it’s a huge opportunity to enable oil sands producers to meet climate goals.

Other companies are also developing promising technologies to reduce oil sands emissions:

– Acceleware is testing its RF XL heating technology to potentially eliminate the need for natural gas in bitumen extraction.

– EmissionRx is commercializing its portable and modular CO2 capture system.

– Field Upgrading has developed a process to upgrade bitumen without diluent, cutting transportation needs.

But Aduro’s continuous flow HBU reactor has now reached the critical pilot stage. Successful results could make it a leading contender for adoption in Alberta.

The oil sands producers have made public commitments and allocated major budgets to achieve net zero goals. They need proven technologies that can work at commercial scale.

Aduro believes its Hydrochemolytic process uniquely fits the need for lower cost, lower emissions production. Its steady progress toward full demonstration and pilot testing merits attention.

The company’s patent-protected technology has now advanced from concept to lab models and is nearing ready-for-market status. For investors, Aduro presents an opportunity to potentially benefit from the growing demand for emissions-reducing solutions in the oil sands industry.

 

Aduro is publicly traded as $ACTHF on the US OTC, $ACT on the Canadian Stock Exchange and $9D50 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.  This article is not intended as financial advice.  The investor deck can be found at here.