Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
8/22/2014
The Department of Energy announced early this month the selection of 13 carbon storage projects to receive a combined $13.8 million of DOE funding. The projects explore technologies, methodologies and characterization tools for geologic storage of carbon and fall into one of two categories: geomechanical research or fractured reservoir and seal behavior. DOE funding will account for $13.8 million towards the projects. An additional non-federal cost sharing value of $3.8 million results in a total award value of $17.6 million to be distributed over three years. The selected projects with be managed by the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.
Nine of the selected projects fall into the category of geomechanical research. Among these is the University of Wyoming in Laramie where researchers will “study the effects of CO2 storage on geomechanical, petrophysical, and other reservoir properties through rock experiments, analyses of existing data sets, and simulations representing conditions and processes at the Rocks Springs Uplift, Wyoming,” a DOE release says. The project will receive roughly $1.1 million in DOE funding.
The largest allocation of DOE funding in the geomechanical research section was awarded to Sandia Technologies, LLC, in Houston with DOE funding totaling nearly $1.4 million. That study “aims to develop geomechanical characterization methodologies by combining laboratory rock core testing with downhole tools that determine the strength of rock formations,” according to the release. Other institutes with selected projects include Clemson University in Clemson S.C., The University of Texas at Austin, Northern Illinois University in DelKalb, Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Montana State University in Bozeman and the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.
The remaining four projects selected explore fractured reservoir and seal behavior. Projects selected in this category include Princeton University in Princeton, N.J where researchers “will develop new modeling capabilities for simulation of CO2 and brine migration in fractured reservoirs,” with a DOE contribution of $800,000, the release says. Washington University in St. Louis will “advance the understanding of fractured basalt reservoirs and the impact basalt structure and chemistry has on flow and mineral trapping of injected CO2,” and will receive $996,951 in DOE funding. Both the Colorado School of Mines in Golden and the University of Texas at Austin also have selected projects in this category and are the only institutions with two selected projects.
