The following commentary by Brent Jacobs, P.Eng. is a statement on behalf of the International CCS Knowledge Centre.

It takes courage to be first. And now with SaskPower’s ground-breaking Boundary Dam 3 CCS Facility (BD3) having captured and prevented four million tonnes (4Mt) of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere, it is a milestone worth celebrating.

REGINA, Saskatchewan, April 1  (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This amount of carbon mitigation not only has the equivalent emissions impact of taking approximately 865,000 cars off the road for a yearⁱ, but it also underscores the value and large-scale impact of being tenacious in application-based learning and advancements.

I have the privilege of being part of the team at the International CCS Knowledge Centre (Knowledge Centre) where we work to advance the use of large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a means of greatly reducing global greenhouse gasses. What is particularly unique about this work is that we do this by sharing our experience and acquired knowledge from progressing along the learning curve. It’s our aim to ensure that others have assurance of expertise; a strong and reliable basis of know how before they start.

The CCS story at BD3 is one of significant progress and inspiration for future CCS initiatives. BD3’s carbon capture performance continues to improve and demonstrate the real-world application of CCS to substantially reduce emissions in the energy and industry sectors.

With the experience gained through the design, construction, operation, and subsequent improvements of the BD3 CCS Facility, the Knowledge Centre developed two major studies that continue to be at the forefront of post-combustion capture processes globally. The Shand CCS Feasibility Study (Shand Study, Nov.2018), shows major improvements in CCS project costs, risks, and efficiencies, and provides the foundation for the Lehigh CCS Feasibility Study, (anticipated in the autumn 2021), which directly applies these advancements to the cement sector.

Our analysis of daily operational data from the BD3 CCS facility, from the time it began capture operations in October of 2014, were recently shared on the world stage at the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme GHGT-15 conference in March 2021.ⁱⁱ The results are more than promising.

As with most “first of a kind” facilities, unforeseen barriers can be expected to impact performance. These real application-based studies address specific challenges experienced with the capture system at BD3 CCS Facility and the corrective actions taken to improve its performance, reliability, and availability. These corrective actions are directly transferable to the next installations of CCS.

It’s encouraging to see steady improvement of operations over such a short trajectory of time. CCS is a viable and essential option for industries to mitigate their CO₂ emissions and we must apply the value from BD3 learnings and use this know-how to identify and eliminate existing barriers that are key to achieving and maintaining optimal performance.

Performance evaluation is essential as CCS technologies seek increased deployment across sectors. With each year, optimization of the BD3 CCS Facility continues to help refine improvements in efficiency and cost effectiveness. These enhancements in performance yield a stronger foundation for next out-the-gate projects by ensuring reductions in project costs and risks as well increasing operational predictability and certainty.

BD3 CCS Facility, with its courage to be first, has paved the way for significant capital and operating cost reductions paired with increased efficiencies to further improve the next generation of CCS installations.

Brent Jacobs is the Engineering Team Leader at the International CCS Knowledge Centre and has hands-on expertise in working on the BD3 CCS facility and is an author of the Shand CCS Feasibility Study and Leigh CCS Feasibility Study.

About the International CCS Knowledge Centre (Knowledge Centre): with a mandate to advance the global understanding and deployment of large-scale CCS to reduce global GHG emissions, the Knowledge Centre provides the know-how to implement large-scale CCS projects as well as CCS optimization through the base learnings from both the fully-integrated Boundary Dam 3 CCS Facility and the comprehensive second-generation CCS study, known as the Shand Study. Operating since 2016 under the direction of an independent board, the Knowledge Centre was established by BHP and SaskPower. For more info: https://ccsknowledge.com/

About SaskPower’s Boundary Dam 3 CCS Facility (BD3), located near Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada is the world’s first fully-integrated and full-chain carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility on a coal-fired power plant.  The full chain cluster of facilities is within close proximity to the BD3 facility, providing for a full demonstration and operation of proven and safe CCS. This comprehensive commercial operating experience provides insight into technology and other requirements which are not available anywhere else. The full-chain of integrated operation includes: Carbon Capture Facility; Transportation to Enhanced Oil Recovery; CO₂ Storage at Aquistore; Carbon Capture Test Facility; Emissions Control Research Facility. To learn more, visit: www.ccsknowledge.com

Media Contacts

International CCS Knowledge Centre
Jodi Woollam
Head of Communications & Media Relations 
jwoollam@ccsknowledge.com 
T: +1-306-565-5956 / M: +1-306-520-3710

ccsknowledge.com
Twitter: @CCSKnowledge
198 - 10 Research Drive Regina, SK S4S 7J7 Canada

ⁱ United States Environmental Protection Agency. Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator - Calculations and References. https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gases-equivalencies-calculator-calculations-and-references
ⁱⁱ International CCS Knowledge Centre. 2021. “Derate Analysis for SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 During the First Four Years of Operation;” 2021. “Reliability Improvements of SaskPower’s BD3 Capture Facility Through Operational and Process Design Changes: Experiencing the First Four Years of Operations.”

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/813d913e-25ca-4401-9185-50152d2b1478

SOURCE: International CCS Knowledge Centre

--BERNAMA