ADM drill rig in Decatur
It’s not the biggest step, even though it’s a first step at capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide emissions.
Last week, ground was broken in Decatur, Il on construction of this country’s first large-scale industrial carbon capture and storage facility that aims to demonstrate that CO2 emissions can be stored permanently in deep underground rock formations.
The Decatur facility being is designed to capture and store approximately 2,500 metric tons of CO2 a day and sequester it in the saline Mount Simon Sandstone formation at depths of approximately 7,000 feet. Researchers say this sandstone formation can potentially store billions of tons of CO2, including more than 250 million tons produced each year by industries operating in the Illinois Basin region.
Ironically – both from food pricing and less-than-stellar fuel perspectives – the CO2 to be sequestered is a byproduct of processing corn into fuel-grade ethanol at a biofuels plant adjacent to the storage site run by Archer Daniels Midland Company, which is leading the project as part of the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium.
Drilling on this 207-acre project site began in February 2009. A ceremonial groundbreaking occurred last week. The next step of the project, involves construction of a CO2 dehydration/compression facility near the biofuels plant. Following that, a 3,200’ pipeline will feed the CO2 to the well. Carbon capture and storage operations are not expected to commence until late summer 2013.
The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, which received US $141 million in Recovery Act funding, manages the project. It also received another $65.5 million private sector cost sharing.
“Illinois is at the forefront of helping ensure the U.S. remains competitive in the global clean energy economy, creating new jobs while reducing carbon pollution,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a press announcement
The project will also include the formation of an educational and training facility called the National Sequestration Education Center at nearby Richland Community College in Decatur.
Photo: Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
