The initial installation of a new, made-in-Canada technology to efficiently remove hydrogen sulphide has significantly reduced operating costs, says H₂Sweet Inc.

The proprietary SULFCAT technology uses a regenerative reagent that can lower chemical consumption and operating costs between 60 and 80 per cent, the company said.

“The pilot SULFCAT installation has reduced operating costs by 70 per cent,” Dorn Cassidy, H₂Sweet’s president, said in a release. “Significant reductions in GHG, PM, Sox and NOx emissions have also been realized compared to alternative technologies. In addition, the process will eliminate the handling of a known toxic material and carcinogen (triazene) when replacing a typical scavenger system.”

The process converts H₂S into its elemental form of sulphur, eliminating deep well injection of non-regenerative spent chemical.

Hydrogen sulphide removal is a “hot topic” in Western Canada among every sour gas producer, H₂Sweet says, with the cost of sweetening chemicals a major issue.

The company says that H₂S removal using non-regenerative chemical processes can cost producers hundreds of thousands of dollars per day, which includes the cost of moving vast amounts of TDG (Transportation of Dangerous Goods)-controlled chemicals.

“Then there is the issue of waste generation and disposal,” said Cassidy. “Every load of fresh chemical going in likely has a load of waste H₂S scavenger going out and that product must be disposed of in a well classified for that product and licensed for spent scavenger.

“Our ground-breaking suite of technologies addresses the challenges of H₂S removal.”