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Your LOCAL Media since 1918! VOLUME 107: ISSUE 07
www.tofieldmerc.com
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Humongous vessel transported from Tofield
Dacro vessel: A 234 foot long, 25 foot wide, and 358 tonne vessel, known as Column V-2176, was transported from Dacro Industries located in Tofield to the Shell Scotford Complex located northeast of Fort Saskatchewan on Monday, October 7. The 78-kilometre trip was estimated to take five hours. KARI JANZEN PHOTO Kari Janzen Staff Reporter A 234 foot long, 25 foot wide, and 358 tonne vessel, known as Column V-2176, was transported from Dacro Industries located in Tofield to the Shell Scotford Complex located northeast of Fort Saskatchewan on Monday, October 7. The 78-kilometre trip was estimated to take five hours. “This is the largest vessel for the Polaris Carbon Capture project, transported to the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park, Scotford from the Dacro Industries yard in Tofield,” Shell Canada Community Relations Advisor Janine King said. “Column V-2176 is a critical piece of equipment that will be used in the Polaris carbon capture process, which will capture about 650,000 tonnes of CO2 per year from the Scotford refinery,” she said. The vessel travelled from Dacro to Highway 14, to Secondary Highway 834, across Highway 16, west on Highway 15 through Chipman and Lamont, on Range Road 214 to the Shell Scotford entrance. “Once on site, the vessel will be placed in a vertical position mounted on a concrete foundation. Construction of the Polaris capture facility is ongoing and is expected to begin operations toward the end of 2028,” King said. Dacro specializes in custom design
and fabrication of pressure vessels and began operating out of Tofield in the fall of 2022. President Brian Purnell said the construction of this vessel began in early 2023. “Shell has been a leader in implementing carbon capture technology in Alberta. Dacro fabricated three large vessels for the Shell Polaris project and is very proud to be providing pressure vessels for the project. Dacro has also provided the pressure vessels for Quest, Shell’s first carbon capture project in Alberta,” he said. On June 26 Shell announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Polaris, the carbon capture project at Scotford, as well as the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub in partnership with ATCO EnPower. “The Atlas Carbon Storage Hub from Shell and ATCO EnPower intends to store CO2 emissions generated in the Alberta Industrial Heartland region. The first phase of Atlas will store CO2 emissions captured by Shell’s Polaris carbon capture project. CO2 emissions captured by Polaris will be sent to the Atlas Carbon Storage Hub via an approximately 22-kilometre pipeline to two storage wells located in Strathcona County. CO2 will be stored approximately two kilometres underground in the Basal Cambrian Sands, the same formation used to successfully store CO2 from the Quest CCS facility currently operating at Shell Scotford,” King said.
These projects began in order to reduce emissions from Shell’s operations. "Carbon capture and storage is a key technology to achieve the Paris Agreement climate goals,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Shell’s Downstream, Renewable and Energy Solutions Director. “The Polaris and Atlas projects are important steps in reducing emissions from our own operations.”
“Polaris and Atlas will build on the success of the Quest carbon capture and storage facility at Scotford, which has safely captured and stored more than nine million tonnes of CO2 from the Scotford upgrader since 2015 that would otherwise have been released into the atmosphere. Both projects are expected to begin operations toward the end of 2028,” King said.
Dacro vessel with Beaver County and Tofield officials: Beaver County and Town of Tofield officials stand in front of a Polaris vessel's construction at an earlier stage of fabrication. Pictured L-R:Beaver County Division 2 Councillor Lionel Williams, Beaver County Reeve Kevin Smook, Economic Development Contractor for both Beaver County and the Town of Tofield Rob MacMullen, Tofield CAO Cindy Neufeld, Tofield Deputy Mayor Harold Conquest, Tofield Mayor Deb Dueck, Tofield Councillor Norm Martineau, Tofield Assistant CAO Jeff Edwards, Dacro President Brian Purnell. PHOTO SUPPLIED BY DACRO INDUSTRIES