The International Test Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture (ITC)

Publisher Summary Energy is the most critical factor for the growth of any nation's economy. In Canada, fossil fuels are, however, the major energy resources providing a healthy balance of trade to Canada and employment to many Canadians. Despite these positive contributions, the fossil fuel industry faces a major challenge. It is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada. The GHG research team at the University of Regina, in collaboration with the two senior levels of Canadian government, as well as industrial partners, has established the International Test Centre for CO2 Capture (ITC) with the mandate to explore and develop new, cost-effective technologies for CO2 capture. The team has designed a research program that aims at reducing the cost of CO2 capture in the short to medium term while attempting to find “novel” approaches that can significantly reduce the cost in the long term. The research infrastructure consists of a well-equipped bench-scale CO2 separation unit at the University of Regina (U of R), a revamped sub-commercial technology demonstration unit at the Boundary Dam Power Plant of SaskPower (BD unit), and a multi-purpose technology development pilot plant unit at the U of R (UR units). It is also equipped with top-of-the-line analytical and computer support. The ITC provides a unique, seamless basic science/technology development infrastructure, which comprises fundamental research, technology development and pre-commercial demonstration. This chapter provides a description of this infrastructure as well as shows how it is used to accomplish the research objectives on CO2 capture.