Capturing and storing carbon in British Columbia

Turbomachinery International, Sep/Oct 2008

The U.S. Deparment of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Spectra Energy Transmission, and the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, will collaborate on an integrated Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project near Spectra Energy's Fort Nelson natural gas plant in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The project - in its initial feasibility phase - aims to determine whether deep underground saline reservoirs (geological features that occur commonly throughout the U.S. and Canada) are appropriate for CCS.

The project will be part of a tecnnology demonstration program conducted by the EERC's Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership. This is one of seven regional partnerships in the U.S. selected by NETL to evaluate the best methods of capturing and storing carbon dioxide.

Spectra plans to drill two test wells to determine whether the surrounding geology at the Fort Nelson facility is suitable for the permanent storage of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. The compounds are present in the raw natural gas produced in the area and removed during processing at its Fort Nelson gas plant.

Initial work has identified two potentially suitable saline reservoirs - over one mile underground - which may be suitable for large-scale CCS. If proven viable, the project has the potential to capture and store in the range of one million metric tons of CO2 annually.