The Quest Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) project, which began operations in 2015, captures and stores more than one million tonnes of CO2 per year from the Shell Scotford Upgrader. That is up to 35% of the direct CO2 emissions produced during the upgrading process and is equivalent to the emissions of about 250,000 cars. The CO2 is then transported by a 65-km pipeline to three wells located in Thorhild County where it is injected 2 km underground for permanent storage in a saline aquifer known as the Basal Cambrian Sands.
As global energy demands grow, producing more energy and emitting less CO2 will require a range of solutions. CCS is an essential part of these solutions that involves integrating three proven elements – capture, transportation and storage – as one chain.
Quest uses a combination of existing technologies such as amine, pipelines and wells, and applies them in a new way to inject the CO2 underground. Shell has developed a world-class measurement, monitoring and verification program involving multiple state-of-the-art monitoring technologies to verify that the CO2 remains safely and permanently contained.