Grant: Engage Grants Program

Improving SaskPower's Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is critical to the long-term viability ofsustainable coal production in Saskatchewan and other areas around the world. SaskPower's Boundary DamCCS Project is the world's first commercial scale post-combustion coal-fired CCS facility. Through thisproject, SaskPower is demonstrating that coal can be used to generate electrical energy in a sustainable manner,both environmentally and economically. A key component of SaskPower's CCS technology is the proprietaryaqueous amine solvent used to chemically absorb carbon dioxide. Like other commercially available aqueousamines, SaskPower's solvent does undergo degradation during the CCS process. However, the mechanism forthe formation of their degradation products is not clear. Although there are numerous studies on the oxidativeand thermal degradation of aqueous amines used at CCS facilities, there are limited reports on the effect of flyash on solvent degradation. As a result, SaskPower is interested in the effect of their unique fly ashcomposition on the degradation of their aqueous amine solvent. In particular, SaskPower uses lignite coal,which in turn produces a more alkaline fly ash, whereas typical generating facilities use higher qualitybituminous coal, resulting in more acidic fly ash conditions. To this end, SaskPower needs to better understandthe reaction mechanism responsible for solvent degradation in order to improve the efficiency of their CCStechnology. Their motivation is to reduce the operating costs associated with this degradation, which includesthe disposal of these waste byproducts. Their specific needs are to develop analytical methods to quantify thedegradation products produced from a well-known aqueous amine solvent under conditions used at theBoundary Dam Power Station (i.e., similar fly ash) over a known period of time. Once the reaction kinetics areknown, a reaction mechanism detailing the chemistry responsible for the formation of these degradationproducts will be proposed. Overall, the results of this study will identify promising solutions to mitigate solventdegradation that can be applied to SaskPower's proprietary solvent.