Canada’s Entropy advancing CCS projects in US, Canada

Canadian carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology developer Entropy said September 28 it has three projects in the US advancing through engineering work under commercial agreements and has been awarded three more preliminary engineering design contracts for projects in Canada.

Along with CCS projects already underway in Alberta at the Glacier gas plant and the Athabasca Leismer oil sands site, the development work from the eight projects represents the potential capture, sequestration or utilisation of more than 5.4mn tonnes/year of CO₂.

In the US, preliminary front-end engineering and design (pre-FEED) work has been completed at a gas-fired steam generation facility in California and a gas-fired power generation project in Texas. Both projects are advancing towards final investment decision (FID), with the next milestones receipt of Class VI disposal permits from the US Environmental Protection Agency and final commercial agreements.

Engineering is also underway for a third project in the US Midwest that would capture post-combustion CO₂ from gas-fired boilers at an ethanol facility. Together, the three American projects are intended to capture and store more than 1.4mn tonnes/year of CO₂.

In Canada, Entropy has been awarded three pre-FEED contracts, at a large industrial emitter in Ontario, a gas-fired boiler project in Alberta and a gas-fired steam generator project in Saskatchewan. Together with the Phase 2 work at Glacier and the Leismer project, the Canadian installations would capture and utilise or store more than 4mn tonnes/year of CO₂.

While pre-FEED work has been completed for Glacier Phase 2 and Athabasca Leismer, Entropy said both remain on hold “pending advancements in Canadian carbon policy”, including clarity on the federal government’s investment tax credit for CCS and carbon pricing certainty.

“We remain optimistic that, with the numerous emerging policies and supportive government-sponsored entities, positive FID will be reached on several projects,” Entropy said.

To smooth the development of its modular CCS technology across most potential applications, Entropy has also developed three standardised and integrated process designs, each designed for different post-combustion capture applications.

“Each of the three process designs are based on modular technology which is fabricated in controlled environments to deliver higher energy efficiency, lower total installed cost and predictable quality control,” Entropy said. “Scalability is a key benefit of Entropy’s design enabling rapid, low-cost deployment.”

For boilers and steam generators, iCCS Thermal™ optimises capture and storage by integrating with boilers; iCCS Recip™ would do the same in applications involving industrial engines and compressors; and iCCS Turbine™ is designed to capture emissions from gas-fired turbines with low CO₂ concentrations of around 4%. It can be deployed worldwide at any power generation installation, Entropy said.

“By standardising these three applications, Entropy is now prepared to deliver CCS solutions with minimal new process engineering,” the company said. “Any gas-fired boiler, engine or turbine is a suitable target for iCCS^TM and all new installations of these industrial emitters can be fabricated with minimal additional cost to be iCCS^TM ready.”