OxyFuel™: INNOVATION FOR NEW GENERATION

SaskPower, Babcock & Wilcox Canada (B&W) and Air Liquide will jointly develop carbon dioxide (CO2) separation technology as one of the core processes for the SaskPower Clean Coal™ Project.

The technology, called OxyFuel™, involves removing nitrogen from all of the combustion air in order to operate a coal-fired boiler in the absence of nitrogen.

By using this process, gasses leaving the boiler are relatively easy to purify, compress and deliver for enhanced oil recovery and geological sequestration. The technology nearly eliminates emissions of combustion by-products, including greenhouse gas emissions.

HOW IT WORKS

Combustion in a coal-fired generating station is a heat-producing reaction between fuel and oxygen. Normal combustion processes use air as the oxygen source. Because air is approximately 80 per cent nitrogen and 20 per cent oxygen, only 20 per cent of the total air volume is chemically useful in the combustion process. The remaining 80 per cent of the air volume (nitrogen) flows through the process largely unaffected.

However, in order to capture CO2 produced by normal air- fired combustion, that nitrogen must be separated from the flue gas, which is a costly and difficult process.

The OxyFuel™ process uses a Synthetic Air™ gas mixture (SynAir™ gas mixture) to support the combustion process. Because the SynAir™ gas mixture includes CO2 as the inert component (as opposed to nitrogen in "regular" air), the combustion gas product is largely CO2 and water. The remaining CO2 can then be compressed and chilled to form liquid CO2, which is then available for industrial use or direct geological sequestration.

WHY OxyFuel™?

SaskPower thoroughly examined and researched both the OxyFuel™ process and the post-combustion clean-up processes for this project. Based on the current state of both technologies, and project-specific parameters, the OxyFuel™ process is expected to provide the best environmental performance and lowest cost.

PARTNERS IN INNOVATION

Present in 72 countries, Air Liquide is the world leader in industrial and medical gases and related services and offers innovative solutions based on constantly enhanced technologies.

Babcock & Wilcox Canada serves North American electric utility and industrial markets and the global nuclear utility market, with manufacturing facilities in Cambridge, Ontario, and Melville, Saskatchewan. Both B&W and Air Liquide have a strong background in developing the OxyFuel™ process technology, which made them the most viable choice to partner with SaskPower for this part of the project.