Study of Carbon Capture in Oil Sands Production and Upgrading

Canada's oil sands production and upgrading industry have plans for a regional CO2 pipeline, enabling carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) solutions for reducing industry CO2 emissions. To evaluate the relative merits of carbon capture solutions, a case study is developed of three hypothetical carbon capture facilities: one post-combustion from a SAGD facility, a second post-combustion from an upgrader hydrogen plant, and a third pre-combustion from an upgrader hydrogen plant. All cases are based on process configurations of commercially proven technologies. Capital costs are developed for each of the cases based on Fluor process expertise and historical cost data for the oil sands region. Process and utility balances are developed to inform net carbon intensity reductions along with operating costs. The study includes a discussion of the influencing factors to CCS economics, including looking at the carbon footprint balance of production and upgrading operations, the existing utility profile, economies of scale, and carbon lifecycle impacts of choices. In addition to net carbon avoidance from a $CAD/ton CO2 perspective, the results also inform on relative merits of carbon intensity reduction of produced liquid fuels which generate carbon credits and revenue under the Canadian Clean Fuel Standard (CFS). Consideration of both carbon tax avoidance and fuel carbon intensity needs to be considered to justify the capital investment.