The carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at the Boundary Dam Power Station has reached a milestone: it has captured one million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) since it opened in October 2014.
In its monthly performance report for the carbon capture project, SaskPower claimed that a total of 1,028,000 tonnes of CO2 have been captured at the plant since it opened. The plant captured 113,600 tonnes in 2014, 426,100 tonnes in 2015 and 488,300 tonnes in the first seven months of this year.
The CCS facility at Boundary Dam performed well in July. According to SaskPower, it successfully captured 76,546 tonnes of carbon dioxide, while operating nearly 100 per cent of the hours in the month. It slowed down for about 15 minutes late in the month.
It has been operational every day in four of seven months this year.
“To increase daily production and potentially reduce periodic maintenance outages, SaskPower has applied new equipment to filter the amine solution at the centre of the process,” SaskPower stated in its July report. “This has been online for approximately 10 days and has so far reduced degradation of the amine solution by more than half.”
The CCS facility remains on track to capture 800,000 tonnes in 2016. Importantly, SaskPower continues to meet emission regulations and the needs of its partner.
The plant produced an average of 110 megawatts (MW) of power last month, which is above the 12-month average of 101 MW.
The amount of CO2 captured during the month was also significantly higher than the 50.9 tonnes of CO2 captured during the previous 12 months. The one-day peak for CO2 captured at Unit 3 was 2,612 tonnes.
A week of planned maintenance is tentatively scheduled for August, but alternatives are being explored to defer this project to the fall.
Commissioning also continues on the acid plant that will convert captured sulphur dioxide into salable sulphuric acid. The acid plant should be online in the coming months.
