Our Goals

Challenges

The burning of fossil fuels has been identified as the major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CO2 is by far the predominant anthropogenic GHG.

Many countries have or are introducing legislation aimed at energy producers and large energy consumers to reduce their GHG emissions. Coal is commonly used around the world as it is abundant and widely distributed but it has high carbon content. GHG emissions can be reduced by switching to lower carbon fuels like oil and gas but their reserves are less distributed and depleting quickly. Renewable energy, while it has much lower carbon footprints, is unlikely to replace fossil fuels over the short to medium terms. The world is expected to continue to rely on fossil fuels to meet most of its energy demand for decades to come.

Governments and industry need to find long-term solutions to these energy challenges. It is in the economic best interests of the world to reach these solutions at the lowest possible cost with maximum economic and environmental benefits.

One solution is CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS). This technology captures CO2 and stores it in hydrocarbon reservoirs or saline aquifers, thus reducing GHG emissions to the atmosphere. This, along with carbon conversion technologies, can lead to a cleaner environment and allows us to continue to use coal and other fossil fuels.

No one company possesses all of the expertise necessary to develop successful CCS projects. The Canadian CO2 Capture and Storage Alliance (CCCSA) has assembled a group of companies with complementary expertise to allow a one window access to address all parts of this challenging issue.

Opportunities

Potential geological storage resources are large and widely distributed across all continents. Saline aquifers have the greatest potential but are largely unproven, costly and revenue deficient. Siliciclastic, carbonate and coal reservoirs containing oil and gas have much smaller capacities. However, these reservoirs present an opportunity for dual benefits - increasing the recovery of oil and gas and providing storage spaces for the CO2 if the reservoirs are suitable for CO2 injection.

CCS is not limited to applications in developed countries. CCS shows the greatest potential in developing countries such as China, India and South Africa where CO2 emissions are abundant, and production and use of fossil fuels is growing.

Another opportunity is integrating CCS with gasification or oxyfuel combustion technologies. These technologies generate cleaner power and energy and at the same time provide a relatively concentrated CO2 source for geological storage. These integrated schemes could potentially reduce the cost of CO2 capture, which is a major cost of CCS.

Solutions

Maximizing the benefits of CCS requires expertise in all aspects of the technology, from capture to transporting via pipeline to injection. Our alliance has this expertise and will help you design a CCS process that offers the greatest benefits for the lowest possible cost.

Our expertise can be used for coal, oil and gas reservoirs and saline aquifers anywhere in the world.

  • Match CO2 sources with appropriate geological sinks.
  • Select CO2 pipeline routes and design pipelines.
  • Select and design capture technologies for your CO2 sources.
  • Design and install CO2 injection well equipment.
  • Assess CO2 geological/hydrogeological storage capacity at country, basin, regional, local and/or site scales.
  • Optimize CO2 storage with enhanced oil and gas production at site scale.
  • Assess cap-rock stability and well integrity for long-term containment of CO2 in a storage site, and design and implement remedial/mitigation measures of necessary.
  • Assess long-term trapping capabilities of specific geological storage sites.
  • Recommend, design and provide cost estimates for micro-pilot testing, field demonstrations, and commercial operations for CCS.
  • Implement micro-pilot and field-pilot CCS operations.
  • Perform life cycle economics including emissions trading for CCS.
  • Analyze performance and long-term risk of leakage from the storage site and design the management plan.
  • Design and implement long-term monitoring programs to detect leakage and seepage of CO2.
  • Build capacity in CCS expertise through tailored courses for your specific needs, including public outreach.
  • Provide regulatory advice related to CCS deployment.

  

Each company is in different situations regarding the selection of technologies and emission reduction level. The CCCSA is focused on providing CCS solutions to the marketplace.