No One Can Do CO2 Capture - Feds

An interesting non-competitive procurement procedure by the Government of Canada says that it has failed to find anyone in North America able to produce a CO₂ capture and compression system. The contract comes from the government department with all the expertise in CO₂ capture and storage.

They failed to get any bids last year when they looked for a company with directly related capabilities. They are now proposing to award the million dollar contract non-competitively to a firm that has experience in other types of gas compression. It will award it unless some other North American firm can demonstate "evidence that it has successfully fabricated at least one gas liquefaction system OR at least one CO₂ capture and compression system OR at least one CO₂ Recovery System in the past seven years".

The pilot will need to works on a small combustion facility in Ottawa. The flue gas also contains nitrogen and sulfur oxides and particulates, which can apparently be vented.

If this is being pitched as the technology that will allow us to achieve greenhouse gas reductions without burning less fossil fuels, it would be more believable if someone somewhere knew how to do it at all, on even a small scale, even if it barely works.

References
"CO2 Capture and Compression Unit" Reference #: PW-$$SQ-008-16059

Tags: Greenhouse Gas Climate Change Kyoto Protocol Canada Energy Carbon Capture

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