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A growing range of hard-to-abate industries are considering carbon capture and storage (CCS), driven by regulatory incentivisation and rising demand for lower-carbon products. Shell鈥檚 target is to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050. CCS plays an important part in that strategy. And CCS technologies are gaining momentum; the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that plans for more than 30 new integrated CCS facilities have been announced since 2017. If those projects proceed as planned the amount of global CO₂ capture capacity would more than triple.

Shell aims to contribute to that growth in global capture capacity and has facilities in operation that demonstrate those ambitions. Since its opening in 2015, the Quest facility has captured more CO₂ than was anticipated, storing it safely underground while attaining better than expected reliability, cost and storage performance. With more than 6 million tonnes of CO₂ captured, transported and secured to date, the Quest facility demonstrates an effective approach to reducing carbon emissions from industrial sources.

Drivers of CCS technology and development

Organisations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the IEA have long agreed that, especially for hard-to-abate industries like refining, cement and steel, CCS will be required to meet decarbonisation targets. Now, there are strengthening incentives for CCS that make it more commercially viable.

In Europe, these incentives are put in place by the Green Deal, emissions trading schemes and national CO₂ levies. In North America, the adoption of CCS is stimulated by tax credits and the prospect of carbon taxes increasing significantly in decades to come. In other regions, CCS technologies provide an ability to meet increased demand for low-carbon products like blue hydrogen or blue ammonia in the Middle East.

See how Shell is showing how large-scale CO₂ capture and storage can be safe and effective by learning more about its Quest CCS facility below.

Quest facility project overview

• Capture
• Compression
• Transport via pipeline
• Storage

The first stage of CCS starts with the capture of CO₂ from three steam methane reforming (SMR) hydrogen manufacturing units. Hydrogen is produced from the upgrading of bitumen from oil sands into synthetic crude oil in the Scotford Upgrader. However, CO₂ is also produced as a byproduct of the hydrogen manufacturing process and must be captured to prevent taxable emissions.

ADIP-X is the capture technology utilised at Quest. It uses accelerated reaction kinetics for enhanced CO₂ removal and is a water-based technology that uses two amines: methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) as the main reactant and piperazine as the accelerator. ADIP-X can outperform alternative solvents used in acid-gas removal services due to its high carrying capacity and non-corrosivity.

Learn more about carbon capture solutions in SMR-based hydrogen manufacturing units by .

After capturing the CO₂, it is then compressed up to about 10 MPa to keep the CO₂ in dense phase throughout the system. This enables easier transportation in later stages. The compressor stage also utilises a dehydration unit to ensure the limitation of water in the system. H₂O and CO₂ produce a carbonic acid that can be corrosive to pipelines and can lead to environmental and safety hazards. The dehydration unit protects against this possibility.

Once the CO₂ is compressed, it is transported efficiently through 65 kilometres of carbon steel pipeline with six block valves at intervals ranging from every 4 to 15 kilometres. The idea behind the block valves is to ensure that if a problem were to develop with the pipeline, the valves can be used to cut off CO₂ transport and mitigate emissions to a relatively small amount. From the first weeks of project planning through its continued operation, the Shell team has prioritised cautionary measures like these valves to protect against unlikely or unforeseen environmental or safety risks.

While transport infrastructure was being planned, pipelines were re-routed multiple times to accommodate local landowner requests. As is the case with any project of this scope, it was important to the Shell team to take all stakeholders into account and listen to and address their concerns. Each year, approximately 1.2 million tons of CO₂ is transported through this pipeline system and it鈥檚 believed that two to three times that much could be transported if necessary.

The final stage of the CCS process at Quest is the storage or injection phase. The injection site has three wells, each of which can take up to 70 tons per hour. By making sure that a spare well is available at all times, if one well needs to be put out of service for maintenance work, for example, our team remains confident that all of the CO₂ that comes from the capture plant can be injected and safely stored. Given the ability of our wells and the characteristics of the reservoir at the storage site, we believe the site is more than capable of sustaining adequate injectivity and storage capacity for the project duration.

Learn 鈥淗ow it works鈥� - carbon capture & storage

Measuring and monitoring Quest鈥檚 performance

Maintaining optimal risk management practices and procedures is critical for ensuring CCS effectiveness and environmental best-practices. Shell uses a first-of-its-kind monitoring technology that is conservative, comprehensive and measures impacts from the atmosphere through the geosphere. These monitoring technologies are risk-based and site-specific and their outputs are reviewed independently to ensure objectivity.

To learn more about how CO₂ capture can help mobilise a clean hydrogen economy, read this Q&A article featuring Devin Shaw, Commercial Director 鈥� CO₂ Capture & CCS, and Laurent Thomas, Licensing Technology Manager 鈥� Gas Processing and CO₂ Capture Technologies.

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