The carbon capture and storage (CSS) facility at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Power Station was online for 91 per cent of May, according to the monthly status update released by the Crown corporation on June 8.
The capture plant experienced two short outages during the month, and was brought offline on May 29 in preparation for a June shutdown. The outage, which is the first major one at the CCS facility since September 2015, will continue into July.
A number of modifications and upgrades that will further improve reliability of the facility will be completed, at the same time as significant routine maintenance and inspections. This shutdown coincides with the regularly scheduled maintenance outage on the power unit which will begin in early June.
“The improved performance in April, attributed to activated carbon filtering of the amine, has continued throughout May,” SaskPower stated in the status update. “Thermal reclamation of the amine, to reduce the level of degradation in the solvent, has continued throughout May, and is scheduled to conclude in mid-June.”
The facility captured more than 66,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) last month, the highest amount of CO2 since October 2016, and above the 12-month average of 58,273 tonnes. Approximately 265,000 tonnes have been captured this year, and 1,597,000 tonnes have been captured since the process began in October 2014.
The daily amount of CO2 captured at the plant peaked at 2,760 tonnes.
An average of approximately 115 megawatts of power was produced last month, up from the 12-month average of 111 megawatts.
The CCS unit has been online 82 per cent of the time during the previous 12 months.
