Kathairos Success Story: Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen 

A successful Kathairos project funded by CRIN resulted in the significant expansion of Kathairos’ methane-elimination technology, from operating on an initial six well sites to 1,500 over the two-year project duration. 

The Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen project involved the commercial demonstration of Kathairos’ nitrogen-based methane elimination technology on 24 well sites with Cenovus and 30 sites with Ovintiv, all in the greater Grande Prairie region in Alberta and B.C. 

Kathairos’ technology uses liquid nitrogen, a non-toxic, non-polluting gas that constitutes 78% of the air we breathe, to power pneumatic devices at remote oil and gas well sites.  

By using liquid nitrogen, the need for methane as an instrument gas is eliminated, as is the need to vent the harmful gas after use. The system is innovative in its simplicity, offering upstream producers an efficient, economical and low-maintenance option for eliminating emissions from well sites of all sizes – with no power required. 

The technology consists of a cryogenic tank, which is tied into existing pneumatic control loops using basic stainless-steel tubing. The tank is then filled with liquid nitrogen, which is kept in liquid state at -196 C. The nitrogen is then released as a gas at the pressure and quantity needed to power the pneumatic devices at site. Instead of venting methane, pure nitrogen is released back into the atmosphere. 

Over the course of the two-year project, 22,663 tonnes of CO2 equivalent were eliminated. The project also created high-skilled jobs. Kathairos’ telemetry and cloud-based data portal provided producers with highly accurate and accessible emission mitigation and carbon offset data. 

This successful project set the stage for the significant commercial expansion of the technology across Western Canada. By the project’s end in March 2024, the nitrogen system had been installed on 1,500 well sites across North America. The Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen project provided a meaningful reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while demonstrating to the international energy industry that methane vented from pneumatic devices on remote well sites can be reliably and affordably brought to zero. 

Stay tuned for more success stories about completed CRIN-funded projects!