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About Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership

The Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) is a public and private sector partnership aimed at understanding the technological and economic feasibility of carbon capture and storage. It is led by the Energy and Environmental Resource Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota. It is one of seven regional partnerships created by the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory's Regional Carbon Sequestration Program (RCSP). The DOE combines the findings from PCOR with other RCSP programs to build a National carbon storage atlas (NATCARB).

The PCOR Partnership project has identified, quantified, and categorized 927 stationary sources in the region that have an annual output of greater than 13,600 metric tons of CO2. The annual output from the various stationary sources ranges from 9.1 million to 16.3 million metric tons for the larger coal-fired electric generation facilities, to fewer than 91,000 metric tons for industrial and agricultural processing facilities that make up the majority of the sources in the region.

Official Site - undeerc.org/pcor

File:Pcor 2.jpg
Stationary CO2 sites in the PCOR Region [1]

Core functions

The overall goal of the PCOR Partnership is to develop a core of local technical expertise and experience to facilitate future CO2 storage efforts in both subsurface and terrestrial settings in the plains region, thus providing results and assessments from these efforts to assist commercialization efforts for future storage projects in North America. [2] The testing region includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, as well as the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and some of British Columbia.

Topic at DOE

File:Rcsp regions.jpg
A map of the seven RCSP regions[1]

DOE's Office of Fossil Energy has created a network of seven Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSP's) to help develop the technology, infrastructure, and regulations to implement large-scale CO2 storage (also called carbon sequestration) in different regions and geologic formations within the nation. Collectively, the seven RCSPs represent regions encompassing:

  • 97 percent of coal-fired CO2 emissions
  • 97 percent of industrial CO2 emissions
  • 96 percent of the total land mass

History

Phase I

Phase 1, the characterization phase, began in the fall of 2003 with the goal of searching for and characterizing carbon sequestration opportunities in the area. It had a budget of $3.3 million and ended in the fall of 2005. During phase 1, key data were gathered from oil fields, saline formations, and coal fields in the region to confirm that while numerous large stationary CO2 sources are present, the region also has tremendous potential for CO2 storage. Additional completed tasks from Phase I include:

  • Assessments of CO2 basins and sinks
  • The development of a GIS database to help partners identify CO2 basins
  • Identification of potential sequestration sites
  • Public outreach efforts including a 30-minute documentary for public television and a regional PCOR Partnership Atlas.

Phase II

Phase II, the validation phase, began in 2005 and ended in 2009. The central goal of Phase II is to conduct field tests to validate the potential of sites for carbon sequestration. During the phase, researchers conducted geologic storage field tests that involved storage and monitoring of CO2 in two depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs and one unmineable coal seam. The unmineable coal seam test involved injection of approximately 82 metric tons of CO2 over roughly two weeks. Monitoring results indicated that the CO2 was contained within the coal seam. This validation test affirmed that CO2 can be safely injected and stored in an unmineable lignite seam. This validation had 5 key components:

  • Refine opportunities for regional carbon sequestration
  • clarify regulatory and permitting requirements
  • Identify commercially available CO2
  • Integrate efforts with other DOE RCSP programs
  • Continue public outreach

Sequestration efforts of deep carbonate formations and prairie pothole wetlands were successfully demonstrated. Phase II had a budget of $21 million, 2/3 which came from the Department of Energy and 1/3 from private and other public partners.

Phase III

Phase III began in 2007 and will end in 2018. Its goal is to begin injecting at least 1 million tons of CO2 into regional geographic formations. It has 6 key goals:

  • Continue to verify carbon sequestration opportunities
  • Facilitate the development of infrastructure needed for carbon sequestration
  • Facilitate development of regional regulations regarding carbon sequestration
  • Develop partnerships
  • Continue to collaborate with other RCSP programs
  • Provide outreach to stakeholders and the public

Testing Sites

The Zama Oil Field

The Zama Oil Field in northwestern Alberta, Canada, is the site of a sour gas (approximately 70 percent CO2 and 30 percent hydrogen sulfide) injection for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), hydrogen sulfide disposal, and storage of CO2.

McGregor Oil Field

A second oil and gas project was conducted to determine the effect of injecting CO2 into a deep, high-pressure carbonate formation in the Northwest McGregor Oil Field of North Dakota. The pilot-scale test injected 400 metric tons of CO2 into a single well and allowed it to sit for two weeks before returning to production. In addition to demonstrating the feasibility of CO2 EOR in carbonate rocks deeper than 8,000 feet, the test demonstrated two technologies (a reservoir saturation tool and vertical seismic profiling) that may be effective for detecting and monitoring small-volume CO2 plumes in deep carbonate reservoirs.

Prairie Pothole Region

The Prairie Pothole Region, a major biogeographical zone encompassing nearly 347,000 square miles that includes portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, and North and South Dakota in the United States, and portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The terrestrial field validation test was designed to develop the technical capacity to systematically identify, develop, and apply alternate land-use management practices to the Prairie Pothole ecosystem (at both local and regional scale) that results in net GHG reductions. Results from this project have provided the science and business processes framework needed for project developers and investors to advance emission reduction targets.

Bell Creek Oil Field

The Bell Creek C02 Enhanced Oil Recovery and CO2 storage project in southeast Montana is sources CO2 from nearby gas-processing facilities and injects it into the Bell Creek oil field. Since 2013, 3.2 million tonnes of CO2 have been stored in the field.

Fort Nelson

File:Pcor 3.jpg
Drilling of an exploration well in the Fort Nelson, British Columbia area as part of the large-scale test currently underway.[1]

The Fort Nelson CSS Feasibility Study is currently being evaluated for feasibility and hopes to store between 1.1 million to 2 million tonnes of CO2 into a nearby saltwater reservoir. It plans to source natural gas from the Fort Nelson natural gas processing facility in British Columbia, the largest in North America. If successful, the project will be the largest deep saline geologic storage effort in the world.Spectra Energy is the main partner in the feasibility study.


Related

External links

PCOR Main Website

Social media

No known social media accounts

References



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