Seeing through the lense of possibilities. IUT is born.

Interview with Kerri McGrath, CEO of IUT.

When University of Calgary (U of C) Prof. Pedro Pereira-Almao was developing his revolutionary in-situ upgrading (ISU) technology, he probably had no idea a version of this technology would one day be used to extract sulphur from pyrolysis oil, generated from used tires.

But that is exactly what is happening, as a Calgary-based technology company executive who is working with the technology company that Pereira-Almao and others at the U of C have created to commercialize their patented in-situ upgrading technology, ramps up her efforts to form alliances with other companies that can fast track its use worldwide.

Kerri McGrath, a serial entrepreneur, who now is the CEO of International Ultrasonic Technologies Inc. (IUT), said there are at least three multi-million-dollar opportunities to advance the use of the IUT approach.

“The core of our technology existed previously,” said McGrath. “The IP and commercial assets were originally developed by a publicly traded Houston based energy and technology company (now defunct). The Houston based company spent hundreds of millions (U.S.) and 10 years developing the self-contained desulphurization unit that removes sulphur from all kind of liquid fuels. IUT uses enhanced oxidation and an ultrasonic process, performing in a low-temperature and pressure environment, eliminating the need for hydrogen, which lowers costs and emissions.”

McGrath and a colleague met Pereira-Almao and his team at the U of C in early 2017. She saw the potential immediately.

After McGrath met the Nanos team, it didn’t take her long to realize that a marriage of the two technologies would unlock numerous markets, since the world was crying for solutions to process high-sulphur fuels.

“Our process did half the work,” said McGrath. “The process developed as a result of the collaborative efforts of IUT and NanosTech. The ‘HFO desulphurization system’ - or ‘Gen2’ - has been re-designed, engineered and improved on in order to effectively and efficiently process much heavier fractions using a proprietary catalyst, activated by steam. It was like adding the secret sauce to KFC chicken.”

The marriage of the two approaches led to a process that operates at one-third the typical temperature of hydrotreating, while allowing heavier crudes to meet strict new International Maritime Organization low-sulphur fuel standards, which came into effect January 2020.

In early 2020, another unique market opportunity availed itself after a U.K.-based company learned about the IUT technology online. The U.K. firm successfully commercialized its proprietary (pyrolysis-based tire recycling) technology. The collective goal is to combine the technologies, with the valuable addition and desulphurization capabilities of the IUT technology, which will vastly improve the quality of the bio-crude/pyrolysis oil being generated.

“They reached out to us,” said McGrath. “They have a technology that produces pyrolysis oil but sulphur was a challenge, so it needs to be reduced.”

The Nanos division will work directly with IUT and the UK firm to deploy several processing units at tire companies and recycling centers throughout Europe.

The target for that technology is smaller and mid-size refineries in Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the U.S.

The IUT units could be moved on skids to the sites and cost about $5-$10 million for approximately 5,000 bpd, as opposed to about $25 to $40 million for a traditional hydrocracking unit.