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Project Type |
CO2 Geological Storage R&D Project |
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Project Category |
CO2 Storage in Aquifers
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Project Status |
Active
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Project Overview |
In November 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE) announced a major new research project to begin studying the potential for geological storage of CO2 at AEP’s Mountaineer plant in New Haven, West Virginia, USA.
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Project Aim(s) |
A major question that the AEP/Battelle study hopes to answer is whether the rocks above the possible storage areas are sturdy enough and sufficiently free of interconnected fractures to assure that the CO2 cannot gradually escape.
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Partners/Participants |
AEP
Battelle
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)
Financial and in-kind support
BP
Ohio Coal Development Office
Schlumberger Limited
Technical Support
NETL
US DOE Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
West Virginia University
Ohio Geological Survey
And several other leading research service providers
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Funding Source(s) |
NETL - US$3.2 million
BP
Ohio Coal Development Office
Schlumberger Limited
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Overall Project Costs |
Original estimated costs of the project were US$4.2 million. When EPRI joined the project (in 2009), they began a US$76 million phase.
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Expected Key Deliverables |
The data recovered from the study will be used for simulations, risk assessments, permit applications, and to design monitoring plans for future stages of the effort if the site proves geologically sound.
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Project Links |
For more details, link to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy web site at:
http://www.fossil.energy.gov
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Key Project Tasks |
The AEP study will determine whether the geology near the Mountaineer Plant is suitable for injection of Carbon Dioxide and whether the CO2 can be absorbed and permanently captured.
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Project Summary |
The study is part of a US$4.2 million carbon sequestration research project funded primarily by US DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and is led by Battelle Laboratories. The project is managed by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).
The Mountaineer plant was chosen as the test site for this project partly because of its location in the Ohio River Valley area, which is thought to be geologically ideal for carbon capture and storage. The area is also the location of many fossil fuel-fired electricity generation plants, the largest concentration in the United States.
The primary target zone for injection is the Mt. Simon Sandstone or its equivalent formations that underlie the Ohio-West Virginia border and most of the Midwestern United States. The formation ranges up to 4000 meters in depth and more than 600 meters in thickness across the region. However, the exact thickness, depth and injectivity of this formation and other potential injection zones are undetermined due to the low drilling density in the immediate surrounding region. A seismic survey of the area has already been completed and the analysis of the results reveals the composition of the rock layers. During 2003, a 3000 metre well was be drilled on the plant property to study the target area and overlying sediment layers in detail.
Injection was not planned as part of the original study, but was added later after a period of successful results. In 2009, EPRI (the Electric Power Research Institute) joined AEP for a $76 million validation project at the Mountaineer Plant. This stage is less from a research point of view – they moved from purely research to validation of both capture AND storage.
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Date
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