ESTEVAN, Saskatchewan, May 29, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The world's first deep saline carbon dioxide storage project in association with a coal-fired power plant, Aquistore, officially opened today at SaskPower's Boundary Dam Power Station site in Estevan, Saskatchewan. Officials on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony included Ed Komarnicki, Member of Parliament for Souris - Moose Mountain, Saskatchewan Environment Minister Herb Cox, MLA Doreen Eagles, Estevan City Councilor Dennis Moore, and Reeve Kelly Lafrentz.

Based in Regina, the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) is responsible for all aspects of research and monitoring of the project.  PTRC CEO Ken From is proud of the role that PTRC plays in building a centre of excellence for CO2 research, "Saskatchewan has become a real focal point of worldwide interest in CCS.  The Aquistore project has brought together one of the largest arrays of research partners and expertise anywhere in the world to investigate the safe storage of CO2."

"Our government is pleased to have invested $14 million in this project as part of our efforts to protect the environment and develop Canada's energy resources in a responsible manner", said MP Komarnicki.  "This project, a first of its kind, demonstrates Canada's global leadership in advancing carbon capture and storage."

"The Government of Saskatchewan committed five million dollars in funding to the development of the Aquistore injection and monitoring program," said Saskatchewan's Environment Minister Herb Cox. "Safe, secure storage of CO2 will support SaskPower's plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at Boundary Dam Unit 3 and other coal-fired power plants."

With the two deepest wells in Saskatchewan at 3400 metres each, Aquistore is both an important demonstration project and a critical research site and industrial laboratory. The project has partnerships or research projects with over 17 international organizations from seven different countries.

Aquistore's research program is sponsored and supported by Natural Resources Canada's ecoENERGY Technology Initiative (ecoETI) and through federal funding via  Sustainable Development Technologies Canada, Korea's National Oil Corporation, Enbridge, Consumers Co-operative Refinery Limited (CCRL), SaskPower, Schlumberger Carbon Services and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment.

These sponsor organizations and researchers are all invested in demonstrating that CO2 storage is both economically feasible and a safe, workable solution to reduce greenhouse gases.

Images: Aquistore site images available for use upon request.

BACKGROUND

Aquistore is an independent research and monitoring project which intends to demonstrate that storing liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground (in a brine saturated sandstone formation), is a safe, workable solution to reduce greenhouse gases. Globally, deep saline aquifers have the potential to store centuries' worth of CO2 emissions. As a $45M independent research project, Aquistore will be Canada's first commercial-scale deep saline CO2 injection project.

Injecting CO2 into geological formations is not a new idea. The Canadian and US oil industries have used CO2 injections into geological formations for decades, to increase oil production. As a project, Aquistore will demonstrate the scientific and economic feasibility of injecting CO2 into a deep saline geological formation, and provide the knowledge for other jurisdictions and companies thinking of doing the same.

With Canada and the world increasingly concerned about climate change brought about by manmade sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs); carbon capture and storage is a key solution for reducing CO2.  Reducing emissions from fixed-point sources of CO2 such as refineries, coal-fired power plants, steel mills and other industries requires the development of carbon capture and storage technologies such as those demonstrated by the Aquistore project. 

Based in Regina Saskatchewan Canada, PTRC is a not-for-profit corporation whose primary focus is on research of sustainable development technologies for the petroleum industry. The PTRC is a world leader in the study of the geological storage of carbon dioxide through management of the IEA GHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project and the Aquistore Project, (based in Estevan).

Visit www.ptrc.ca and www.aquistore.ca