Cv̄ictus Aims to Clean Up Hydrogen Production in Calgary and Beyond

A startup based in Alberta has a vision to be vision is to be “the most positively impactful company on the planet.”

Calgary’s Cv̄ictus is in the business of advancing clean hydrogen technology, especially as it pertains to “difficult-to-decarbonize” sectors.

The world today produces over 90 million tonnes of hydrogen per year, primarily from steam methane reforming that Cv̄ictus argues is as dirty as coal-fired power. Electrolysis from renewable energy is cleaner but consumes huge amounts of fresh water.

The Canadian company claims instead to produce hydrogen that is “cleaner than green” thanks to a patented “Enhanced Hydrogen Recovery” platform that also lower cost.

Conventionally, coal has high CO2 emissions and environmental damage when mined and burned. But it’s also the cheapest and most abundant energy source available, Cv̄ictus points out.

Enhanced Hydrogen Recovery works by bringing beneficial gases to the surface while leaving most carbon in the ground.

By maximizing benefits while sequestering carbon, Cv̄ictus aims to “use coal to eliminate the green premium for clean hydrogen and other difficult-to-decarbonize sectors.”

And the proprietary EHR tech boasts “practically unlimited scalability through rapid, broad, and deep expansion of our products and projects,” according to Cv̄ictus.

In addition, ​the company intends to produce a nutrient-rich single cell protein that can substitute for fish meal, soybean meal, and other animal feeds. Cv̄ictus believes space-efficient protein production will be important to preserving the biosphere as population growth and agricultural expansion has reduced forest sizes (forests being Earth’s best carbon sinks).

“Cv̄ictus can produce globally impactful volumes of low-cost animal feed that can enable large scale reforestation, reduce atmospheric CO2 levels, replenish oceans, and nourish a growing world population,” the startup states online.

Cv̄ictus was recently named to The Foresight 50, a list of Canada’s most investable cleantech companies.

As a region, Alberta has long been interested in hydrogen cleantech.