Carbon Capture sequestration monitoring

As whole countries and industries begin to adopt green technologies to fight climate change, one of the most critical will be carbon capture and storage (CCS) in underground reservoirs. In November 2021, the US House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The bill contains the largest appropriation of money for CCS in the history of the technology. The bill contains major provisions for CCS, including $2.5 billion appropriated for CCS demonstration projects, $1 billion for large-scale CCS pilot projects, and $3.5 billion for regional direct air capture (DAC) hubs over the next five years. This bill, in addition to the US tax credit (Section 45Q), will further spur the development of CCS projects. Unfortunately, with any underground injection activity comes the risk of inducing earthquakes—the EPA’s CCS recommendations mandate long-term seismic monitoring to ensure the integrity of the reservoir. ISTI’s experience, combined with the technologies we use for Geothermal, E&P, and other underground injection activities for induced seismic monitoring, directly apply to CCS.

A three-year project, the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project (IBDP), was the first of its kind project in the United States to inject a large amount of CO2 into a “regionally extensive, undisturbed saline formation” (Kaven, Hickman, McGarr, Ellsworth, 2015), Surface Monitoring of Microseismicity at the Decatur, Illinois, CO2 Sequestration Demonstration Site.

ISTI already has experience monitoring CCS through the Archer Daniel Midland’s site in Decatur, Illinois. Our work under contract with the USGS in Decatur has helped to collect and process the data for this important CCS project in the US.

Contact us today for more information or to discuss how we can support your Carbon Capture Sequestration Monitoring needs.