Demonstrating Carbon Capture and Storage in Canada

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Last year in Hokkaido, Japan, G8 leaders committed to supporting an objective to launch 20 large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstrations globally by 2010. This action was identified as a crucial element for the world to address the climate change challenge. Canada will host G8 nations during their 2010 meeting when this commitment is due, and we are doing our part to achieve this objective.

Moving ahead with implementing CCS on a worldwide basis is essential. It is now crucial that CCS technology be demonstrated. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), CCS is "the only technology available to mitigate, GHG emissions from large-scale fossil fuel use." The IEA suggests that CCS could account for 14–19 percent of the total GHG reductions needed by 2050.

As pointed out by the IEA and other organizations, significant work has already been done on CCS research, policy and regulatory support, and much needs to be done in all of these areas during the coming years. What is crucial now, however, is that CCS technology be demonstrated in large-scale and integrated operations. These demonstrations are now the most important milestone in the development of this technology as a viable climate change mitigation measure.

Canada's Geological Storage Potential

Canada, with its world-class geological storage potential for CO₂, is doing its part to contribute to the G8 commitment, and we have been doing so since the beginning of the CCS concept. The Weyburn-Midale project in Saskatchewan — one of the first large-scale efforts in the world — was launched in 2000. This project involves capturing CO₂ emissions in North Dakota, transporting the CO₂ across the Canada–US border and delivering it for enhanced oil recovery operations. This site also serves as the location for the IEA Weyburn-Midale CO₂ Monitoring and Storage Project. As a founding member of this initiative, Canada, and its many private and public sector partners, is contributing to one of the largest international CO₂ measuring, monitoring and verification projects in the world.

In addition to their contributions to the IEA Weyburn-Midale CO₂ Monitoring and Storage Project, Canadian governments have committed more than $3 billion (CDN) to CCS initiatives over the last two years, which could lead to five to seven large-scale demonstration projects in Canada. This funding is provided through a number of federal and provincial programs, such as the Government of Canada's recently created Clean Energy Fund, which will provide $1 billion (CDN) over five years for clean energy research and demonstration projects, including CCS.

Canada's ecoENERGY Technology Initiative provides funding for nine CCS projects that will demonstrate how CCS can reduce emissions associated with fertilizer production, gas processing, coal-fired electricity generation and eventually oil sands operations. The Government of Canada also made a $240-million (CDN) investment in a CCS demonstration at Boundary Dam in Saskatchewan. This project is one of the world's first and largest full-scale CCS demonstrations at a coal-fired electricity plant. Additional information about Canada's CCS demonstration projects is provided in this kit folder.

Canada's provincial governments have also made important investments in CCS demonstrations. In 2008, the Government of Alberta announced a $2-billion (CDN) program to fund large-scale CCS demonstrations. The Governments of Saskatchewan and British Columbia have also provided funding for projects at Boundary Dam and Fort Nelson, respectively.

In the coming years, G8 leadership will be critical to fostering the widespread implementation of large-scale CCS demonstrations around the globe. In particular, the G8 nations' 2010 commitment will support the emergence of essential knowledge that will enable all of us to reduce GHG emissions on a global scale and facilitate a transition to low-carbon economies. Canada looks forward to 2010, when we will be able to showcase our significant contributions to achieving this important objective. For our part, we aim to be ready.

Post-Combustion Capture – Amine / Clean Coal

Project Description

This fully integrated, commercial-scale project involves rebuilding an existing coal-fired power generating unit to produce 100 MW of net clean power and capture up to 1 Mt per year of CO₂ by 2015. CO₂ will initially be injected into the enhanced oil recovery project at the Weyburn-Midale oil fields and will later be injected for permanent sequestration. The Boundary Dam Project is a partnership among the Government of Canada, the Province of Saskatchewan, SaskPower and industry.

Expected Outcomes

The Boundary Dam Project will be one of the world's first large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstrations at a coal-fired electricity plant. This project will also demonstrate advanced post-combustion capture technologies and the full integration of a CCS system.

Company Profile

A Crown corporation owned by the Province of Saskatchewan, SaskPower is the primary electricity supplier in Saskatchewan and serves 460,000 customers in the province. The company also operates three coal-fired power stations, seven hydroelectric stations, four natural gas stations and two wind facilities, with an aggregate generating capacity of 3,172 MW. The total available capacity is 3,641 MW.

Project Web Site

www.saskpower.com/cleancoal

CCS at Sour Natural Gas Processing Plant

Project Description

This project focuses on investigating the geological, technical and economic feasibility of a world-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project associated with Spectra Energy's existing gas processing plant in Fort Nelson, B.C., the largest sour gas processing plant in North America. Raw gas in the Fort Nelson area contains high natural levels of CO2, which is stripped away during processing and is currently vented to the atmosphere. If the project is proven feasible, the CO₂ would be compressed, dehydrated and cooled into a concentrated stream and then injected into deep saline formations, two and a half kilometres underground, for permanent sequestration. The project is designed to demonstrate the technical feasibility of injecting large volumes of sour CO₂ into deep saline formations for permanent storage. If successful, it will lay the groundwork for one of the largest carbon capture and storage projects of its kind in the world.

Expected Outcomes

If fully implemented, this project could lead to potential GHG emission reductions of 2 Mt per year and to emission reductions of SO2 of greater than 2,000 tonnes per year. The Fort Nelson gas processing plant is a significant emitter of CO₂ emissions in B.C. The project could therefore lead to sizeable reductions of GHG emissions for the province. The recent discovery of Horn River shale gas north of the plant will increase activity in the area by major producers, resulting in more demand for CCS technology. If proven feasible, the injection and storage of CO₂ associated with Spectra Energy's Fort Nelson gas plant could begin as early as 2012.

Company Profile

Spectra Energy Corp (NYSE: SE), a FORTUNE 500 company, is one of North America's premier natural gas infrastructure companies, serving three key links in the natural gas value chain: gathering and processing, transmission and storage, and distribution. For nearly a century, Spectra Energy and its predecessor companies have developed critically important pipelines and related infrastructure connecting natural gas supply sources to premium markets.

Project Web Site

www.spectraenergy.com/our_responsibility/climate/carbon_capture/

CO₂ Sequestration in Shallow, Thin, Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Project Description

This project will focus on targeted research R&D activities to develop new knowledge and methods for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in heavy oil reservoirs, using injected CO₂ that could be permanently stored in the reservoirs, a new approach in heavy oil extraction. It will capture CO₂ from Husky's ethanol plant and heavy oil upgrader, then transport and inject it into heavy oil reservoirs located in the vicinity of the upgrader. This is expected to enhance oil recovery and help determine the suitability of heavy oil reservoirs for CO₂ sequestration. Eventually, this project could lead to the capture of up to 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year from the Husky ethanol plant and upgrader by purifying, dehydrating, compressing and transporting the CO₂ to heavy oil reservoirs throughout the Lloydminster area. Valued added by CO2-based EOR can be a key component of sustainable sequestration, and the demonstration of the integration of capture and EOR with ultimate sequestration would be a major milestone.

Expected Outcomes

The project will develop new knowledge and methods for enhanced oil recovery in heavy oil reservoirs, which have not been used in CO₂ sequestration in the past because of the shallowness and thinness of such reservoirs compared with conventional oil reservoirs. This project is expected to advance the state of the art in this area. Given the relatively large heavy oil resource in Saskatchewan and Alberta, it is hoped that in the future such reservoirs could be used to permanently sequester large quantities of CO2, with a portion of the costs of sequestration offset by the incremental value of oil produced in EOR.

Company Profile

Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Husky Energy Inc. is one of Canada's largest energy and energy-related companies, with approximately 5,000 employees. Husky owns a portfolio of fossil-fuel producing properties in western Canada, eastern Canada and Asia. Production ranges from shorter-term shallow oil and gas production in eastern Alberta to longer-life, deep oil and gas production in western Alberta, northeast British Columbia and southwest Saskatchewan, as well as the east coast of Canada. Husky also has significant holdings in the Alberta oil sands.

Project Leader Web Site

http://www.huskyenergy.com

Characterization and CO₂ Pilot Injection in Large Saline Aquifer

Project Description

This project will demonstrate the feasibility of safe CO₂ storage in the Redwater Leduc Reef, situated northeast of Edmonton, Alberta. This site is close to the Alberta Industrial Heartland region, where there are a number of large industrial sources of GHG emissions, including chemical and fertilizer plants and several oil sands upgraders that are operating, being built or in the planning stages. The Redwater Leduc Reef is also strategically located along a straight-line path between Fort McMurray and Edmonton, a potential route for a CO₂ pipeline from Fort McMurray. Preliminary work estimates the storage capacity of the saline aquifer portion of the reef to be 1 Gt of CO2. This project will demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS) on a commercial scale (a minimum of several megatonnes per year), contributing to a significant reduction in GHG emissions.

Expected Outcomes

In the medium term, the expected outcomes are: scaling up the pilot operation followed by the commercial demonstration operation (injecting a minimum of 1 to 2 Mt of CO₂ per year); local (Heartland Area) development of infrastructure for CO₂ capture, transportation and injection; and development of procedures and protocols for monitoring large-scale operations of CO₂ storage in deep saline aquifers.

Company Profile

ARC Resources Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of ARC Energy Trust, headquartered in Calgary, one of Canada's largest conventional energy trusts. The company explores for, acquires, develops and produces long-life, low-declining oil and gas properties in western Canada.

Project Leader Web Site

www.arcresources.com

Post-Combustion Capture – Amine Scrubbing / Clean Coal

Project Description

EPCOR's Genesee Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Demonstration Plant involves the construction of a demonstration facility that will capture CO₂ from a greenfield coal-fired power unit at the Genesee plant (150 MW net) in Alberta. The CO₂ will be used for enhanced oil-recovery operations and/or sequestered in a saline formation located within 100 km of the Genesee plant. The captured CO₂ will be transported through collaboration with Enbridge Inc. and the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP). ASAP is also responsible for measuring and monitoring the CO₂ that will be stored in the saline aquifer. The Genesee plant is expected to commence operation in 2015, capturing 3,000 tonnes of CO₂ per day, or nearly one million tonnes per year.

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcome from the project is to build a demonstration plant that will showcase post-combustion carbon capture. The emissions reductions will be measurable and quantifiable through the plant operation, as well as via measurement, monitoring and verification systems in place at the storage sites.

Company Profile

EPCOR's wholly owned subsidiaries build, own and operate power plants, electrical transmission and distribution networks, water and wastewater treatment facilities and infrastructure in Canada and the United States. With headquarters in Edmonton, EPCOR is one of Canada's top providers of energy and energy-related services and products. The company employs about 3,000 people and operates power generation facilities with a gross capacity of more than 3,400 MW. EPCOR is governed by an independent Board of Directors, and its sole shareholder is the City of Edmonton.

Project Leader Web Site

www.epcor.ca

Integrated CCS Project

Project Description

This project involves the capture of CO₂ emissions from industrial sites in the Alberta Industrial Heartland. The captured CO₂ will be transported to mature oil reservoirs in central Alberta, where it will be injected for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) purposes and permanent sequestration. The project will capture CO₂ from two initial sources – a large fertilizer plant and an oil sands upgrading operation (awaiting construction) – in order to demonstrate the feasibility of a single network to collect CO₂ from a large number of industrial emitters. This technology could be applied to many similar geological reservoirs throughout Alberta that are each capable of sequestering millions of tonnes of CO2. Within five years, this project could capture and sequester up to 1.9 Mt of CO₂ annually, an amount equivalent to taking 358,000 cars off the road each year. There is long-term potential for capture and storage of up to 15 Mt of CO₂ annually. The project could also lead to the recovery of significant amounts of oil that cannot be reached by conventional methods.

Expected Outcomes

A medium-term outcome would be the construction and development of the first leg of a CO₂ gathering and transmission infrastructure in Alberta. In the longer term, the expected outcomes include the recovery of incremental oil reserves not accessible with current secondary enhanced-recovery schemes and the sequestration of up to 15 million tonnes of CO₂ in the Clive and Bashaw reservoirs during and subsequent to EOR operations.

Company Profile

Enhance Energy Inc. is a Calgary-based company that specializes in the optimization of existing oil and gas fields through the implementation of secondary and tertiary enhanced recovery. The company's expertise lies in CO₂ miscible flooding, water flooding and polymer flooding. The leadership team has a track record with successful implementation of large-scale, complex enhanced recovery projects.

Project Leader Web Site

www.enhanceenergy.com

CO₂ Transport and Storage Infrastructure

Project Description

The Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP) is an industry initiative led by Enbridge to identify deep saline aquifers in Alberta that could be used in a carbon sequestration pilot project. ASAP's purpose is to: locate CO₂ storage sites along anticipated pipeline routes to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects; collect CO₂ from existing and future emissions locations; and develop the capability to simultaneously provide CO₂ to EOR projects and store excess CO₂ in saline aquifers. Enbridge will work collaboratively with EPCOR to provide transport and storage of the CO₂ captured (1 Mt or more per year) in its CCS projects.

Expected Outcomes

The initiative is designed to be rolled out in three phases. In Phase I, completed in April 2009, ASAP members identified saline aquifer locations that would be suitable for CO₂ sequestration. During Phase II, ASAP members will obtain all the necessary regulatory approvals and develop a pilot project to actually inject CO₂ into the identified aquifers. The pilot project will give Enbridge and other ASAP members the opportunity to test the technologies they will be using and to demonstrate that these technologies are safe and reliable. Depending on the results of Phase II, Phase III will involve expanding the pilot project to a large-scale, long-term commercial operation.

Company Profile

Enbridge Inc. is a leader in energy transportation and distribution in North America and internationally. Enbridge operates, in Canada and the U.S., the world's longest crude oil and liquids pipeline system. These pipeline systems have operated for over 55 years and now comprise approximately 13,500 km of pipeline, delivering more than 2 million barrels per day of crude oil and liquids. Enbridge is also involved in liquids marketing and international energy projects. As a distributor of energy, Enbridge owns and operates Canada's largest natural gas distribution company, Enbridge Gas Distribution, which provides gas to industrial, commercial and residential customers in Ontario, Quebec and New York State. Enbridge distributes gas to 1.9 million customers and is developing a gas distribution network in New Brunswick. The company employs approximately 6,000 people, primarily in Canada, the U.S. and South America.

Project Web Sites

www.enbridge.com/ASAP/
www.albertaasap.com/

Post-Combustion Capture – Chilled Ammonia / Clean Coal

Project Description

Pioneer is a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project proposed for one of the company's Wabamun Lake area plants. TransAlta is proposing to construct one of the world's first large-scale CCS facilities that will perform several functions: integrate leading-edge, post-combustion, chilled ammonia capture technology with a power plant to capture one Mt per year of CO2; transport the CO₂ for use in enhanced oil recovery and to a permanent geological storage site; demonstrate safe, secure, large-scale permanent storage in saline aquifers; and deliver significant reductions in CO₂ emissions by 2012.

Expected Outcomes

TransAlta will construct the world's first large-scale CCS facility that will integrate a competitive, leading-edge capture technology with a power plant to capture 1 Mt per year of CO2; transport CO₂ to a permanent geological storage site and for use in enhanced oil recovery; prove out safe, secure, large-scale permanent storage in saline aquifers; and deliver significant, real reductions in CO₂ emissions by 2012.

Company Profile

TransAlta is a power generation and wholesale marketing company. The company generates electricity — fueled by coal, natural gas, water, geothermal energy and wind — and sells it to wholesale customers in various regions of Canada, the U.S. and Australia. TransAlta has been in the power business for almost 100 years. Total output from more than 50 power plants is more than 8,000 MW, enough to power 7 million homes.

Project Web Sites

www.transalta.com
www.projectpioneer.ca

Integrated Polygeneration CCS Project

Project Description

This project proposes to conduct pre-front end engineering and design and other work as a prerequisite to a decision to go forward with a $5-billion project to build and commission a polygeneration facility in Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan. If constructed, large volumes of petcoke — a low-value product of heavy oil upgrading — would be gasified and used to produce a number of products, including hydrogen, steam and sulphur, and to generate up to 500 MW in electricity to potentially displace aging coal-fired generation stations in Saskatchewan. Process CO₂ would also be used by two large fertilizer plants located near the proposed polygeneration facility. Reductions in CO₂ emissions would result from capturing and sequestering 80–90 percent of the CO₂ from the polygeneration facility, as well as from offsetting the use of natural gas to produce hydrogen and steam at the fertilizer plants. Captured CO₂ would be sequestered at enhanced oil recovery (EOR) sites and in saline aquifers in southeastern Saskatchewan.

Expected Long-Term Outcomes

The long-term outcomes of this project are expected to be: the successful completion of the construction, commissioning and operation of the first polygeneration facility with integrated CCS in North America; the sequestration of GHG emissions of over 1 Mt per year in EOR and saline aquifer sites; the reduction of other air emission reductions (SOx, NOx, CO, PM, Hg); and the replacement of old, coal-based generating stations, resulting in a net reduction in Saskatchewan's GHG emissions, as per the national inventory.

Company Profile

TransCanada, based in Calgary, is a leading Canadian developer and operator of North American energy infrastructure. The company operates a network of more than 59,000 km of pipeline that connects into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of North America's largest providers of gas storage and related services, with approximately 370 billion cu. ft. of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns, controls or is developing approximately 10,900 MW of power generation.

Project Leader Web Site

www.transcanada.com

Feasibility of CO₂ Storage in a Saline Aquifer

Project Description

The five-year Aquistore Project, running from July 2008 to July 2013, will investigate the feasibility of storing CO₂ in a saline aquifer. The project is a joint collaborative research venture between governments and industry that will capture 500 tonnes/day of CO₂ from the Consumers' Co-operative Refineries Limited's refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan. This CO₂ will be transported and injected below the surface to a suitable deep saline aquifer reservoir. Storage will be monitored, measured and verified through various innovative, new technologies for several years. Extensive Measurement, Monitoring and Verification (MMV) will study and ascertain the feasibility of long-term storage as a GHG mitigation strategy. Funding of $5 million (CDN) has been committed to the Aquistore.

Expected Outcomes

The knowledge developed from this demonstration project will be applicable throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and across the globe.

Profile of Proponent and Partners

The Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) is a not-for-profit research and development organization with offices and laboratories in Regina, Saskatchewan. PTRC was founded in 1998 with support from Natural Resources Canada, Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, Saskatchewan Research Council and the University of Regina, as well as the western Canadian oil and gas industry. PTRC is currently managing the Weyburn-Midale CO₂ project, the JIVE project, the EOR Research Program, the Aquistore Project and other programs. Other partners in this project include the Saskatchewan Ministry of the Environment (Go Green Fund), Consumers' Co-operative Refineries Limited, SaskEnergy, Schlumberger and Enbridge.

Project Leader Web Site

www.ptrc.ca

CO₂ Capture – Gasification at Clean Coal Electricity Plant

Project Description

This project will complete a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study for an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology power plant that could deliver improved air quality and capture carbon emissions for permanent storage. If subsequent investment and construction decisions go as planned, a 270-MW (net) generating station using the new technology would commence operations in 2015. As part of the process, EPCOR selected Siemens as the gasification technology supplier. This is the first time the Siemens gasification technology will be used for a full-scale IGCC project. In the future, IGCC power plants could make a significant contribution toward more reliable energy supply with maximized climate and environmental compatibility.

Expected Outcomes

EPCOR will build a 270-MW generating station. Approximately 1.2 Mt per year of CO₂ will be captured and available for use in enhanced oil recovery applications and/or delivery to permanent geological storage.

Company Profile

EPCOR's wholly owned subsidiaries build, own and operate power plants, electrical transmission and distribution networks, water and wastewater treatment facilities and infrastructure in Canada and the United States. With headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta, EPCOR is one of Canada's top providers of energy and energy-related services and products. The company employs about 3,000 people and operates power generation facilities with a gross capacity of more than 3,400 MW. EPCOR is governed by an independent Board of Directors, and its sole shareholder is the City of Edmonton.

Project Leader Web Site

www.epcor.ca

Measurement, Monitoring and Verification of CO₂ Geological Storage

Project Description

Launched in 2000, this international research project studies CO₂ injection and geological storage in depleted oilfields in southeastern Saskatchewan. It is operated in conjunction with two commercial CO₂ floods, where huge volumes of the gas (2.8 million Mt per year) are injected to enhance oil production. The CO2, a by-product from the Dakota Gasification Company's Synfuels Plant, is delivered via a 323 km pipeline to EnCana's Weyburn field and Apache's Midale field.

The IEA research project's Final Phase (2007–2011) is building on the successes of the First Phase (2000–2004) to deliver the framework necessary to encourage implementation of CO₂ geological storage worldwide. Specifically, the project will develop and demonstrate technology solutions required for the design, implementation, monitoring and verification of CO₂ geological storage projects, as well as influence and accelerate good public policy development for regulations, public communications and the business environment.

Storage Operations

Weyburn Field – EnCana
The Weyburn CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) project began operation in 2000, when new facilities were installed for the CO₂ flood. By injecting CO2, EnCana currently produces about 28,000 barrels of oil per day — a 180 percent increase. CO2-EOR technology also increased injection capacity to approximately 6,500 tonnes per day (125 MMscf/d) of CO2, resulting in the storage of 2.4 Mt of CO₂ per year.

Since the start-up of the CO₂ flood, more than 13 Mt of CO₂ have been safely stored at Weyburn. Over the life of the field, it is projected that a total of about 30 Mt of CO₂ will be stored as part of the EOR project. Once the project is complete, the infrastructure may be used exclusively for CO₂ storage, providing about a 25 Mt capacity in addition to the 30 Mt that will be stored through EOR.

Midale – Apache Canada
Using the same CO₂ supply source as EnCana, Apache began injecting CO₂ in the neighbouring Midale field in 2005. Incremental oil production is on the order of 6,500 barrels per day as the result of injecting 1,300 tonnes of CO₂ per day (25 MMscf/d), or close to 0.5 Mt per year. Well over 1.8 Mt of CO₂ have been stored at Midale to date, and more than 10 Mt are expected be stored over the 30-year life of this EOR project.

Expected Outcomes

The main deliverable of the IEA research project is a comprehensive Best Practices manual, which will provide practical protocols for the design and implementation of CO₂ geological storage, especially in the context of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). At the same time, the project will influence the development of clear, workable regulations for CO₂ geological storage, building on existing oilfield regulatory frameworks. The project will identify effective public consultation and outreach processes, including the establishment of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) Web site. The project will also help create a business environment of fiscal incentives to seed the development of large CCS infrastructures and mechanisms for monetizing credits for CO₂ storage.

Company Profile

The consortium comprises six governments and government agencies, including Natural Resources Canada, the provincial governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth and the IEA GHG R&D Programme. The project is also supported by 10 Canadian and international energy companies, including Apache Canada, Aramco Services Company, Chevron, Dakota Gasification Company, EnCana Corporation, OMV, Nexen Inc., SaskPower, Schlumberger and Shell Canada Ltd. The technical work is led by the Petroleum Technology Research Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Project Web Sites

IEA Research: www.ptrc.ca/weyburn_overview.php
Encana Weyburn: www.encana.com/operations/canada/weyburn
Apache Midale: www.apachecorp.com/Operations/Canada/Stewardship/EOR.aspx