Estevan 鈥� The two deepest wells in the province, a $1.467 billion carbon capture project, a $30 million research project, and, quite possibly, the fate of the world in the balance if it proves successful. Those are just some of the things at play with the Aquistore project, which began injecting carbon dioxide this spring and held its ribbon cutting on May 29.
One of the grand strategies to deal with greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide in particular, is to capture it and thus stop emitting it from industrial processes like coal-fired power plants or oil refineries. But once it is captured, what do you do with it? While some areas, like southeast Saskatchewan, have depleted oilfields where the carbon dioxide can be used in enhanced oil recovery and will, in the end, remain underground, that option is only available in a very limited areas worldwide. However, deep saline aquifers are much more prevalent around the globe. That is what Aquistore does 鈥� pump CO2 into the deepest saline aquifer in Saskatchewan, with the intention of that CO2 staying there forever.
It鈥檚 the 鈥渟torage鈥� aspect of 鈥渃arbon capture and storage,鈥� the term used to describe the entire process.
Aquistore, a research project developed by the Regina-based Petroleum Technology Research Centre,听 has been many years in the making. Initially it was proposed for storing carbon dioxide that would have been captured at the Regina Consumers Co-operative Refinery, and located just a few kilometres northeast of the capital city. That concept fell through, however, and instead Aquistore became part of the SaskPower Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Project.
This grand scheme, which began operations in the fall of 2014, involved rebuilding the nearly 50-year-old Unit 3 of the Boundary Dam Power Station. The newly-rebuilt unit would then have its exhaust channeled horizontally to the new billion-dollar carbon capture plant. This plant would capture approximately 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emitted, and nearly all the sulphur dioxide. A compressor at the south end of the facility then compresses the gaseous CO2 into a liquid state and normally ships all of it to the Cenovus-operated Weyburn unit, where the gas is used as a solvent in a miscible carbon dioxide flood for enhanced oil recovery.
However, there are times when the Weyburn Unit may not be able to take all the CO2 sent their way, and this is where Aquistore comes into play. Situated just a few kilometres to the west of the power station and a few kilometres down the pipeline, the compressed CO2 can be diverted into Aquistore instead. There, instead of being pumped into the Midale formation approximately one kilometre underground (as it would in the Weyburn Unit), it would be pumped just shy of 3.4 kilometres underground, into the Deadwood and Black Island formations, sandstone brine formations.
If all this works, and there are tremendous amounts of scientific monitoring to see if it does, then the implications could be enormous. Deep saline aquifer storage could become a leading strategy in dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. Aquistore is the first attempt worldwide to do this with anthropogenic carbon dioxide on a commercial scale.
So far, it鈥檚 working.
That鈥檚 why the dignitaries lined up to cut the ribbon on May 29.
鈥淎quistore puts the 鈥楽鈥� in CCS,鈥� said PRTC president and CEO Ken From.
He noted the monitoring setup is world-leading in many aspects, including monitoring seismic activity, CO2 levels in soil, and well water quality, to name a few. This expertise was developed as a part of the PTRC鈥檚 15 years of work with the Weyburn-Midale enhanced oil recovery project.
鈥淪askatchewan is a world leader when it comes to CO2 emissions.
From pointed out they have research partners from Korea, Japan, Scotland, England, the United States and Canada.
He thanked the government of Canada, which, through Natural Resources Canada and Sustainable Development and Technology Canada for its financial support and leadership, as well as the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment鈥檚 Go Green Fund. He also thanked SaskPower, SaskEnergy, the Korean National Oil Company, Enbridge, Federated Co-operative Refinery and Schlumberger for their support.
鈥淭he results of the Aquistore project are critical for the future and ongoing development of deep storage of CO2 around the globe.鈥�
Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki noted that in 2004 he spoke to Ron Carson, of Carson Energy Services (now AECOM) found it 鈥渞emarkable we have all this CO2 in this area of the province and we鈥檙e not doing anything with it.鈥�
There were oilwells throughout the southeast that could benefit from carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery, Carson told Komarnicki.
鈥渇or me, it鈥檚 a great pleasure to actually see something that was sort of 30,000 feet in the air come down into reality, and to see people have used technology and expertise to not only put together a carbon capture facility, but pipe it over to another facility to enhance oil recovery and store the excess,鈥� Komarnicki said.
鈥淐an you imagine putting 250,000 cars down somewhere?鈥� he added, referring to the equivalent amount of emissions the Boundary Dam project captures.
The federal government was an early supporter of the project, and their funds leveraged other funds, Komarnicki said. 鈥淭oday we see the results. Today we celebrate the vision and determination.鈥�
Herb Cox, who was appointed the new provincial Minister of the Environment just a few days before, noted, 鈥淭his is a very important initiative for this province, Canada and the world.鈥�
He said the province takes climate change very seriously, and the province鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions have largely stabilized in recent years. 鈥淲hat we are starting to see is a delinking between greenhouse gas emissions and GDP growth.鈥�
鈥淲e do recognize there is much more to do to address the global climate change. We believe carbon capture and storage is part of that.鈥�
Aquistore has partnerships with 17 different international organization in seven different countries, Cox noted.
Estevan MLA Doreen Eagles said she was proud to be part of a government doesn鈥檛 see the environment and the economy as opposites.
鈥淪uccess of this project will mean that Saskatchewan is making real headway on CO2 reduction without sacrificing jobs or economic growth,鈥� Eagles said.
Grant Ring, vice-president of business development with SaskPower, said, 鈥淪askPower鈥檚 carbon capture and storage and research centre will host the world-class Aquistore project. And it is world-class, no question about it. We鈥檙e storing carbon dioxide underground in a safe, workable solution to greenhouse gas emissions. We鈥檙e proud to be leaders in carbon capture and storage,鈥� Ring said.
鈥淭his project helps keep coal as an affordable solution in the province of Saskatchewan in a way that鈥檚 environmentally sustainable.鈥�
The overall project including Boundary Dam Unit 3 and its associated capture plant is about 10 times cleaner than conventional coal, he noted.
As of June 18, the carbon dioxide plum had not yet reached the observation well. Injection began on April 27, but has varied with operation of the carbon capture plant.
听
听
Boundary Dam
The Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Project has been in operation since last fall. When asked about how things are going on that project, Jonathan Tremblay, SaskPower spokesperson, said, 鈥淲e are up and running, capturing CO2 since last October. In fact, it鈥檚 operated better than planned, with an output nearly 10 per cent higher. We are also in the routine process of identifying deficiencies and making improvements on the pioneering engineering project.听This does not have a significant impact on the project budget of $1.467 billion.鈥�
There have been legal proceedings between the prime contractor, SNC-Lavalin and SaskPower regarding the project. Tremblay said, 鈥淲e are currently participating in an arbitration process with SNC-Lavalin to address some concerns. We鈥檇 prefer not to comment on the specifics of the process and look forward to the outcome.鈥� 听
