U.S. DOE to fund 19 Geologic CO2 Storage Projects

On Monday, August 24 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the selection of 19 projects to enhance the capability to simulate, track, and evaluate the potential risks of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in geologic formations.

Valued at approximately $35.8 million USD over 4 years, the results of the selected projects will be vital to the fossil energy industry and most notably to the coal industry, which is the United States' most abundant domestic energy resource, supplying nearly 50 percent of the country's electricity requirements. In order to ensure that low-cost electricity from coal-fired power plants remains available, it is necessary to develop economical methods for capturing and storing the greenhouse gas emissions which such plants emit. It is thought that CO2 storage in deep geologic formations is one of the most economical ways to achieve this goal.

The outcome of these projects will serve to further develop technologies and protocols intended to monitor the movement of CO2 in geologic storage areas, verify its location, account for the amount sequestered and assess the risks associated with the placement of the CO2 in geologic formations and its potential release following sequestration.

The projects will be carried out by leading U.S. universities and industrial and technology groups, with overall work to be managed by the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.