New Research Award

Geologic Characterization of the South Georgia Rift Basin for Source Proximal CO₂ Storage

U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory

The University of South Carolina has received notification from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory that it will award $9,950,639 to the university for geologic characterization of the South Georgia Rift basin (SGR) for source proximal CO₂ storage. This three year research effort will be led by the Earth Sciences and Resources Institute (ESRI-SC) and the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOS). Dr. John Shafer, director of ESRI-SC, is the principal investigator and project manager. Co-principal investigators are Dr. James Knapp and Dr. Camelia Knapp, EOS, and Mr. Michael Waddell, ESRI-SC. Additional members of the research team are the South Carolina Geological Survey, University of Illinois, Weatherford Laboratories (Houston, TX), and Bay Geophysical, Inc. (Traverse City, MI).

The Department of Energy is funding 11 projects valued at $75.5 million aimed at increasing scientific understanding about the potential of promising geologic formations to safely and permanently store carbon dioxide. The research will be managed by the Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory and includes projects in Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Texas, South Carolina, California, Alabama, Kansas, Utah, and Wyoming. The selected projects will examine the usefulness of potential geologic storage sites; augment existing data through coordination with a public database; and participate in technical working groups on best practices for site characterization and approving storage site selection. The information gained from these projects will further DOE’s effort to develop a national assessment of CO₂ storage capacity in deep geologic formations. Additionally, the results of this research will be accessible to the public and industry looking to understand future opportunities for building U.S. commercial sequestration projects.

Our study will evaluate the feasibility of CO₂ storage in the Jurassic/Triassic (J/T_R) saline formations of the buried SGR and provide all data and analyses associated with this determination to the NATCARB database.  The J/T_R sequence, based on preliminary assessment of limited geological and geophysical data, has both the appropriate areal extent and multiple horizons where significant amounts of CO₂ may potentially be stored.  The presence of several basalt layers within the sequence may provide adequate seals to prevent upward migration of CO₂ into the Coastal Plain aquifer systems. A thick (~250 m) basalt layer exists at approximately 600 m to 850 m below ground surface with six additional basalt layers beneath it. Clastic sediments occupy the intervals between the basalt flows that we believe are capable of storing large amounts of CO₂ with the overlying basalts providing the seals. Further, the target storage depth is well below the 1 km critical depth to maintain CO₂ as a supercritical fluid. Given the significant number of CO₂ sources in the southeastern U.S., particularly in southeastern South Carolina, and the promising conditions of the SGR, we believe that through this research we can demonstrate: 1) that the SGR is a significant CO₂ storage site; and 2) that it could be commercially developed.

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