Cenovus Leads Fuel-cell Carbon Capture Study as SaskPower Project Stumbles

Cenovus Energy Inc., one of the biggest nonmining producers of oil sands crude in Canada, is studying the use of fuel cells to capture CO₂ from gases emitted through its production process, even as a project in Saskatchewan that it has ties to is reported to be in trouble.

Calgary, Alberta-based Cenovus is the lead partner in a study that could see FuelCell Energy Inc.'s technology used to mitigate CO₂ emissions from a 14-MW natural gas-fired cogeneration facility at the University of Calgary. Cenovus, which burns natural gas to generate steam that is used to produce tar-like bitumen at its oil sands projects, is partnering with the Canadian units of Royal Dutch Shell plc and Devon Energy Corp. in funding the preliminary front-end engineering and design, or FEED, for the fuel cell project.

The study with FuelCell will "determine the feasibility of launching a pilot project that would involve using CO₂ captured from a flue stack to generate electricity using Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells," or MCFCs, Cenovus spokeswoman Sonja Franklin said in an email. "MCFCs are an established, proven technology for electricity generation, but they have not been proven up for commercial application in an oil and gas setting."

In the process being studied, fuel cell power plants configured for carbon capture will utilize natural gas as the fuel source and process the flue gas from the natural gas-fired turbine into the fuel cell air system, where CO₂ is transferred across the fuel cell membrane for concentration in the fuel exhaust stream during power generation. The efficient CO₂ concentration is a side reaction of the standard fuel cell power generation process, according to FuelCell. The Connecticut-based company claims that approximately 70% of NOx emissions are destroyed in the fuel cell power-generation process.

The pre-FEED study was launched in 2015 and is in its final stages, Franklin said. The companies expect to make a decision this fall on moving forward to a pilot study of the technology.

"If the pilot were successful, our goal would be to use this technology in our existing and new SAGD [steam-assisted gravity drainage] projects, but it's still far too early to say whether that's feasible or not," Franklin said. In SAGD projects, pairs of wells are drilled into an oil sands formation and steam is injected into one to help bitumen to flow out of the other.

Cenovus has a connection to SaskPower's Boundary Dam carbon-capture project as the buyer of captured CO₂ to force oil out of older wells in southern Saskatchewan. That project has been mired in controversy over its effectiveness, and Cenovus was reportedly paid C$7 million last year for missed CO₂ shipments. Cenovus also uses CO₂ piped from a plant in North Dakota to flood its oilfields in the region.

Shell is using a similar process at its Quest Carbon Capture and Storage project that started operations in November 2015. The Anglo-Dutch petroleum giant is required to share information on the project's design and processes as a condition of the C$865 million it received in combined funding from the governments of Alberta and Canada. Quest is designed to capture and store more than 1 million metric tons per year of CO₂, mostly from the company's Scotford refining and upgrading project in the Edmonton area.

Differences in the emissions properties of coal and petrochemical plants have raised problems with the carbon-capturing process, according to the Times article. Tiny particles of ash remain in the exhaust of coal plants and contaminate the amine that is used to grab carbon.

In North Dakota and Montana coalfields that lie adjacent to those in Saskatchewan, researchers are working on a concept that could cut CO₂ emissions while generating industrial products at a reasonable price. That process could help plant operators in the U.S. cut emissions by 20% if successful. (SNL)