Carbon Capture and Storage
One of the things that makes the FutureGen power plant unique is its ability to capture the CO2 created during the electricity generation process, compress it and pump it into deep geologic formations thousands of feet below the earth’s surface where it is permanently stored. This technology is known as carbon storage (sometimes also called carbon sequestration).
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is widely viewed as an essential technology in the effort to address climate change concerns. CCS offers the potential to largely eliminate the CO2 emissions associated with power plants, cements plants, refineries and other stationary industrial sources.
Independent scientists have rigorously studied several types of rock formations that can be used to store CO2. They have concluded that formations containing salt water, such as the Mount Simon geology in Illinois, are ideal for CO2 storage because of their porosity and depth, and the presence of an impermeable caprock which seals in the CO2. These formations are thousands of feet below the earth’s surface—far deeper than drinking water aquifers, and often much deeper than oil and gas deposits. In addition, they are the most abundant types of geologic formations that can be used to store carbon dioxide, so the lessons learned from FutureGen can be replicated at many other locations around the world.
The FutureGen Alliance will complete a thorough evaluation of the final storage site before CO2 is injected. This evaluation will include modeling and field studies that will provide detailed information on the geologic characteristics of the selected site. These studies will also help ensure the injection system is designed optimally for permanent storage of CO2.
After the carbon dioxide is injected, the Alliance will continue to monitor it by conducting periodic surveys with a sophisticated monitoring, verification, and accounting protocol.
Monitoring, Verification and Accounting (MVA)
Ensuring that geologic storage of CO2 is performed in a safe manner is a top priority of the FutureGen 2.0 project. Working with academic and scientific organizations, the FutureGen Alliance is developing a comprehensive plan with proven technologies to monitor and validate that the CO2 will be safely and permanently stored.
The project is creating a detailed monitoring plan that will follow—and in some cases go beyond—federal EPA requirements for the underground injection of CO2. The plan will be submitted to the EPA and the State of Illinois for approval. The EPA will issue a permit only after they are assured that there is scientific and technical assurance that the CO2 will stay contained in a nearly one mile deep sandstone formation. Further, there will be continuous monitoring and major permit reviews every five years. In the early years, if there is any deviation from the plan, the project will be required to make adjustments to injection strategy or cease operations.
Two to three years before any CO2 is injected, the Alliance will complete a thorough evaluation of the storage site. The Alliance will establish baseline measurements of natural CO2 at the site of the injection well and in the soil, ground water, vegetation, subsurface and atmosphere. The monitoring network will also include wells deep into the Mount Simon formation, where the CO2 is to be stored; wells above the caprock to verify that CO2 will not migrate through the caprock, which is 200 feet thick and over 4000 feet below the surface; shallow ground water wells to verify that the ground water remains protected; and finally soil monitors. If anything associated with the storage site is not working as planned, the monitoring system will serve as an early warning system. Adjustments can be made to avoid negative impacts well in advance of any significant risk developing.
Once CO2 is injected, proven technologies will be used to monitor where the plume is at all times and verify the CO2 remains contained in the intended storage formations deep underground. In the unlikely event of CO2 migration, monitoring systems deep in the ground will detect it early and provide guidance for mitigation methods. This monitoring and verification process will last for the duration of injection, which could be as long as 30 years, and will continue for another 50 years or until such time during that 50 year post-injection period when the regulatory agency is satisfied that the plume is stable, not moving and that no further monitoring is needed.
The project partners plan to involve local colleges in research, including possibly contributing to the monitoring effort. Such a partnership would include faculty and students in applying cutting-edge technology and help in promoting transparency in FutureGen’s operations.
Protecting human health and the environment is a high priority of Ameren Energy Resources and the FutureGen Alliance. The steps we are taking to monitor the CO2 from the FutureGen project will reassure the public that carbon storage can be done safely, and lessons we learn can be shared to facilitate the commercial development of safe and affordable CCS technologies.