Critic blasts Shell’s Quest carbon-capture-and-sequestration project

The nonprofit group Global Witness has issued a report criticizing Shell for overstating the climate change benefits of its Quest project for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The Canadian plant uses an aqueous amine system to capture carbon dioxide emissions from a facility that makes hydrogen from natural gas. Global Witness’s central complaint is that Quest has sequestered less than half of the plant’s carbon emissions over the past 5 years. The group also points out that the hydrogen is used on-site to produce petroleum from tar sands, undermining any sustainability claims. Shell Canada tells C&EN, “We disagree with the report’s conclusions, and any analysis that suggests Quest is not reducing CO₂ emissions is simply wrong. Quest has been operating since 2015 and has safely captured and stored over six million tonnes of CO₂. The knowledge gained by operating Quest will enable the next wave of CCS projects to capture more CO₂ at higher efficiencies and at a lower cost.”