Mass transfer equipment captures hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions

Sulzer mass transfer equipment is capturing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year at SaskPower’s coal-fired Boundary Dam Power Station plant in Canada. 

The equipment is used to separate the CO2 from the other flue gases, enabling the majority of the CO2 emissions to be captured. The captured CO2 is used in part to support enhanced oil recovery (EOR) at local oil fields, improving circular practices. What is not used for EOR is permanently sequestered.

As the world’s first large-scale carbon capture operation, the coal-fuelled power plant elected to use Sulzer’s mass transfer components and rely on the company’s extensive experience in capturing CO2. Prior to implementing carbon capture technology, the conventional coal-fired power plant was emitting approximately 1.3 million tonnes of CO2 each year. 

Today, the facility continues to generate enough electricity to power approximately 100,000 Canadian homes while significantly reducing overall emissions from the plant. 

Beginning 2025, carbon capture at the Boundary Dam power plant will rely on Sulzer’s cutting-edge technology, MellapakCC and MellaTech, which has been developed to deliver maximum capture efficiency at the lowest specific pressure drop. This results in lower energy consumption, offering significant gains in overall performance. With the local cost of electricity at approximately 20 Canadian cents per kWh, a pressure drop reduction of 10mbar can save nearly CAD$ 500,000 annually for a 115MW coal-fired power station.