Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project
The Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project captures and stores underground 1m tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.{{Cite web|url=http://www.shell.ca/en_ca/about-us/projects-and-sites/quest-carbon-capture-and-storage-project/discover-more-about-ccs.html|title=Discover More About CCS|website=www.shell.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-04-28}} The capture unit is located at the Scotford Upgrader in Alberta, Canada. The unit captures carbon dioxide produced from steam methane reformation to produce hydrogen that is used to upgrade bitumen from oil sands into synthetic crude oil. Between 2015 and 2019, the facility captured 5 megatonnes out of the 7.5 megatonnes produced by the steam methane reformer for an average CO2 capture efficiency of 67%.{{Cite web |last=Beer |first=Mitchell |date=2022-01-24 |title=Shell’s ‘Milestone’ CCS Plant Emits More Carbon Than It Captures, Independent Analysis Finds |url=https://www.theenergymix.com/2022/01/24/shells-milestone-ccs-plant-emits-more-carbon-than-it-captures-independent-analysis-finds/ |access-date=2023-08-19 |website=The Energy Mix |language=en-US}} Carbon dioxide is only captured from the steam methane reformer at the Scotford Upgrader. Other sources of emissions at the facility are unabated.
Technology
Mined bitumen extracted from Alberta's oil sands is a heavy oil that needs an upgrading process before being delivered to refineries and transformed into marketable products.{{Cite journal|last1=Rosa|first1=Lorenzo|last2=Davis|first2=Kyle F.|last3=Rulli|first3=Maria C.|last4=D'Odorico|first4=Paolo|date=2017-02-01|title=Environmental consequences of oil production from oil sands|journal=Earth's Future|language=en|volume=5|issue=2|pages=2016EF000484|doi=10.1002/2016EF000484|bibcode=2017EaFut...5..158R|issn=2328-4277|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt93x2t87z/qt93x2t87z.pdf?t=p2naof|doi-access=free}} The upgrading process is energy intensive and requires hydrogen that is produced from a steam methane reformer. Making hydrogen creates carbon dioxide that at Quest is captured and separated from nitrogen through an absorption amine technology process. Captured CO2 is subsequently compressed into a supercritical fluid, then transported via pipeline for 64 km where CO2 is stored two kilometers underground into a saline aquifer.{{Cite web|url=https://sequestration.mit.edu/tools/projects/quest.html|title=Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies @ MIT|website=sequestration.mit.edu|access-date=2017-04-28}}
Current status
The project began capturing CO2 on August 23, 2015. Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project at Scotford has the capacity to capture approximately one-third of the CO2 emissions from the Scotford Upgrader.{{Cite web|url=http://www.shell.ca/en_ca/about-us/projects-and-sites/quest-carbon-capture-and-storage-project/discover-more-about-ccs.html|title=Discover More About CCS|website=www.shell.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-04-28}} The cumulative stored volume is expected to be greater than 27 million tonnes of CO2 over the anticipated 25 year life of the Scotford Upgrader.{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/projects/quest|title=Quest {{!}} Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute|website=www.globalccsinstitute.com|language=en|access-date=2017-04-28}}
The most recent report to the Government of Alberta was released in 2023. In that year, the facility injected 1,003 kilotonnes of CO2 into three reservoirs and reported an average CO2 capture efficiency ratio 75.2%.{{Cite web |title=Quest Carbon Capture and Storage project : annual report, 2023 - Open Government |url=https://open.alberta.ca/publications/quest-carbon-capture-and-storage-project-annual-report-2023 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=open.alberta.ca}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}