Low Carbon Opportunities in Alberta: Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage with Blue Hydrogen

Kai Zhang
2022-group1-4

Abstract

We propose the first-of-its-kind centralized blue hydrogen plant equipped with CCS to decarbonize the oil sands operations. The first-of-its-kind CCS corridor with 200 km from Edmonton is also proposed.

  • Overall, 65 kg CO2 are emitted per barrel bitumen produced for 162 active heavy oil and oil sands projects in Alberta in 2020;
  • 76% of CO2 emissions from heavy oil and oil sands operations can be reduced by using blue hydrogen as fuel;
  • The carbon tax of USD $89/t or above will be needed to make hydrogen usage profitable. Thus, the year of 2027 can be a milestone for the heavy oil and oil sands industry in Canada to change its fuel from natural gas to hydrogen;
  • 52 Mtpa of CCS can be deployed in the CCS corridor within 200 km from Edmonton. There is a CO2 storage capacity of 1.8 Gt and CO2-EOR potential of 3,550 MMbbl within this CCS corridor;
  • There are 536 Mt of CO2 storage capacity in the shallow gas fields in NE Alberta where the CO2 can be stored as CO2hydrates, including Chard gas field (138 Mt) and Saleski gas field (94 Mt).