CarbonSAFE Illinois East Sub-Basin

Objective

The objective of this project is to conduct a pre-feasibility assessment for commercial-scale CCS geological storage complexes in the East Sub-Basin of Illinois. This work addresses gaps in experience and knowledge about scaling-up from demonstration to commercial-scale CCS and eventually readying sites for more than 50 million tonnes of injection from one or more industrial sources. To accomplish this, the project will form a CCS coordination team with varied backgrounds to evaluate aspects of developing an integrated CCS project such as regulatory, legislative, technical, public policy, and commercial and financial requirements. The coordination team will work to develop a plan and strategy to address the technical and non-technical challenges to enable an economically feasible and publicly acceptable integrated CCS project. A significant output will be a high-level technical evaluation of the East Sub-Basin in Illinois to identify suitable site(s) within the storage complex(es) that will include detailed subsurface characterization and risk identification, along with evaluation of potential industrial CO₂ sources for storage.

Project Overview

A pre-feasibility evaluation will be conducted of CO₂ geological storage complexes in the Illinois East Sub-Basin capable of receiving and containing over 50 million tonnes of industrially sourced CO₂. A Coordination Team and Project Advisory Board will be established and will coordinate and plan activities and communication within and among all project participants. The project will develop a plan to address the challenges, opportunities, and risk to building a commercial, integrated project in the Illinois East Sub-Basin region. The project team will conduct business and financial case studies; policy, regulatory, legal and permitting analyses for the region; and stakeholder analyses with outreach planning and activities. These studies will be used to develop scenario(s) for the feasibility of developing a commercial, integrated CCS project.

A high-level technical sub-basin evaluation will include collection of relevant, available data for the region. The data will be screened, evaluated, and used for geologic characterization, including constructing static and dynamic models of the subsurface. A technical and non-technical risk assessment will be conducted, and the above data will feed into a site feasibility plan. A CO₂ management strategy will be developed to evaluate industrial CO₂ sources with economic potential for capture and delivery and to examine transportation options. These studies will be used to develop a regional roadmap for a source network and storage development. Geologic information will be used within the National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) Toolkit to help validate the tools and for risk evaluation of sites in the East Sub-Basin region for suitability for commercial-scale CCS.