By Johannes Kotilainen
Currently,
oil sands production can be less than environmentally friendly and expensive. From
a sustainable view there is much to be desired to say the least. Even looking at oil can be questionable to a
steadfast environmentalist. However our society runs off of oil, and as much as
some of us would like the world to be powered 100% renewably tomorrow, it just
is not realistic for it to happen instantaneously.
So in this
transition period to renewable energy, it is key to minimize the impacts of the
process of oil extraction. There are two things to keep in mind. One, we need
oil on demand, so a politically stable source is necessary to meet this demand.
Secondly, it has to be affordable. This is why the Canadian oil sands
flourished once oil prices rose to make extraction and recovery profitable
using current standard processes.
MCW Energy Group Ltd. (TSXV: MCW)
is a Toronto based company that is involved in fuel sales and distribution as
well as the development of oil sands recovery technology in the USA with a
market cap of $56.9 million. MCW appears set to change the current process.
To simply
the current oil sands extraction process, it uses lots of energy, lots of water,
and leaves pollution in the form of tailing ponds. This makes the process for
turning the oil sands into fuel expensive, as much as $60-65 per barrel is
commonly quoted.
The
extraction process and recovery method for oil sands has been in essence
unchanged, and yes there have been efficiency improvements, but the underlying
process has stayed the same; dig the sand, emulsify with water, add heat and
pressure; the result being bitumen and some very nasty water and a lot of Green
House Gases (GHG’s).
MCW has
patented a closed loop process for extracting the oil out of oil sands without
water. They have currently set up a facility in Utah that is processing 250
barrels a day, at a cost of $35 per barrel, 58% reduction in cost on the
conservative side.
Their
process extracts 99.9% of the hydrocarbons leaving the byproduct basically
sand. This closed loop process uses benign solvents in absence of heat and
pressure that are then reused in the loop eliminating a large portion of
greenhouse gases. Carbon credits anyone?
Currently MCW
has set a plant to open a 5,000-barrel per day operation on Temple Mountain in
Utah and is currently raising US$80 million to design and construct the plant.
This may just be the tip of the iceberg, Alberta sands are ready for this
technology, and with current carbon caps they may just have a secondary revenue
stream.
Find out why
sustainability is important in business and investing: http://www.smallcappower.com/posts/why-sustainability-is-important-in-business-and-investing-johannes-green-investing
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