A solution driven by passion and a short temper for inefficiency.

Interview with Co-Founder Pedro Pereira-Almao, Nanos Tech.

Pedro Pereira-Almao is a world-renowned heavy oil researcher, who left his native Venezuela and moved to business-friendly Alberta, where his ideas could be put into practice.

Pereira-Almao has been researching solutions to partial bitumen and heavy oil upgrading technologies since very early in his career (more than 30 years ago) and Alberta was a logical location for him to move to.

“Venezuela and Alberta’s oil are very similar,” he said.

After 17 years of laboratory work at the University of Calgary (U of C), he and a team of researchers at the U of C have come up with a number of commercially viable solutions, focused on heavy oil upgrading and other exciting technologies.

Pereira-Almao’s passion and drive led him and some fellow researchers at the U of C to form Nanos Tech, which he heads as the CEO.

Nanos has an entrepreneurial bent, with the goal of taking a number of catalyst technology approaches to the level of being widely adopted by a number of industrial sectors. He believes Nanos will be able to turn Calgary into a technological hub for catalyst and nanoparticle technology development.

“I think we’ve come up with the right solution at the right time,” he said. “Our new huff and puff approach for in-situ upgrading (ISU) eliminates the need for diluent, which drives up the cost of heavy oil extraction. It converts extra heavy and heavy oil in the field to a crude with an API of 22 to 25 and the recovery from the reservoir is amazing, compared to Steam Injection.”

The prevalent Alberta SAGD technology produces heavy crudes with an API of 8-10, which requires the use of about 30% of a diluent to lighten the crude and allow it to be transported by pipeline. It utilizes large amounts of steam, which drive up costs and the environmental impact of the process.

The Nanos technology can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by eliminating the use of steam for mobile oil exploitation, where it drastically reduces production costs.

“Pipeline projects are stalling, investors are running out of patience and we as Albertans have the responsibility to embrace new solutions to stay at the top of innovation,” said Pereira-Almao. “Our technology utilizes a catalyst approach, whereby nanoparticles attach themselves to rock around an injection well, extracting an oil that bubbles to the surface as a light crude, with an API of 22 to 25.”

He said Nanos is thrilled that Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is the first foreign company to adopt the technology for its offshore extra-heavy oil reservoirs in Mexico. “Bold companies like Pemex have been smart enough to adapt to the changing times on time,” said the world-renowned researcher.

More on ISU technology

ISU technology is the result of funding from the Alberta Ingenuity Centre and other Alberta government funding, as well as funding from five oilsands producers. Initially that involved about $18 million.

The skid is like looking at a cutting edge, contained home design. It is incredibly portable and well designed. It consists of two decks, 12 metres long and six metres wide, which can be moved by truck.

“We understand the struggles our industry is facing,” said Pereira-Almao. “We are so convinced Nanos’ technology is The Solution, that we would offer our patented technology to an eventual user essentially for free. The only thing they would buy from us is the skid.”