Currently, no rigorous set of easy-to-use methods and models exist, which would enable power plant operators or industrial firm managers to identify, screen, and select a suitable CO2 storage site, or to evaluate its long-term integrity and storage capacity. Just as significant, government entities responsible for the permitting and oversight of CO2 storage lack adequate data and protocols for assessing the risks and assuring the safety of CO2 storage sites. This project will develop a rigorous, sophisticated set of screening and evaluation tools for selecting suitable CO2 storage sites. Phase I will identify, modify and test a set of procedures and sophisticated screening tools that will eventually become a "tool kit" for CO2 storage-site selection. The set of tools will be tested at three storage sites: (1) a representative deep saline aquifer; (2) a depleted oil and gas field; and, (3) an unmineable coal seam.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The CO2 storage site selection "tool kit" is intended for use by power and industrial plant operators that need to consider geological storage options for CO2. In addition, the economic optimization features of the "tool kit" would enable industry to save from $100 million to several billion dollars annuall
