I am pleased to tell you about one of the most significant scientific endeavors taking place in Utah right now. Carbon sequestration research at the University of Utah is at the epicenter of energy development technology and has enormous import for Utah and the U.S. It will have impact on our energy independence, our ability to maintain a balanced portfolio of energy resources, and at the same time help reduce green house gas emissions. With the financial support of the Department of Energy and a host of other partners, USTAR Researcher Brian McPherson and his team are leading the effort to test the feasibility of storing carbon dioxide thousands of feet underground. Interest in Dr. McPherson’s work is building here in the U.S. and abroad and Utahns should all be keenly interested in the potential this important technology has to offer. I hope you will read the feature story in this newsletter for greater insight into this exciting technology.

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Jeff Edwards
President and CEO

This past February geological storage modeling experts from around the world gathered at the University of Utah (U of U) for the 2nd annual Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Conference of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

With 60-plus researchers from around the world, it wasn't a big gathering, but the research of this group of experts could have enormous implications for Utah and economies across the globe, as nations grapple with reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. The key reason the U of U was selected to host the conference was due in part to the ground-breaking research of Dr. Brian McPherson, a USTAR researcher and associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the U of U. McPherson is an internationally recognized authority on the subject of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

Carbon Capture and Sequestration
CCS is the process of separating CO2 from the emissions of stationary sources like coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants, oil refineries, cement plants, ethanol plants, and brick plants, and then storing (sequestering) it thousands of feet underground. The focus of the GHG conference was on the computer technology used to predict and monitor the behavior of CO2 stored underground.

Al Walker, USTAR Eastern Utah Technology Outreach director, says geologists have for decades injected CO2 into oil and natural gas wells as a means of enhancing recovery of the fossil fuels.

"The CO2 acts like a piston, pushing the oil or natural gas out of the rock and thus making the wells more productive over a longer time period," he says.

Today, scientists are looking at a similar process as a means of storing CO2 underground to reduce GHG emissions. In sequestration, the CO2 stored underground displaces brine in saline aquifers miles beneath the surface.

The idea is by managing carbon emissions, our nation's vast resources of coal and natural gas can remain viable as energy sources for decades to come. The U.S. holds a quarter of the world's coal reserves on a BTU basis, and 90 percent of the country's fossil fuel reserves are coal, according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. CCS is important for Utah because much of the state's low-cost electricity is generated by coal and gas-fired power plants, and a healthy coal mining industry is important to the economy here.

Walker notes that CCS is also important on an international scale, as countries like China, India, and Russia also rely heavily on coal-fired power generation.

Leading the Effort
Utah is leading the CCS effort on two fronts, as researchers from Brigham Young University, in partnership with the U of U's Institute for Clean and Secure Energy, focus their efforts on capturing CO2 emissions from stationary sources, while McPherson and his team work on the sub-surface injection and monitoring of CO2.

For his part, McPherson is leading an $88 million, nine-year research project called the Southwest Regional Partnership to test the feasibility of storing CO2 underground. Some key partners in the project include the Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory, Thunderbird Energy, and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

The project involves injecting liquefied CO2 into a saline aquifer about 8,000 feet deep in the Gordon Creek area near Helper in central Utah, leading up to the injection of one million tons of CO2 per year. Walker says the water-bearing Navajo sandstone formation into which the CO2 will be injected is an ideal location because the aquifer is capped by shale that limits its movement and the brine is not potable or useful for agriculture. Meanwhile, the infrastructure is already in place to monitor what happens to the CO2 underground. The expected result is that it will displace the salt water, forcing the latter to flow into the surrounding rock, while the CO2 remains within the confines of the capped aquifer.

Drilling in One Year
McPherson's team will begin drilling injection wells at the Gordon Creek site in approximately one year. The injection process will take about four years, followed by five years of monitoring. Much of the $88 million in funding will be used to monitor the migration behavior of the CO2 in the reservoir.

The Southwest Regional Partnership has three additional active, smaller-scale test sites in Utah, New Mexico and Texas. Two are enhanced oil recovery projects while the third is an enhanced coalbed methane project. Data from these sites and additional computer models from IEA and the U of U indicate CO2 migration should remain well within the boundaries of a given aquifer.

"If we can find a way to economically store the CO2 it will have international ramifications for coal-fired and gas-fired power plants across the globe, as well as the viability of other manufacturing industries," says Walker.

Walker says countries such as China, India, and Russia still have big appetites for coal-fired power generation. Representatives from USTAR and the University of Utah are currently holding discussions with leaders from Chinese provinces that are extremely interested in McPherson's research.

Commercial Breakthrough
Closer to home, McPherson's efforts have resulted in some commercial breakthroughs as well. In February 2009, the U of U and Headwaters, Inc., of South Jordan, announced the formation of a joint venture called Headwaters Clean Carbon Solutions. The company is already engaged in externally funded, prototype projects.

For more information on USTAR, visit www.innovationutah.com or follow http://twitter.com/Innovationutah.