Ecologia, Medio Ambiente y Energias Renovables en la Naturaleza

The $96-million Illinois Basin-Decatur project has begun injecting carbon for permanent storage in the reservoir, which has an estimated carbon dioxide storage capacity of 11 to 152 million metric tons.

The carbon dioxide is being captured from ADM's corn ethanol processing facility in the area. One million metric tons of carbon dioxide over the next three years will be captured and stored from the facility.

The project is part of the development phase of the regional carbon sequestration partnerships program of the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy launched in 2003 to determine the best approaches for capturing and permanently storing greenhouse gases.

"This injection test project by M.G.S.C., as well as those undertaken by other F.E. regional partnerships, are helping confirm the great potential and viability of permanent geologic storage as an important option in climate change mitigation strategies," said Chuck McConnel, chief operating officer of the Office of Fossil Energy.

The project is run by the consortium and led by the Illinois State Geological Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"We are enthusiastic as we reach the operational stage of our project. The analysis of data collected beginning in 2003 indicates that the lower Mt. Simon Sandstone has the necessary geological characteristics to be an excellent injection target for safe and effective storage of carbon dioxide," said Robert J. Finley, PhD, director and leader of I.S.G.S.'s sequestration team.

The M.G.S.C. has been studying the capacity of the Illinois Basin, a 155,400-kilometer square area that covers two thirds of Illinois and reaches into western Indiana and western Kentucky, for geological carbon storage since 2000. – Katrice R. Jalbuena

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