The first-of-its-kind Illinois Basin – Decatur Project (IBDP), which concluded in 2021 after successfully demonstrating the safe geologic storage of carbon dioxide, is releasing data sets in two easily accessible locations.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $25 million to a three-year project led by the Prairie Research Institute that will design a next-generation power plant in Springfield, Illinois. The innovative plant design combines multiple techniques to both reduce emissions and capture and re-use carbon dioxide.

For almost 20 years, PRI’s geologists and engineers have been developing methods for the safe capture, storage, and utilization of CO2 from power plants and industrial operations. This has been in response to federal and state laws requiring reductions in CO2 emissions, as this byproduct of power generation has a direct link to atmospheric greenhouse gasses and climate change. 

For every Illinois home sold, the Prairie Research Institute provides data needed for banks, title companies, insurance companies, and consumers to make informed decisions about home ownership. 

The Prairie Research Institute — is leading a drive to implement CO2 removal strategies, an essential step to a clean-energy future. 

A task force formed by the Illinois General Assembly to identify gaps in protection of the Mahomet Aquifer has issued its final recommendations. Illinois State Water Survey hydrologist George Roadcap served as a member of the task force, and other Prairie Research Institute scientists provided data and expertise to support the group’s yearlong effort.

It is with immeasurable sadness that we share that Hannes Leetaru passed away on May 31st. "Hannes was perhaps the most committed scientist that I have encountered to the ideals, goals, and philosophy of what a geological survey embodies and the impact that it has on both the scientific community and the social community that it directly and positively impacts," said Dick Berg, State Geologist and Director of the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS).

Beginning on Nov. 19 and extending for a few weeks, Champaign County citizens will spot a curiosity flying in the sky above: a helicopter towing a large coil frame hanging from long cables. Helicopter flights are part of an Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) project to map and better understand the Mahomet aquifer within the county.

The Illinois State Geological Survey at the Prairie Research Institute recently received a $10 million award to inventory abandoned mining sites that could be reclaimed to improve community safety and the environment in Illinois.

The IRENES project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is advancing the recovery of critical minerals from coal mine waste to strengthen U.S. energy security. By developing a domestic supply of these essential materials, the project reduces reliance on foreign sources, supports clean technology innovations, and drives economic growth in underserved regions. It offers a practical solution to pressing energy and environmental challenges, making it a strategic investment for sustainable growth.

Low-flying airplanes equipped with geophysical instruments will fly over parts of Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, Johnson, Pope, and Hardin counties.

With $8.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Transport and Storage CarbonSAFE Program, the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), part of the Prairie Research Institute (PRI), is leading a two-year project to explore the feasibility of safely storing more than 50 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) over 30 years captured from the Heidelberg Materials cement plant in Mitchell, Indiana.

Sallie Greenberg, a principal research scientist at the Prairie Research Institute (PRI), has been selected as a member of one of the two new White House Council on Environmental Quality task forces to guide the development of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technologies in the United States. 

PRI was selected to lead an effort to promote promising technologies that can capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and store it underground at three different sites in Illinois, Colorado, and Florida. Read the full announcement from the Department of Energy (DOE) here.

This once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure will support efforts to build a clean and equitable energy economy that achieves a zero-carbon energy system by 2035 and to put the United States on a path to strengthen energy prosperity and achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050. 

PRI is specifically tasked with executing feasibility and pre-feasibility studies of potential DAC Hub locations, ownership structures, business models, CO2 storage/utilization option(s), and technology partner(s) outlined in the following stage 1 of potential multi-stage projects in Illlinois, Colorado, and Florida.

Last year, a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers helped build a geothermal exchange system to heat and cool a new building at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I), saving electrical usage and marking another step in the quest for a carbon-neutral campus. This type of heating and cooling system is also used successfully in homes, businesses, and industry, according to Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) scientist Andrew Stumpf.

It is challenging to integrate renewable resources into the distribution grid of fossil-fueled power plants when energy is most needed. The results are often intermittent and unpredictable, which makes it difficult to match energy demand with supply.

In three new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded projects, scientists in the Prairie Research Institute will design systems and explore the feasibility of combining the use of renewable and fossil energy sources to ensure both short and long-term reliability in electric power delivery.

ISGS and ISWS began monitoring the intersections between industry and the state-protected nature preserves in 1998, letting science and groundwater testing lead the way. Then-graduate student Randy Locke embarked on what was intended to be a two-year groundwater monitoring project; that project is now in its 24th year and has expanded to 414 dedicated nature preserves across 62,270 acres in Illinois.

Prairie Research Institute scientists are conducting a $2.3 million project to support the protection and restoration of part of the Illinois Beach State Park coastal area.

bp-International Centre for Advanced Materials recently awarded funding for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers affiliated with the Prairie Research Institute for investigations into subsurface hydrogen storage to accelerate sustainable energy transformation.

The Prairie Research Institute (PRI), Student Sustainability Committee (SSC), Facilities & Services (F&S), Illinois Water Resources Center (IWRC), Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES), and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) gathered on Feb. 27, 2023, to break ground on installing an underground thermal battery (UTB) at the Energy Farm in Urbana, IL.

The Office of Fossil Energy within the U.S. Department of Energy has selected to award nearly $1.5 million to the Illinois State Geological Survey for a project that will evaluate the availability of valuable rare earth elements and critical minerals in coal and coal waste streams in Illinois and nearby states. 

The Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) now provides up-to-date downloadable data about sinkholes for the entire state of Illinois. This replaces the previous ISGS GIS dataset of statewide sinkhole areas, which was published in 1997.

PRI scientists from the Illinois State Water Survey and Illinois State Geological Survey are part of a collaborative project to study “critical interfaces” in the environment.

A new database compiling information from a decade of Prairie Research Institute (PRI) studies on the unique geology and hydrology of Jo Daviess County is designed to help residents and officials understand the karst features of the land where they live and to better protect their water supply from surface contamination.

Geoscientists from the Illinois State Geological Survey have begun geologic and hydrogeologic site characterization work for major federal geothermal energy projects.

Preliminary results from a stratigraphic characterization well drilled in December 2018 by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) and collaborators near Mt. Auburn, Illinois, indicate that the Mt. Simon Sandstone at this location has excellent reservoir characteristics for storage of CO₂. The T. R. McMillen #2 well is part of the CarbonSAFE Illinois–Macon County project, which is intended to establish the feasibility of storage of 50 million tonnes or more of CO₂.

Developed by coastal geologist Liz Spitzer, based at the ISGS field office in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, the ArcGIS StoryMap explains the natural and human-driven processes that shape the coast, how those changes affect coastal communities, and why long-term coastal mapping is critical for managing and protecting these dynamic environments.

Since 2006, the Traveling Science Center, a 320-square-foot mobile museum, has visited over 150 different schools and attended over 200 community events in 30+ different counties.

Green energy companies seeking sites for windfarm and solar power plant development in Illinois are targeting industrially zoned settings, such as land around active and abandoned coal mines and oil fields. When considering siting decisions, companies can rely on the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) to provide extensive databases and maps on the state’s geologic and mine information to save potential trouble with collapsed land.

PRI is offering hands-on summer internships that will enable undergraduate students from populations underrepresented in graduate study at Illinois to explore careers in applied science. There are opportunities in atmospheric science and climate; biology, ecology, and environmental science; geology; sustainable energy; and water supply and safety. To see all of the internship options and to apply, visit https://go.illinois.edu/PRI-interns

Tim Larson, a retired geoscientist from the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), brought his four decades of experience in locating groundwater in Illinois to connect people in four African villages to fresh water.

PRI scientists are investigating how artificial reef complexes can stabilize shorelines and developing strategies to address water sustainability challenges and future water planning. These efforts aim to provide critical insights that will inform decision-making and improve environmental management in the southern Lake Michigan region.

Researchers at the Illinois State Geological Survey are studying how to use carbon dioxide (CO₂) to recover more oil and store carbon underground in southern Illinois.

Illinois State Geological Survey at the Prairie Research Institute has received an award of $17.7 Million as part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort 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). It is one nine projects for a total investment of $242M from DOE.

A conceptual model of water movement in rock layers many feet underground, published by Prairie Research Institute scientists, shows for the first time that water is flowing steadily south through the thick sequence of rock layers that form the Illinois Basin.

Scientists and staff from the Illinois State Geological Survey and the Illinois State Water Survey  ollaborated with county and local governments in Kane County to install groundwater-monitoring wells in northeast Illinois as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Ground Water Monitoring Network. 

Scientists with the Illinois State Geological Survey are partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Geological Surveys of Kentucky and Indiana to image geology using airborne geophysical technology as part of the USGS Earth Mapping Resource Initiative.

The largest geothermal energy system implemented at the university so far went online in April, at the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF) ahead of its opening this coming fall. The CIF geothermal system was designed using data acquired and analyzed from a nearby geothermal monitoring well installed by the Illinois State Geological Survey and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 

Petroleum Experts has renewed through December 2024 a grant of the full set of software modules of MOVE and IPM suites to the Illinois State Geological Survey and Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change to use in research and education. This software enhances ISGS capabilities in subsurface interpretation and reservoir simulation.

A biphasic CO2 absorption (BiCAP) technology developed at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) has been selected for development and bench-scale testing by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as a transformation technology for post-combustion carbon capture.

For the first time, high-resolution digital elevation data that are essential for planning by local, state, and federal agencies are available online for all Illinois counties.

On Dec. 3 the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) completed drilling the T.R. McMillen #2 well in Christian County, Illinois, as part of its CarbonSAFE Illinois program. Preliminary results indicate the Mt. Simon Sandstone at this location is suitable for a commercial-scale CO₂ storage site.

Yu-Feng Lin, a hydrogeologist at the Illinois State Geological Survey, is the new director of the Illinois Water Resource Center, which addresses the state’s water resources challenges through research and education.

This past summer, with funding from the EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a US Army Corps of Engineers crane carefully placed over 10,000 tons of stone five hundred feet offshore of Illinois Beach State Park (ISBP) and Hosah Park, a Zion Park District property wedged between the north and south units of IBSP. These stones form three “rubble ridges” that are intended to work in concert to lessen storm waves and protect the eroding beach and unique terrestrial ecosystem in the dunes while preserving views and enhancing fish habitat.

Each April in southern Illinois, students in grades K-6 participate in Stewardship Week, an outdoor education event. This year, just like every year for the past 30, Joe Devera, senior paleontologist at the Illinois State Geological Survey, will be back to share his knowledge and love of fossils with inquiring young minds.