Canada's CO₂ Capture and Storage TRM 
An Opportunity for Canada: CO₂ Capture and Storage

• What is CCS?
• Why CCS Matters
• Vision and Goals of Roadmap Exercise
• Roadmap Overview

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Around the world governments are becoming increasingly interested in capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions as a way of mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A number of programs and initiatives have been undertaken as a result, under such forums as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Energy Agency (IEA) Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme and the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF). Each of these organizations has produced reports and special papers on CO₂ capture and storage.

Canada's federal government, provincial governments and industry have a strong interest in this technology area. Under the leadership of the federal Climate Change Innovation and Technology Program, in 2001, these Canadian stakeholders began to develop a CO₂ capture and storage strategy for Canada as part of a larger low-emissions energy agenda. It was decided that a technology roadmap would be written on CO₂ capture and storage for publication and distribution to interested parties. Industry Canada and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), through the CANMET Energy Technology Centre in Ottawa (CETC-O), provided initial support and facilitation for a process that has led to the creation of Canada's Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Technology Roadmap (CCSTRM).

In 2001, NRCan and Industry Canada began a national process for the CCSTRM with a mission to identify the technology strategies and the process and integration system pathways needed to allow CO₂ to be captured and stored in Canada. As such, both organizations engaged in developing a technology roadmap to act as a guidance piece on potential technology pathways for the near and longer-term timeframes. The process consisted of four phases between 2003 and 2005, which included first a situation analysis, second the identification of technology pathways and research and development (R&D) strategies, third the setting of priority opportunities for R&D, demonstration and deployment, and finally the writing of the CCSTRM (Appendix B: Roadmap Process provides a detailed account of the process).

The following section provides a general introduction to CO₂ capture and storage by beginning with an overview of what CCS is, and why it is being discussed today. This includes a description of the vision and goals of the CCSTRM exercise, and a summary of each subsequent section herein.

It is important to note that the information throughout this roadmap deals with CO₂ capture and storage technology, even though the capture and storage of other GHGs may also be involved in the process. CO₂ capture and storage is the primary focus of the CCSTRM.

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What is CCS?

Carbon dioxide capture and storage is a process for reducing GHG emissions into the atmosphere by first extracting CO₂ from gas streams typically emitted during electricity production, fuel processing and other industrial process. Once captured and compressed, the CO₂ is transported by pipeline or tanker to a storage site, often to be injected into an underground storage site (or geological formation), where it will be safely stored for the long-term.

Ideal locations for large-scale CO₂ capture include gas processing plants, fertilizer manufacturing facilities, thermal power plants and other sites that produce large amounts of CO₂, often in excess of one million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (MtCO₂e) annually (IEA, 2004). These industrial facilities are often located near others, thus increasing the amount of available CO₂ for capture within the general vicinity.

The most suitable sites for cost-effective long-term emissions storage in Canada include geological formations such as active or depleted oil, gas and coalbed methane reservoirs, deep saline aquifers and salt caverns. Other potential storage options include mineral fixation or ocean storage (discussed in further detail in Technology Pathways). However, mineral fixation would be prohibitively costly and have enormous environmental implications (related to the mining of serpentine for fixation). Meanwhile, ocean storage is the most controversial of the options, because of the immaturity of the technology, uncertainty over how CO₂ storage will impact ocean ecosystems, and questions regarding the permanence of ocean storage (IEA, 2004). Geological storage is the most promising for development and deployment in Canada, and therefore the opportunities related to CO₂ capture and geological storage (CCS) are discussed in detail in this document.

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Why CCS Matters

Developing and deploying CCS technology on a global scale offers the opportunity to maintain a strong and vibrant global economy fuelled by affordable, convenient and available fossil fuels, while disconnecting the linkage between growth in economic activity and GHG emissions. The technology involved in CCS is both transitional and transformative in nature, as it allows for the continued movement along the current technological trajectory of developing and providing a means to low-emissions fossil fuels. Meanwhile, CCS is critical to future transformational change to a hydrogen/electricity-based energy economy. CCS will be a crucial technology in the first commercial operations that produce hydrogen on a large-scale for transportation and distributed generation.

Developing CCS is strategically important to Canada for several reasons. First and foremost, Canada (and its closest trading partner, the United States) is endowed with abundant fossil fuel deposits. Canada ranks second only to Saudi Arabia in remaining oil reserves (NEB, 2004). Canada is also blessed with large natural gas deposits, especially frontier and unconventional opportunities such as coalbed methane, tight gas, shale gas, and gas hydrates. Canada also has rich coal reserves, and in fact, North America has one of the largest global coal resources. Developing CCS technology is a means to extract the economic benefits of these resources while maintaining strong environmental objectives.

The International Energy Agency predicts large growth rates in global demand for all primary energy, mainly because of increased industrial activity in regions like Asia, India, Latin America and some parts of Africa. This presents market opportunities for energy exporting nations like Canada. Low-emissions fossil fuels from Canada would go a long way in meeting this demand without compromising the global environment. Therefore, CCS technology and expertise developed anywhere (including Canada) would be well received in international markets.

Fossil fuels are of strategic national importance to Canada as a number of essential sectors depend on these resources. This includes coal-fired power generation, oil and gas production, oil sands development, petrochemical manufacturing and transportation. Developing CCS will enhance the future value of these sectors while increasing the value of industries that use fossil fuels in their day to day activities (such as forestry, mining, cement, steel and manufacturing).

CCS is not simply about enabling the use of existing energy reserves; rather it is about increasing resource recovery factors and thereby increasing total Canadian energy reserves through efficiency gains in recovery operations. It is possible that CCS may be used to enhance the recovery of oil, natural gas and coalbed methane resources.

The continued production, processing and use of these fossil fuel resources contributes to the economy and to the quality of life of all Canadians. However, the continuation of current production, processing and utilization practices would result in large quantities of domestic CO₂ emissions over the coming years, a clear contradiction to today's international and domestic policy related to climate change mitigation. Therefore, disconnecting the historically congruent trends of economic growth and CO₂ emissions growth is a critical policy priority. As noted in Environment Canada's climate change plan (entitled Project Green) Canada intends for CCS technology to play prominently as a means to reduce GHG emissions (Government of Canada, 2005). This is an important technology for nations like Canada which face a particularly formidable challenge in reducing GHG emissions. The Oil Sands Technology Roadmap (ACR, 2004) and Canada's Clean Coal Technology Roadmap (CCTRM, 2005) also indicate the importance of CCS as a foundation technology to allow for the production of Canada's vast fossil fuel resources in an environmentally friendly manner.

To ensure the long-term outcome of economic growth and emissions reductions, many domestic stakeholders have worked hard in the past to become international leaders in CCS development. However, retaining this position will be difficult considering the international effort currently underway on CCS development. Although Canada was an early leader in CCS development, other jurisdictions (such as the United States, European Union, Australia and Japan) are coming to the forefront with technology and expertise of their own. Governments across Canada, industry leaders and other stakeholders need to work together through effective collaborative efforts (like those formed in the U.S. and Australia) to develop targeted and specific policies and programs to rebuild and maintain Canada's position as a technology development and applications leader in this lucrative technology area.

It is imperative that Canada aggressively pursue CCS R&D to take advantage of current Canadian strengths and to capitalize on domestic and international opportunities. As already noted, inherent CCS opportunities exist in Canada, which, in combination, set Canada apart from many other parts of the world. These include the nation's current position as a country with:

• Vast fossil fuel resources, particularly oil sands and coal
• Internationally competitive industry producers and exporters of fossil fuels
• Enormous potential for geological storage of CO₂ in various regions across the country
• Existing, leading-edge knowledge and expertise in CCS applications

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Vision and Goals of Roadmap Exercise

Embodied in this roadmap is a vision of "technology for today's energy economy providing the basis for transformative change tomorrow." CCS is a technological solution that can provide immediate results to deal with today's energy and environmental needs while enabling Canada to move ever closer to a low-emissions energy future of tomorrow.

Guided by this vision, the ultimate goals of the CCSTRM process include:

• Accelerating the development of cost-effective CO₂ capture, transportation and storage technologies
• Building on the intellectual foundation that already exists in Canada to enable the development of a home-grown, world class CCS industry
• Forging alliances and partnerships to advance research, development and demonstration programs and projects

The CCSTRM was developed to engage Canadian experts, researchers, practitioners and policymakers in CCS and related fields to work to complete the following specific tasks:

• Determine whether the emerging global and national energy context necessitates a role for CCS
• Identify the opportunities for CCS technologies
• Define the current state of applicable CCS technologies in the Canadian context
• Provide a summary of specific technology needs for Canada and a pathway for developing them
• Identify the critical next steps and the champions to facilitate the vision in this roadmap

The CCSTRM lays out a set of strategic objectives intended to help develop a robust and successful domestic CCS industry. This roadmap is an information source and a planning tool to help industry, government and other stakeholders evaluate promising new CCS technologies, and to serve as a guide for R&D and demonstration decisions being made today. Achieving the objectives (which are outlined in The Way Forward) would result in the eventual development of low-emissions fossil fuel industries in Canada and thus economic, environmental and social benefits for all Canadians.

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Roadmap Overview

The information and analysis in this roadmap is structured as follows:

The Challenges: An Issues Scan provides an in-depth explanation of why CCS is necessary. By understanding how the world energy scene is unfolding (demand is increasing), and the challenges that the energy sector faces (such as environmental issues, competition within the energy sector, and resource recovery issues), it becomes clear CCS technology is a critical area of opportunity.

The Opportunities: Low-Emissions Fossil Fuels covers the global prospects for CCS, by identifying the known potential of capture and storage opportunities both nationally and internationally. Significant CO₂ sources exist in close proximity to excellent storage sites in Canada and elsewhere, which means that reducing emissions from fossil fuels may be possible. For Canada this would translate into economic and societal benefits from the growth of its energy sectors, while achieving the goal of improving the nation's environmental performance.

Technology Pathways provides a review of Canadian technological needs and timeframes for developing the technology. The cost of each component of the CCS system (capture, transport and storage) is estimated, the potential for future cost reductions are indicated, and the known risks are identified. Research, development and deployment are needed for each component, and therefore strategic R&D needs are provided for all three. It is recognized that infrastructure and systems are more important than any specific technology, and from this idea the concept of emissions hubs and storage sites linked by a CO₂ pipeline (or backbone) emerges.

The Way Forward identifies a pathway for developing CCS in Canada, one that enables capitalizing on Canada's inherent opportunities for such technology. Six critical objectives are identified and detailed in terms of activities, reach, outputs and desired outcomes, with a final discussion on the implementation of the roadmap. The CCS roadway ahead involves a long and challenging process, but the CCSTRM provides a basis of information to help government, industry and other champions strive to tackle that journey, and to achieve the objectives identified herein.

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