New centre will test ideas to turn CO2 emissions into something useful

Calgary will be home to a new research facility that will test technologies aimed at converting carbon dioxide emissions into new products, like building materials, alternative fuels and commercial goods.

The Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre will be located at the Shepard Energy Centre, a new Enmax facility in the southeast.

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The provincial and federal governments are putting up to $20 million into the project.

"What excites me at a personal level is when I think about technologies that will be tested and proven and the possibility for them to be deployed out around the world," said Dan Wicklum, the chief executive of Canada's Oil Sands InnovationAlliance.

"What you are doing here is moving into the solutions space for the global issue of emissions reduction, which is one of the biggest challenges of our time."

The first users will be the finalists of a global contest, worth $20 million US, that looked for ways to convert CO2 emissions from the energy industry into "valuable and useable products."

The NGR COSIA Carbon XPrize has 27 teams vying for the final ten spots.

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Alberta has a similar $35-million contest, called the ERA Grand Challenge, and the winners will also use the research facility. The projects include using CO2 in cement production anda carbon dioxide transformation system powered by sunlight.

The Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre will be owned by InnoTech Alberta, an applied research subsidiary of Alberta Innovates, a research and development organization in the province.

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