The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $242 million across nine projects to support the development of new and expanded large-scale, commercial carbon storage projects with capacities to securely store 50 or more million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂), including the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI). 

“The overarching objective of the Illinois Basin West CarbonSAFE Phase III project is to geologically characterize the Cambrian Mt. Simon Sandstone/Eau Claire Formation storage complex near the City Water, Light, and Power (CWLP) Dallman Power Generation Plant in Springfield, Illinois,” said Kendall Taft, ISGS geologist and principal investigator (PI) on the project, “For the next three years, we will be assessing the site for safe, permanent storage of more than 50 million metric tons of CO₂ and to submit an Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class VI permit to construct application.”

The following projects will focus on the detailed site characterization, planning, and permitting stages of project development under Phase III of FECM’s Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative. To ensure these projects center on communities, all applicants were required to submit Community Benefits Plans detailing how the project will advance quality jobs, environmental justice, and community partnership throughout project development. 

• Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub, LLC (Houston, Texas) plans to complete the site characterization, permitting, and environmental approvals for the Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub along the Texas Gulf Coast, with potential for more than 350 million metric tons of total CO₂ storage capacity. (Award Amount: $16,480,117)

• BP Corporation North America Inc. (Houston, Texas) will focus on the characterization and permitting of two commercial-scale storage sites along the Texas Gulf Coast with the capacity to ultimately store up to 15 million metric tons of CO₂ per year. (Award Amount: $33,411,193)

• Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colorado) plans to develop a regional CO₂ storage hub to address emissions from cement, hydrogen, and power plants, including geologic characterization efforts at two sites in Colorado’s Pueblo region. (Award Amount: $32,671,554)

• Magnolia Sequestration Hub, LLC (Houston, Texas) intends to complete the site characterization, permitting, and environmental approvals for the Magnolia Sequestration Hub in Allen Parish, Louisiana, with an estimated 300 million metric tons of total CO₂ storage capacity. (Award Amount: $21,570,784)

• Southern States Energy Board (Peachtree Corners, Georgia) plans to complete site characterization and permitting efforts to develop a storage hub near Bucks, Alabama, for CO₂ sourced from a variety of industries including electric generation and steel manufacturing. (Award Amount: $17,984,523)

• Timberlands Sequestration, LLC (Houston, Texas) intends to complete site characterization efforts to develop a biomass carbon removal and storage project for the Alabama River Cellulose pulp and paper mill located in Monroe County, Alabama. (Award Amount: $23,779,020)

• University of Illinois (Champaign, Illinois) plans to complete site characterization efforts for the Cambrian Mt. Simon Sandstone/Eau Claire Formation storage complex, for storage of CO₂ from the Dallman Power Generation Plant in Springfield, Illinois and about 50 million metric tons of total CO₂ storage capacity. (Award Amount: $17,736,972)

• University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (Grand Forks, North Dakota) intends to complete site characterization and permitting efforts for a CO₂ storage hub in central North Dakota, with CO₂ to be sourced from electric generation and ethanol production and about 200 million metric tons of total CO₂ storage capacity. (Award Amount: $38,148,520)

• University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyoming) plans to advance a commercial, multi-source, large-scale carbon capture and storage hub in Greater Green River Basin, Wyoming, with CO₂ sourced from trona mining and direct air capture facilities. (Award Amount: $40,504,935) 

For more information, contact Kendall Taft at kltaft1@illinois.edu.