This carbon dioxide (CO2) has been injected in the United States as part of DOE’s Clean Coal Research, Development, and Demonstration Programs. One million metric tons of CO2 is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 210,526 passenger vehicles.

The projects currently injecting CO2 within DOE’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Program and the Major Demonstration Program are detailed below.

Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships

DOE’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) were established in 2003 to develop the technology, infrastructure, and regulations needed to implement large-scale CO2 storage in different regions and geologic formations. The network of seven RCSPs are currently conducting field tests which involve integrated system testing and validation of geologic storage, simulation and risk assessment, and monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) technologies in different depositional environments. In addition, the RCSPs are studying possible regulatory and infrastructure requirements that would be needed should carbon capture and storage be deployed on a commercial basis. The seven RCSPs are comprised of more than 400 diverse organizations covering 43 states and four Canadian provinces.

The following Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships are currently conducting large-scale CO2 injection field tests:

Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership (PCOR): For the Bell Creek large-scale project, the PCOR Partnership is working with Denbury Onshore LLC to develop robust, practical, and targeted support programs to study incidental CO2 storage associated with a commercial-scale enhanced oil recovery operation.

Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC):  MGSC has partnered with the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company and Schlumberger Carbon Services to conduct a large-volume, saline reservoir storage field project at ADM’s agricultural products processing complex in Decatur, Illinois. The project is injecting 1 million metric tons of CO2 over three years into a deep saline formation in the Illinois Basin.

Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP):  MRCSP’s large-volume CO2 injection and storage test is focused on the Niagaran Reef Complex located in Ostego County in northern Michigan. The site is managed by MRCSP’s partner, Core Energy, and is in the vicinity of natural gas processing plants that provide CO2 for the enhanced oil recovery operations.  

Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB): SECARB is conducting two large-volume injection field projects - one in the lower Tuscaloosa Formation (Cranfield site) and one in the Paluxy Formation (Citronelle site). These formations are key components of a larger, regional group of similar formations, called the Gulf Coast Wedge.

Southwest Regional Partnership (SWP):  SWP is characterizing, modeling, monitoring, and tracking at least 1 million metric tons of CO2 at an ongoing oil recovery operation in Ochiltree County, northern Texas. The primary target reservoir is the Pennsylvanian-age Morrow Sandstone Formation within the Farnsworth Unit of the Anadarko Basin.

Learn more about the DOE’s RCSP Program.

Major Demonstrations

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., is demonstrating a state-of-the-art system to concentrate CO2 from two world-class scale steam methane reformer (SMR) hydrogen production plants located in Port Arthur, Texas. Air Products has successfully retrofitted its two Port Arthur SMRs with a vacuum swing adsorption system to separate the CO2 from the process gas stream, followed by compression and drying processes. The compressed CO2 is then delivered to a Denbury pipeline for transport to Texas enhanced oil recovery projects in the West Hastings Field, where a monitoring, verification, and accounting program ensures the injected CO2 remains in the geologic formation.

The project is currently in operation. The MVA program to monitor the injected CO2 was designed and the implementation started once CO2 capture began. The project successfully captured and sent for sequestration the one millionth metric ton of CO2 in April 2014.

Learn more about the DOE's Major Demonstration projects.