News Release
Atlantic Hydrogen Receiving $1M Tax Incentive
August 26, 2009
A Fredericton-based company developing a unique plasma technology will be handed a cheque for $1 million in tax credits from the federal government today, part of a tax incentive designed to help fund research and experimental development at Canadian companies.
Jean-Pierre Blackburn, federal minister of national revenue and minister of state, will present the $1 million tax credit today to the president of Atlantic Hydrogen, David Wagner. Organizers hope the event will help promote the scientific research and experimental development tax incentive program, through which Atlantic Hydrogen will receive the tax incentive.
"We're certainly excited to be part of the program, and we've benefited from it greatly," said Wagner. "We have received over the last number of years more than that [$1 million] in scientific research tax credits."
"The program allows us to continually enhance the technology we have today - it really is a terrific program from the federal government and companies like Atlantic Hydrogen are fortunate to have that available to us."
The scientific research and experimental development tax incentive program is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. It encourages Canadian businesses to conduct research and development in the country, and is the largest single source of federal government support for industrial research and development.
Wagner said the tax incentive is perfect for his company.
Atlantic Hydrogen uses plasma technology to pass an electrical current through natural gas, removing some of the carbon. Methane molecule bonds are broken during the process to form both solid carbon and gaseous hydrogen.
Some of the carbon byproduct is then captured and removed, while about 10 per cent of the hydrogen goes back into the natural gas.
The result is that up to 90 per cent of the nitrogen oxide emissions are eliminated when the hydrogen-enriched natural gas is burned. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide are both commonly linked to greenhouse gases and climate change.
What makes Atlantic Hydrogen's technology unique is that the carbon is captured from natural gas before it's burned. The resulting hydrogen-enriched natural gas thus burns more efficiently.
"Most of the companies that we're working with now are large organizations that are serious about reducing their carbon footprint," said David Wagner, president of Atlantic Hydrogen, when speaking to the Telegraph-Journal in April.
The company currently has 18 employees, and has raised more than $9 million since 2002 to fund research and build a prototype of its carbon-saving technology.
The funding includes $2.2 million from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, $2 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, $3 million from Encana and $2 million from the province of New Brunswick.
Atlantic Hydrogen is aiming to eventually go public. However, that goal was put on the backburner earlier this year as a result of the global recession. But the Fredericton-based company continues to aim toward commercializing its clean carbon technology.
"The world is continuing to look for solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said William Stanley, chairman of the board and company co-founder, earlier this year. "That's not going to stop - recession or no recession."
- with files from Canadaeast News Service
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JOHN SHMUEL
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL