I took a day off work, and went on a trip to Estevan that the UofR put on, so I saw the SaskPower Boundary Dam coal fired electricity plant from the outside, and the inside of a test CO(2) capture facility.
Unfortunately it’s just a test, and only separates out 4 tons a day, when we need to catch closer to 4000 tons (as of about 10 years ago in my opinion). And of course when I got home, there was a new SaskPower bill waiting for me in the mail…
South of Weyburn is the Encana oil pumping and monitoring facility.
They inject pure and (process-naturally) odourized CO(2) into the ground to increase oil extraction.
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Mark Francis | 12-Jun-08 at 8:17 am | Permalink
Probably a failed technology already. Great PR though.
There’s considerable energy use to the process, making power from coal more expensive. To equal an old-style coal plant, you’d have to build a larger plant than normal, and burn even more coal. The number of places which are stable geologically enough to try this tech are limited. This also determines where power plants can be built, which is not necessarily where the power is needed, forcing expensive grid expansions. CO2 piopelines have been suggested, but this also adds to the cost. There are also problems with the pressurized CO2 causing geological changes toi the container rock itself, which can make an apparently safe storage site unsafe over time. Even with a secure site, it is not clear how longer the CO2 will stay done. If it leaks, what’s the point?
Harper is pushing big subsidy bucks into this, but it’ll likely be a rarely-used white elephant. In the meantime, he’ll keep proclaiming that this technology will justify burning coal and drilling oil wells.
Saskboy | 16-Jun-08 at 4:51 pm | Permalink
Comments were not working well.
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The leakage over time becomes less likely they said because the gas dissolves other particles, and becomes heavy enough. However, the time scale for that happening was many years, from what I recall.
Also, the reason they are looking at this at all there, was due to pumping out more oil, not to store away the CO(2).
Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy :: Why Carbon Capture is About MORE Pollution | 24-Nov-08 at 6:07 pm | Permalink
[...] of the products that cause pollution. In Saskatchewan’s case, the CO(2) being sequestered, is piped up from the United States! Of course in the grand scheme, it doesn’t matter where the CO(2) is captured and stored [...]