In July 2023, Romain Presty had the pleasure of attending the IEAGHG International CCS Summer School hosted by the International CCS Knowledge Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Alongside with 31 other students he learnt from international experts on all aspects of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (UK DESNZ, Shell, TotalEnergies, Swiss Federal Office of Energy, Gassnova, and ExxonMobil, The University of Regina, Emissions Reduction Alberta, Boilermakers, Heidelberg Material, Innovation Saskatchewan, Graham, MHI, Whitecap Resources Inc., PTRC, and SaskPower).
Students began the week with lectures, workshops and discussions on climate change and the global CCS scene and international and national policy, before delving into the capture part of the CCS value chain, where in-depth conversations were had on the different capture technology options, BECCS, negative emissions, DAC and hydrogen and CCS. Next up were lectures on the storage of CO2; from transport to the storage site to modelling the geology to actual storage, and from wellbore integrity to environmental aspects, no stone was left unturned! Finally, they learned about geoengineering, costs, economics and financing, legal and regulatory carbon accounting, public communication, engagement, and social media. Not only did they have a jam-packed week of lectures and learnings on the field trip, but they were also tasked with group work throughout the week. At the end of the week, they presented their personal and summer schoolwork which received feedbacks from oçther students and experts. This amazing course included a trip to the SaskPower CCS project at Boundary Dam. Here, they got to see this unique facility, which has stopped more than 5 million tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere so far. They also visited the nearby PTRC Aquistore project. At this site, CO2 is being stored safely more than 3 kilometers underground.
Many people say that CCS hasn't been proven to work on a large scale. But, from what Romain has seen, this is far from true. CCS really works, and it works well on a big scale. Take the Boundary Dam 3 project, for example. It's been running almost ten years, and it has been capturing and storing around 3000 tons of CO2 every single day. This achievement is extraordinary, especially considering it's the first project of its kind in the world. Talking to the engineers who worked on the project, it's clear they've learned a lot. These insights are crucial as we work to reduce carbon emissions in the global energy system as fast as we can.
The workshop also gave the opportunity to Romain to share through a poster his first bibliography work achieved during the first six months of his PhD research in the frame of CarMa.
