Canada’s Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) competition has awarded $6.8 million in funding to FuelCell Energy for a carbon capture demonstration project, which will capture carbon from a process heater at the Scotford Upgrader near Edmonton, Alberta.
The Athabasca Oil Sands Project, a joint venture of CNRL, Chevron Canada and Shell Canada, owns the Upgrader. The project will involve the construction of a MW-scale carbonate power plant and use FuelCell Energy’s proprietary carbonate fuel cell technology.
FuelCell Energy’s solution captures carbon from power plant or boiler flue gasses and produces clean electric power. FuelCell Energy will provide the technology and equipment for the project through its Canadian subsidiary, Versa Power Systems.
FuelCell Energy CEO and President, Jason Few, said, “We are confident that the pilot will deliver the significant environmental benefits that the Canadian government is looking for, while helping to decarbonize its oil and gas industry and increase its competitiveness in the global market.”
The Athabasca Oil Sands deposit is the largest such tar sands reservoir in the world, with the capacity to produce more than 174 billion barrels of oil. The tar sands, however, are full of a bitumen (heavy crude oil) which require extensive processing with tremendous expense and emissions impacts.
