Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
9/5/2014
More than three years after submitting applications for two Class VI Underground Injection Control (UIC) permits, Archer Daniels Midland is expecting approval by the year’s end. The permits would allow the construction and operation of two wells for the injection of carbon dioxide more than 5,000 feet underground into the Mount Simon geologic formation for permanent storage. The wells are for two separate ADM projects, the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project (IBDP) and the Illinois Industrial CCS Project (Ill-ICCS). Both projects are partly funded by the Department of Energy and will pull CO2 from ADM’s Decatur ethanol fermentation plant. The permits, if approved, will some the first of their type ever issued, following four FutureGen 2.0 Class VI UIC permits approved this week.
The IBDP project is being undertaken to “validate the capacity, injectivity and containment of the Mount Simon sandstone,” according to a Global CCS Institute fact sheet. The project will inject roughly 1 million tonnes of CO2 over three years. Currently, the IBDP permit application is being reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency, but is expected to move into the next phase of approval soon. “We expect the draft permit for the first project (IBDP Project) to be published in early Q3 2014. This project is currently in operation under an Illinois EPA Class 1 non-hazardous UIC permit. Because this project has already injected over 900,000 tonnes and will complete upon reaching one million tonnes, we do not anticipate many permit comments. We anticipate this permit becoming final before the end of the year,” project director Scott McDonald told GHG Monitor. Injection at the IBDP project began in November 2011 and is expected to reach completion in coming months.
Once the IBDP Project is completed, facilities which were built for that project will be integrated into the Ill-ICCS Project with operations amped up to a commercial scale, injecting approximately 1 million tonnes of CO2 every year for five years. Carbon dioxide from the Ill-ICCS Project will also be injected in the Mt. Simon geologic formation, but at a different location. “A significant benefit of these complementary projects is the opportunity to study the interaction between the CO2 plumes and pressure fronts emanating from two injection wells in the same sandstone formation,” the GCCSI fact sheet notes. The permit for the Ill-ICCS Project is slightly further along than the other. A draft permit for the project was issued in April at which time a public comment period lasting until May 30 began. “We had few public comments. Most of the comments were positive or technical corrections. We had very few negative comments,” McDonald said.
The Ill-ICCS permit is “expected to be issued in early Q3 2014, If approved and barring any appeals, the permit should become final before the end of the year.” McDonald said. Looking ahead, progress is expected move quickly. “When the permit becomes final for the IL-ICCS Project, we will start construction on the injection well. We plan to be operational in early Q2 2015,” McDonald said.
