Post-combustion carbon capture may be the most technically feasible and economical means of reducing the carbon intensity of existing commercial industries, given that it does not require significant production outages or replacement/major overhaul of existing assets. Post-combustion carbon capture does however present unique engineering challenges including low CO2 partial pressures, contaminants in the flue gas, and significant infrastructure/plot allocation to support capture facilities. Recent industry scale-ups have been challenged to achieve reliable performance due to solvent degradation, poor performance, and the rising costs of operations. Industrial applications for post-combustion carbon capture will be discussed with a focus on opportunities to address the challenges outlined above. The presentation will leverage information from Fluor's extensive experience in design, build and operation of carbon capture facilities with a focus on innovations in Fluor's Econamine FG+TM post-combustion capture technology.

Varme Energy is the first company in Canada developing Waste to Energy with CCS projects at a commercial scale. Our solution involves a commercialized dual combustion Advanced Thermal Technology that gasifies waste to produce superheated steam. When integrated with carbon capture and storage this process reduces the GHG emissions from municipal solid waste by ~97%. Our projects range from 100,000-200,000 tonnes of waste input and produce approximately 1:1 tonnes CO2 per tonne of waste.

The Petroleum Technology Research Centre has been at the centre of project planning for two of the earliest and largest CCUS projects in the world. Between 2000 and 2015 PTRC manages the IEAGHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project, a project that examined and validated the ability to store and CO2 in two depleted oilfields in southeastern Saskatchewan. After 15 years, hundreds of refereed papers, and three major publications, the research component of that project came to an end and Weyburn-Midale oilfields continue to inject about 8000 tonnes of new CO2 per day, with accumulated totals of more than 41 Mt in the two reservoirs. In 2012, PTRC drilled an injection and observation well 3 km from SaskPower’s Boundary Dam CCS Facility, then in development, and by 2014 began to inject CO2 for permanent storage in a deep saline aquifer (the Deadwood Formation) 3.2 km underground. That field site is now the largest field laboratory in the world for the examination of different measurement, monitoring and verification technologies in relation to the deep geological storage of CO2. Public outreach and communications has played a major role in both these projects. If there is any lesson to learn for those planning CCUS operation, pubic consultation and effective tools for that consultation must be developed early and arise out of any risk assessment done during the project plan. PTRC has had intimate knowledge of effective CCS communications, having dealt both the planning of these two projects and the crisis communications that arose out of a leak allegation that hit the Weyburn project in 2011. This presentation will discuss the effective tools and strategies that need to exist to assure projects happen in the real world.

InnoTech Alberta has developed a chemical looping process for converting CO2 to elemental carbon such as graphite and carbon nano horn. In this concept, the CO2 is reduced to elemental carbon using a catalytic reagent which later in the process is regenerated for circulation in the loop. The catalytic reagent is introduced in solid form to the reactor, reacting with the CO2 in an exothermic reaction. This reaction releases energy. This energy will be harvested to be used for the reagent regeneration step. The elemental carbon and the oxidized reagent are removed from the reactor in solid form. Two approaches have been taken for the regeneration of the catalytic reagent: a) electrolysis process (commercially available), and b) plasma-based regeneration. Electrolysis process: In this process, the reactor output products are washed with hydrochloric acid to remove the oxidized reagent from the carbon product. The oxidized reagent dissolves in the hydrochloric acid and creates a reagent chloride. The carbon product is afterwards rinsed with water and sent to the lab for characterization. The reagent chloride, on other hand, is introduced into the molten medium electrolysis to separate the pure catalytic reagent from the chlorine gas. The regenerated catalyst is then sent back to the beginning of the process. The regeneration step is endothermic. In order to make this process sustainable, it is envisioned to recover the heat from the front end of the process and use it for the catalyst regeneration. Plasma-based regeneration: InnoTech Alberta is developing alternative energy-efficient options for the regeneration of the catalyst using the microwave or thermal plasma processes. In this approach, the catalyst oxide and elemental carbon are physically separated from each other. The catalyst oxide powder is carried into the plasma reactor using methane as carrier gas and reducing agent. The outlet products of the plasma reactor are CO and hydrogen or syngas, which can be used for producing different products.