The June numbers have been released for the carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Power Station
The plant successfully captured 62,361 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) last month, but it needed to be taken offline on separate occasions due to issues with the chemistry of the capture process.
According to SaskPower, the problem stemmed from the chemical compound used at the core of the CCS process, amine, which is affected by heat and by fly ash. Both are coal particulates.
“This meant the amine and the complex chemistry behind it needed to be analyzed and fixes identified,” SaskPower stated in its monthly report. “A permanent solution is also being worked on.”
Unit 3 of Boundary Dam Power Station was also taken off-line shortly to break down some of the slagging or accumulation in its boiler, so no flue gas was being sent to the capture facility during that time.
Overall, the CCS unit was only off-line for four days in June, which means that it was online for 87 per cent of the month. The 12-month average was 62 per cent of days.
The 62,361 tonnes of CO2 captured last month was better than the 12-month average of about 45,000 tonnes.
The daily monthly average for CO2 captured at the CCS facility was 2,617 tonnes.
Nearly 412,000 tonnes of CO2 have been captured at the plant this year, which means the plant is on track to eclipse its 800,000-tonne goal for 2016. Since startup in October 2014, the facility has captured more than 951,000 tonnes, the equivalent of removing nearly 240,000 cars from the road.
Unit 3 produced an average of 105 megawatts (MW) of power last month, which is slightly more than the 12-month average of 104 MW.
SaskPower also noted that progress is being made on the commissioning of the sulphur dioxide capture unit at Boundary Dam. This structure will transform captured sulphur dioxide into saleable sulphuric acid.
