The ways in which we use and think about energy are undergoing some compelling changes. The socio-industrial face of energy is increasingly giving expression to clean, sustainable energy forms tailored to the communities they serve. The business opportunities presented across all of industry by this shift are exciting, and NORAM is positioned to give commercial reality to many of them.

Bridging the gap to automotive fuel cells
NORAM is supporting the development of hybrid vehicles, which combine advanced energy management with the efficiencies to be had from combining electric and internal combustion motive power. The hybrid vehicle is widely regarded as an enabling technology, that will put into place many of the social, economic and engineering building blocks for the fuel cell vehicle.



How will energy forms like hydrogen be distributed?
In January of 2003, NORAM measured the first hydrogen produced using an efficient compact hydrogen reformer for use with fuel cells and industrial end-users. NORAM provided the engineering for this product aimed at making hydrogen in situ from natural gas in a safe, compact form – an integral part of the fuel infrastructure.

Energy from renewable sources
One of the most unyielding obstacles to wide-scale use of wind, solar and other intermittent energy forms is that of energy storage. Fuel cells will herald distributed power networks, that allow not only energy storage, but uninterrupted power supply, peak shaving, and energy trading on a micro level. But NORAM is also working with the advantages offered by technologies such as flow batteries - that provide the means to store energy chemically on a large scale and defer expanded transmission and distribution systems in the near term. And when it comes to providing the engineering required to match these power supplies to the utility interface, and putting the sophisticated control algorithms in place, NORAM’s in-house capability in power engineering offers a key resource.

A disruption of the hydrocarbon industry
The reality is that fossil fuels will continue to be exploited for their energy, as well as being a source of hydrogen well into this century. A move to natural gas, increased sulphur production from sour wells, CO2 sequestration, and the supply of feedstocks to the manufacturing sector – are some of the issues where NORAM is assisting its partners with engineering for greater energy efficiency, reduced emissions, and novel processes.

Squeezing the cost curve
In the domains of commodity chemicals manufacturing, by-products, and system efficiencies, NORAM technologies and expertise have assisted clients to extract greater yields from their product lines. Dynamic modeling of processes has proven to be one of NORAM’s most powerful tools in cost-effectively improving production, trouble-shooting, and designing with increasingly greater predictive capability. This is supplemented with NORAM’s impressive horsepower in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The ability to achieve greater yields and energy efficiencies remains one of NORAM’s most important contributions to energy management.

Microwaves for the Processing Industry
NORAM is also involved in promoting energy-efficient processes in bio-technology. The unusual effectiveness of microwaves to selectively target molecular species in suspension forms the basis of processing bio-mass for the bulk extraction of select nutrients. New markets are being targeted with organic concentrates not previously recoverable on an economic basis.

The road to commercialization
NORAM’s strong emphasis on innovation, and its alignment with BC Research, have brought it into step with technology companies across a wide spectrum.

NORAM has partnered with, and continues to invest in, enterprises ranging across the fields of:

· Nano-materials
· Micro-wave processing
· Hybrid vehicles
· Hydrogen production
· Advanced lead-acid batteries

NORAM is looking for technology partners. If your company has taken on the challenges of tomorrow’s markets, and NORAM’s experience base can assist you in growing your competitiveness, we would like to hear from you.

Email enquiries to
incubation@noram-eng.com