The US Department of Energy has embarked on a key step in its programme to test and validate CO2 sequestration technologies by injecting carbon dioxide into a saline formation.
The DOE’s Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) began the approximately 2-month field test in the Michigan Basin by initiating the injection of up to 10 000 tonnes of CO2 to assess the formation’s ability to safely and permanently store the greenhouse gas.
The test is the first of many that will be carried out by the DOE’s regional partnerships to demonstrate the feasibility of permanently storing greenhouse gases. The DOE launched the partnership programme in 2003 to develop and validate technologies to store and monitor CO2 in geologic formations as part of a national strategy to combat global climate change.
“The success of these tests moves the nation’s carbon sequestration programme another step closer to determining the processes best suited to address the overall issue of global climate change,” said Jim Slutz, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy at the DOE.
The Michigan Basin test is one of three MRCSP geologic field tests and one of more than 20 such projects currently underway nationwide. It is the first project to begin injection during the validation phase of the DOE’s partnerships programme.
The saline formation into which the CO2 is being injected is 3200-3500 feet below the earth’s surface. The planned test will assess the continuity and injectivity of the target saline formation, as well as the integrity of the caprock, operational approaches, and monitoring mechanisms.
The site takes advantage of existing gas processing infrastructure and an 8 mile long CO2 transport pipeline already in place for enhanced oil recovery.
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