Canada is blessed with an abundant supply of fossil fuels. In fact, the country can boast one of the wold's largest reserves of heavy oil and tar sand, even surpassing the light oil reserves of Saudi Arabia or Russia.
However, along with abundance and blessing comes the responsibility to avoid the potential misuse of these fuels and the serious environmental damage that can result. The challenge lies in finding a solution that will allow Canada to benefit from its fossil fuels in an environmentally sustainable manner.
That's where the International Test Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture at the University of Regina finds itself playing an important role. The test centre is working on finding solutions and developing technologies to help reduce dangerous carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, especially those produced by the energy sector. The extraction and processing methods for both heavy oil and tar sand are very energy intensive—and potentially damaging to the environment. Conventional approaches—such as energy efficiency programs, and alternative fuel sources—can only provide a temporary reprieve. The test centre is working to find permanent, long-term, non-conventional solutions that are kind to the environment, but also allow the fossil fuel industry to remain viable in a world already under severe constraints due to green house gas emissions.
The new $13 million facility—being developed with CFI infrastructure support, and by a research team at the university's Faculty of Engineering headed by Dr. Paitoon Tontiwachwuthikul—will allow researchers to work on developing capture techniques that will help decrease the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. This will pave the way for new storage and disposal methods and new industrial uses for the gas. The test centre will help Canada respond to its international environmental commitments, while pioneering the global reduction of green house gas emissions. It will also build upon the existing internationally recognized expertise at the University of Regina, and has the potential to establish Saskatchewan as a world leader in CO2 capture technology.
