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Despite the grand ambition, the industry can’t quite get over the first hurdle of capturing the carbon at a reasonable cost.

Capturing carbon has pretty significant costs in the order of $50 to $150 per tonne

“Capturing carbon has pretty significant costs in the order of $50 to $150 per tonne,” said Jason Switzer co-director at The Pembina Institute, who was on the review panels of the CCEMC challenge. “If you want to dramatically improve the economics, one of the things you have to come up is how to monetize the CO2.”

There have been many false starts, but the industry believes it can find profitable avenues for the captured carbon genie.

“That’s the mood of the industry,” said Jean-Michel Gires, a venture partner at Vancouver-based Chrysalix EVC, which typically invests in renewable energy, but is increasingly looking at crossover technologies that aim to soften the impact of hydrocarbons on the atmosphere.

Last month, Chrysalix invested in Vancouver-based Inventys Thermal Technologies, which promises cost and energy reduction in CO2 capture for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as a first step before it expands to other areas.

“EOR is the space where Inventys is going to act for the time being – that is the only space for the time being,” Mr. Gires said. “But in the medium and long term we expect other revenues to open.”

Inventys counts Nobel laureate and former U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu as a member of its board of directors.

Husky Energy Inc. is also testing carbon-capture technology at its Pikes Peak South heavy oil site in Saskatchewan, in collaboration with Quebec-based CO2 solutions. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has teamed up National Research Council of Canada and Pond Biofuels to develop a $19-million Algal carbon-conversion pilot project in Alberta. Cenovus Energy Inc. also has carbon-capture and storage project, while SaskPower is close to finishing one of the world’s first large-scale carbon-capture power projects. The Alberta government is also funding carbon-capture projects along with industry.