Aramco advances towards the development of potential lower-carbon energy solutions
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) announced that it has forged three crucial memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with leading American companies. These partnerships are poised to propel the development of potential lower-carbon energy solutions, marking a significant step towards a sustainable future.
Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al Saud and visiting US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm attended the signing ceremony.
According to the release, following a successful trial of Aeroseal’s technology in Saudi Arabia, Aramco and Aeroseal agreed to explore opportunities to accelerate the deployment of Aeroseal’s technology in the company’s building fleet and elsewhere, pursue joint testing of building ductwork and envelopes nationwide, to uncover the most prominent opportunities; commercialize the technology in novel applications such as gas pipelines; and localize Aeroseal’s supply chain in Saudi Arabia.
With Spiritus, the oil company has agreed to explore opportunities in direct air capture. According to the release, Spiritus’ novel approach could address the significant cost challenges of current direct air capture approaches. It includes reducing energy needs, passive air collection, and a proprietary sorbent material to potentially remove carbon from the atmosphere at up to a tenfold increase in adsorption efficiency compared to existing methods.
Aramco and Rondo agreed to explore the deployment of heat batteries in Aramco’s global facilities to reduce operating costs and support emissions reduction initiatives.
The release said the companies had started engineering studies for the first industrial-scale deployment of Rondo Heat Batteries, which could contribute to reducing emissions from Aramco facilities, with subsequent scale-up to 1GWh.
Aramco’s Senior Vice President of Technology, Oversight and Coordination, Ali Al-Meshari, expressed the company’s ambitious vision. He stated, “Aramco is resolute in its ambition to achieve net zero and greenhouse gas emissions across its wholly-owned operated assets by 2050. We are committed to this goal and see opportunities to potentially build a lower-carbon new energy business, inspiring a sustainable future for all.”
He further emphasized that these innovative technologies, when deployed at scale, have the potential to significantly lower the cost of reducing carbon emissions. This underscores Aramco’s commitment to investing in the development of these technologies through its robust R&D, venture capital, and technology deployment programs, instilling hope for a greener future.
“We see the technologies of Aeroseal, Spiritus, and Rondo as having the potential to scale globally, specifically in the Middle East,” Al-Meshari said.