WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC), one of seven regional partnerships created by the U.S. Department of Energy to advance carbon sequestration technologies, has begun injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) in a groundbreaking field project in Wabash County, Ill. The project represents a promising strategy for safely storing this greenhouse gas while simultaneously increasing natural gas production in the region.

The pioneering project is the first of the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships to inject carbon dioxide into a coal seam in the United States.

The pilot project is testing the viability of turning unmined coal deposits into a source of useable energy by extracting natural gas, specifically coalbed methane, trapped in the coal.

Traditionally, operators drill production wells and, in a process called dewatering, pump water out of the coals to extract the gas. MCSG scientists are turning this research pilot project into a two-for-one opportunity by coupling the gas extraction with CO2 sequestration.

Methane and CO2 make perfect partners; CO2 is preferentially adsorbed, meaning that, as the CO2 flows through the coal seam, methane is displaced from the surface of the coal in favor of the CO2. The project is designed to use one injection well and three production wells. Trucked-in CO2 is pumped through a heater and injected into the coal seam as a gas, increasing the pressure underground and freeing the coalbed methane.

The MGSC is one of seven regional partners in a nationwide network to help determine the best approaches for capturing and permanently storing gases that can contribute to global climate change.

Wyoming is part of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University. Partners to BSCSP include the University of Wyoming Institute for Energy Research, UW Geographic Information Science Center, UW Ruckelshaus Institute for Environment and Natural Resources, Wyoming Carbon Sequestration Advisory Committee, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs.

Locations in the state that are being considered for similar carbon sequestration projects are the deep, unmineable coal deposits in the Powder River Basin and the Wind River Basin.

On the Web: www.bigskyco2.org.