Canada's CO₂ Capture and Storage TRM 
Executive Summary

• The Challenges
• The Opportunities
• Technology Pathways
• The Way Forward

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Industry, governments and research institutions around the world recognize that carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is a technically viable option for significantly reducing the release of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere. By definition, CCS involves the capture and transport of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from industrial sources to an appropriate site for secure and long-term storage (see the Appendix D: Glossary for a detailed definition of CCS and other terms used in the roadmap). Storage options include injecting CO₂ into geological formations or oceans, or converting it to solid carbonates using mineral fixation, but the most promising option today is geological storage. Recognition of the role CCS can play in moving Canada closer to a low-emissions energy future has led to the writing of this guidance document on CCS technology in Canada: Canada's Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Technology Roadmap.

Embodied in this roadmap is the vision of "technology for today's energy economy providing the basis for transformative change tomorrow." CCS is seen as a technological solution that allows Canada to continue to increase its energy production while reducing emissions from these activities. This technology is one of many in a portfolio of options for reducing GHG emissions. Canada needs to consider as many economic options as possible, in light of the need to significantly reduce GHG emissions as part of the country's international commitments. However, the success of CCS depends on a number of important outcomes, including the research and development (R&D) of useful technology, the deployment of cost-effective CCS infrastructure, systems and human capacity and the engagement of Canadians in the debate on effective CCS policies and regulations.

CCS is strategically important to Canada for several reasons. First and foremost, Canada is endowed with an abundance of fossil fuels (including an unparalleled oil sands resource), around which a very strong set of industry sectors already exist. Second, CCS is not simply about enabling the use of existing energy reserves. It is also about increasing reserves through enhanced oil, natural gas and coalbed methane recovery. Third, reducing CO₂ emissions is a critical federal government policy priority as noted in Canada's climate change plan, which concludes that CCS technology could play a prominent role in domestic GHG reductions. Finally, Canadian researchers and energy industries are already recognized internationally in certain areas of CCS, and if Canada maintains its competitiveness, it could reap large economic advantages.

This roadmap is a snapshot of key information government policymakers and industry decision-makers need to know regarding Canadian opportunities in developing and deploying CCS infrastructure and systems, such as:

• The role of CCS in the emerging global and national energy contexts (The Challenges: An Issues Scan)
• Global and national opportunities for CCS technologies (The Opportunities: Low-Emissions Fossil Fuels)
• The current state of CCS technology in the Canadian context (Technology Pathways)
• Specific technology needs and pathways for developing them (Technology Pathways and The Way Forward)
• The critical next steps and champions to facilitate the success of CCS (The Way Forward)

This roadmap concludes with a set of objectives for Canada, including: policy and regulatory frameworks, public outreach and education, technology watch and international collaboration, science and technology R&D, demonstrations, and national coordination. To fulfill these objectives requires championing efforts by industry and governments because investments in R&D and demonstrations of this magnitude are beyond the reach of any one company or government, and collaboration is essential. If meaningful collaboration takes place, achieving the goal of a low-emissions energy future is possible, and the ultimate result could be economic, environmental and social benefits for all Canadians.

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The Challenges Section

As with any complex issue, a number of dynamics affect what will ultimately become of CCS. The changing international and national energy scenes both play into energy R&D decisions. The International Energy Agency indicates that by 2030 the world will be more fossil fuel dependent than today, both in absolute terms and in market share (at 82 percent). Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) also states that fossil fuels will continue to dominate domestic energy supply. The NEB indicates that, although conventional oil and natural gas resources are dwindling, unconventional sources like the oil sands and coalbed methane are making up for lost producible reserves. Current wisdom indicates that fossil fuels will continue to dominate energy supply in Canada and abroad.

Meanwhile, considerable pressure is mounting to mitigate climate change, and many believe that alternative or renewable energy sources are the solution. While alternatives like nuclear, hydro and renewable sources provide part of the solution, they are not the complete answer, particularly during the next few decades when some of the enabling technologies of these energy sources continue to mature. Technology is needed to satisfy climate change objectives today while at the same time allowing the Canadian economy to grow. CCS is one currently available option.

At the same time, much can be done to improve the efficient use of existing energy resources. Current oil and gas recovery factors range from quite low (below 10 percent) to very high (greater than 90 percent). It seems that many applications within that range might benefit from enhanced recovery using CO₂, either by increasing the recovery factor, or by producing the product more expeditiously.

Most work on CCS to date has been technical in nature, yet it is clear that addressing non-technical issues is equally important for the technology to develop. For example, clear and concise direction is needed for CCS development and deployment including policy and regulatory frameworks, capacity building and public awareness. Effective policy is important for the development and deployment of CCS on a large-scale in Canada and elsewhere.

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The Opportunities Section

The opportunities offered by CCS are both local and global, with value-added benefits for traditional industries like fossil fuels, and with the potential for entirely new industry sectors to emerge over time. CCS may provide an economic option for reducing GHG emissions, and at the same time allow for the development of available and affordable energy sources to supply both local and global economies.

An enormous capture opportunity exists at the more than 8000 facilities worldwide that each emit more than 100 000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year. More than 16 giga tonnes (Gt) of CO₂ are available to be captured worldwide annually. Between 1700 and 11 000 Gt of storage capacity is available in the world's sedimentary basins.

Canadian Large Final Emitters (LFEs) will produce more than half of the country's total GHG emissions by 2010, and LFE industrial sites provide the main domestic capture opportunities. Some of Canada's 68 sedimentary basins provide excellent storage opportunities, and the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) in particular is considered to be world-class. Detailed analysis indicates that more than 3700 megatonnes (Mt) of storage capacity exists in the oil and gas reservoirs of the WCSB, with up to 450 Mt of economic capacity in enhanced oil recovery operations alone. The first Canadian CCS infrastructure and systems will be deployed in the WCSB to connect the emitting industrial facilities to storage sites via a CO₂ pipeline, gathering and distribution system.

Developing world-class, low-emissions energy sectors is the primary benefit of deploying domestic CCS infrastructure and systems. Achieving such an outcome would result in Canada becoming a leader in CCS technology deployment. However, this opportunity can only be realized if industry and government collaborate to address the technical, cost and policy barriers of CCS (noted previously), through targeted R&D and deployment activities.

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Technology Pathways Section

The overarching technology pathway of developing CCS is actually a combination of passageways that converge around the common goal of CO₂ capture and long-term storage. These pathways each relate to one of the three CCS components: capture, transport and storage. Each component has its own research focus, goals and objectives, but the three must also be studied as an integrated system because each component is an essential element of operational CCS infrastructure and systems.

A number of technologies are being studied for capture (and compression) for a variety of industrial configurations, including post-combustion, pre-combustion and oxy-fuel combustion systems, as well as other industrial processes (details on each system are provided in The Technology Pathways Section). Specific technologies are being researched with these systems in mind.

Capture is the most costly of the three CCS components today, with cost ranges from (CDN) $50 to $70 per tonne of CO₂ (tCO₂) captured for post-combustion systems, (CDN) $20 to $50/tCO₂ captured for pre-combustion, and (CDN) $13 to $80/tCO₂ captured for oxy-fuel combustion (although, the actual cost of each option is likely to be nearer the bottom end of these ranges). Capture has the greatest potential for future cost reductions at somewhere between 25 to 30 percent by 2025 (some specific components may experience 50 percent cost reductions).

CO₂ is easiest to transport in its dense phase whether by pipeline or tanker. Pipelines already transport CO₂ in North America today using existing technology and expertise from the energy pipeline industries. Tankers could also be used for land or ocean transport, with the latter potentially enabling the global movement of CO₂ from large source opportunities in places like China and the E.U., to storage sites in Russia and the Middle East. However, tanker transport will be prohibitively expensive for some time.

Transport in Canada is estimated to cost (CDN) $6/tCO₂ for every 650 km's transported in a common carrier pipeline network with a capacity of 14.5 MtCO₂e/yr. Transportation involves relatively mature technology, so cost reductions will likely only come from the economies of scale of large infrastructure development.

Although storage is the last step in the CCS process, it should be treated as a front-end consideration because the amount of CO₂ to be captured is limited by what can feasibly be stored. A number of natural mechanisms are proposed for storing CO₂ geologically in either value-added or non-value-added opportunities. Value-added opportunities include options like CO₂ enhanced oil recovery, CO₂ enhanced natural gas recovery, and CO₂ enhanced coalbed methane recovery and temporary storage. Non-value-added options include storage in depleted oil and gas fields and in deep saline aquifers. Although storage space is a limiting factor, it is not necessarily a constraint considering its availability around the world.

Injection and storage is often the least costly component of the CCS system, and in Canada costs range from (CDN) $3 to $9/tCO₂. The potential for future cost reductions in storage are low; however, the economic benefits of storage can sometimes eliminate any storage cost, and, in fact, offset part of the capture and transport costs.

Wide ranging costs are associated with each activity and the site specific characteristics of each capture facility, transport route or storage site will ultimately determine the full cost of any project. All costs will reduce over time as experience and learning is gained with the technology, or as economies of scale materialize. However, the deployment of cost-effective infrastructure and systems requires large upfront capital investments, which is not necessarily reflected in the previous cost estimates. An emerging concept in the WCSB is the notion of taking a more strategic approach to large-scale infrastructure development by developing a series of preselected emissions hubs. These would be connected (through a gathering system) to a CO₂ pipeline backbone that ultimately delivers the CO₂ (through a distribution network) to any one of a number of secure and long-term storage sites. However, to turn this concept into reality requires substantial investment.

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The Way Forward Section

As previously noted, the vision that emerges from this roadmap is of "technology for today's energy economy providing the basis for transformative change tomorrow." To bring action to the roadmap and fulfill the vision, a number of critical objectives are identified, along with implementation champions whose responsibility will be to bring action to these objectives. As illustrated below, the six objectives include: policy and regulatory frameworks, public outreach and education, technology watch and international collaboration, science and technology R&D, demonstration, and national coordination. As indicated in the Figure 1, each objective contributes to the overarching vision. The first three are policy oriented and achieving them would help develop enabling conditions for the deployment of CCS infrastructure and systems. The next two are technology oriented and are more closely linked with the technical content of the roadmap, the actual R&D and demonstration of technology. The final objective relates to the national coordination of any efforts related to the previous five objectives.

Policy and Regulatory Frameworks are necessary components of deploying CCS infrastructure and systems, which will ensure that the industry grows in an appropriate, safe and responsible manner. An effective policy framework is needed first because good policy acts as a guide for good regulation which will in turn ensure public health and safety, and environmental integrity.

Public Outreach and Education are needed to provide public information on the benefits and challenges associated with CCS. This objective could be implemented through a national CCS information program dedicated to the open and transparent gathering and dissemination of credible information on CCS technology and projects. The anticipated effect of such an effort would be the public's recognition of CCS as one of a number of options to reduce GHG emissions.

Technology Watch and International Collaboration are both needed to stay connected to international activities, and to keep watch on technology development around the world. Information from the technology could be made available through a virtual web-based national CCS intelligence centre which focuses on the gathering and exchange of competitive information. While competitive technology development will inevitably occur, international collaboration is important because of the magnitude of the effort required in developing and deploying CCS on a large enough scale to enable significant GHG emissions reductions. Such efforts will result in the provision of timely and relevant information which will accelerate CCS development in Canada.

Science and Technology R&D is of critical importance because of the role it plays in tackling specific challenges faced by domestic energy industries. Individual organizations or consortia can work to advance technology for all three CCS components (capture, transport and storage) in the context of Canada-specific science and technology needs. Conducting research and developing solutions to key technological gaps will enhance the prospect of successful CCS deployment in Canada, based on Canadian knowledge, expertise and technology.

Demonstration of new science and technology is one of the most important steps in installing new infrastructure and systems because it is the stage at which new technology and concepts are tested and proven (or unproven) to be technically and economically feasible. Joint industry-government consortia are an appropriate vehicle for carrying out demonstrations. Ultimately, successful demonstrations lead to minimized commercial and technical risks, and the development of Canadian infrastructure and systems.

National Coordination of R&D and demonstration activities in Canada can link all the work being done on CCS and provide synergistic benefits to all stakeholders. However, this objective goes beyond just technology coordination and includes the harmonization of policy and regulatory frameworks, public outreach and education, and technology watch. A robust and coordinated process for planning and undertaking CCS activities will result in the successful use of new science and technology in the commercial application of products and services for industry.

To implement the roadmap and successfully achieve the previous six objectives requires the support of a variety of industry, government and other stakeholder champions. As an initial step, the Roadmap Advisory Committee suggests the need for an implementation committee to meet and function as the implementer of the objectives of the roadmap over the coming year.

The time to invest is now, as a clear window of opportunity for developing CCS infrastructure and systems opens up over the next 25 years. If successful, Canada could see significant GHG emissions reductions by 2030, with estimates ranging from 10 to 100 MtCO₂e captured and stored annually in Canada within that timeframe. Successful demonstrations and the subsequent roll-out of technological components, expertise and know-how is the prize to be won. To achieve this, Canada needs a strategy and a plan that ensures that any new infrastructure and systems meet both current needs, and those of tomorrow. Significant funding will be needed to implement a strategy of this scale, but the returns will be equally large in terms of enhanced hydrocarbon recovery and tonnes of GHG emissions reductions delivered. A strategic plan with a made-in-Canada approach to technology and innovation will help meet our national objectives, and those of other nations around the world.

Ultimately, the message emerging from the roadmap initiative is the need for action today, to enable the vision of "technology for today's energy economy providing the basis for transformative change tomorrow."

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