Characterization of the PCOR Partnership Region
"The characterization of the region and its resources is vital to understanding the feasibility of moving from research to practice regarding storage of CO2 in large-scale projects and implementation of practices regionwide. A necessary step toward the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the development and understanding of the magnitude, distribution, and variability of the major stationary CO2 sources and potential CO2 storage targets. Using potential storage avenues available coupled with the understanding of both the regional significance as well as in-depth knowledge of their availability to test the storage of CO2 into available resources gives the opportunity to greatly reduce the impact of anthropogenic CO2 while also being an economically feasible option across the region. This report details the individual components used to determine the underlying potential for CO2 storage in the PCOR Partnership region as well as characterization of the region as a whole to better understand what potential steps forward should be taken for commercialization of CCS not only in our region, but worldwide. CCS in geologic media is a technology that 1) is immediately applicable as a result of the experience gained in oil and gas exploration and production, deep waste disposal and groundwater protection; 2) has large capacity, although unevenly distributed; and 3) has retention times of centuries to millions of years (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2005). Geologic storage of CO2 is actively pursued at several locations around the world, including in the PCOR Partnership region. ReferencesIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2005, Special report on carbon dioxide capture and storage: Cambridge, United Kingdom, and New York, Cambridge University Press."View/Download Document