Oil patch innovation offers opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Pressure vessels take significant work

Pressure vessels are usually cleaned and refurbished by disassembling them and transporting them to a repair facility, sometimes over long distances.

This process implies downtime and has inherent risks to workers and the environment.

Popiel started brainstorming ways to improve the cleaning process to avoid a teardown or transporting the equipment. This would improve safety and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Taking the leap with BDC’s support

Popiel left his job in 2016 to start Team Viking with the support of his wife, Helenka. Initially, the company consisted of only the two of them.

“Helenka was doing the books at the time because she had experience from a previous company she founded. She helped with the back end of the company in a very, very big way,” says Popiel.

Their first steps were to secure funding to build their new heavy-duty cleaning equipment, which wasn’t easy.

“Heavy industrial chemical cleaning hasn’t been reinvented for about 50 years. Who wants to reinvent something when there’s no real perceived need to change the market?” Popiel asks.

“The biggest players in the market are all billion-dollar companies, so the barriers to entry into the heavy industrial chemical cleaning sector are very high, and as a result, there are very few start-up chemical cleaning companies.”

Popiel approached numerous financial institutions for support, but it wasn’t until he contacted BDC that he found the right match. BDC provided Popiel with a loan that covered 50% of the technology development cost.

The couple also mortgaged their house and invested their savings to get the business going.

Creating something entirely new

With funds secured and the company created, Popiel focused on building his prototype.

“You can’t sell a cleaning service if you don’t have the equipment—so you have to build it, then get your first sale,” Popiel says.

Popiel had designed a new cleaning unit to clean the pressure vessel without disassembly or transport. 

“The process minimizes downtime and eliminates the need to disassemble the massive pressure vessels. It does so using a chemical circulation process to clean it in place. It is a very effective way to clean so that the facility stays running efficiently, pollutes less, and consumes less energy to achieve the customer’s production target,” says Popiel.

“Running combustion engines when electricity is readily available in the vicinity is not an efficient practice. Using electricity while you are at these plants that have an abundance of electricity is extremely clean, safe and beneficial for the environment.”

Securing the first customer

Convincing companies to try this new process was an uphill battle. Popiel had many doors shut in his face before he secured his first client, a small oil and gas company, in 2017.

“It took a lot to convince them that this new method was viable. The first customer was a shot in the dark,” says Popiel.

“I remember the engineer said, although I thought he was joking, ‘Yeah, why not, if you’re cost-effective, let’s give it a shot.’”

It was an essential first step. The customer was impressed with the price and the quality of the cleaning. Popiel’s invention allowed his company to offer the service at a lower cost.

“They were very interested in hearing about the benefits of electricity versus diesel consumption in terms of safety, reliability and emissions reduction,” Popiel says.

A difficult turning point

While Team Viking’s initial clients quickly became loyal customers, selling to major oil and gas companies proved much more difficult.

One major oil company was only comfortable transferring its services to Team Viking if they had a second back-up cleaning unit. Popiel describes it as a “leap of faith” from the company.

The request was both a turning point and a challenge for Team Viking. It was a stressful time for Popiel and his family. He and his wife had risked everything to build the first cleaning unit. On the verge of a significant contract, they had to find the funds to do it all over again.

They once again contacted BDC to secure funding. By November 2020, version 2.0 of the cleaning unit was created. It was the right decision: Team Viking now has a permanent, long-running contract with that major oil company.

Popiel says BDC has been critical in Team Viking’s creation, growth, and continued success.

“BDC was really supportive of innovation. They also really helped out with financial advice and guidance–and they did a great job of checking in to advise us of seminars that might help us. I just can’t say enough good about how much they helped us.”

Sustainable growth and continuous innovation

Popiel’s mission to transform linear processes into circular ones continues today.

Extensive research has led Popiel to bring innovative technology, either developed in-house or imported from Europe, to North America to keep changing how industrial cleaning is conducted.

Team Viking is also working on building further solutions: “We’re also doing a lot of design and building our own machines to safely clean oil storage tanks. We’re trying to be at the forefront of this,” says Popiel.

The company has launched new divisions that will allow Team Viking to provide the full range of services, from cleaning to physical repairs, all while reducing the amount of volatile organic compounds released into the atmosphere.

The team has also expanded: from 15 employees in 2022, it now includes 50 people.

“We’ve grown into a very energetic team. We have a very young team of people who are trying to look at things differently,” says Popiel. Team Viking has room to grow and keep innovating from their new building in Stony Plain—six times bigger than the original space.

Popiel adds that giving back to the community is one of Team Viking’s core values: “from sports sponsorships to local barbeques—it’s just nice to partake and give back.”

Team Viking is, in essence, working to build a sustainable future within its business, industry and community: “If things are sustainable,” adds Popiel, “they can endure through thick and thin.”

Next steps

Learn how to find the right source of financing to develop your next product or service.