ICKan

The Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) and The University of Kansas (KU) together with a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Coordination Team propose to undertake Phase I: Integrated CCS Pre-Feasibility Study in response to DOE-NETL FOA 1584 titled, Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE). The goal of Phase I activity under CarbonSAFE is to identify and critically evaluate challenges and opportunities for commercial-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Kansas, ICKan (Integrated CCS for Kansas). The PI and Project Director is Tandis S. Bidgoli of the KGS. Martin K. Dubois with Improved Hydrocarbon Recovery (IHR) is a Joint-PI and Project Manager of ICKan. Bidgoli and Dubois will co-lead a CCS Coordinating Team that will conduct an integrated and multi-disciplinary assessment of CCS in Kansas during Phase I. The objectives include identifying, evaluating, and addressing the major technical and non-technical challenges of implementing commercial-scale, CO₂ capture, transport, and secure geologic storage in Kansas.

This feasibility study will examine three of Kansas' largest CO₂ point sources, nearby storage sites (each with an estimated 50+ million tons capacity), and prospective CO₂ transportation networks. Westar Energy's Jeffrey Energy Center--Kansas' largest coal-fired electrical generating facility--near St. Marys, Kansas will serve as the primary site because of its size (2.16 GigaWatt and 12.5 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions) and strategic location along the eastern margin of Kansas' aerially extensive and vertically stacked, reservoir complexes. Sunflower Electric Cooperative's Holcomb coal-fired plant near Garden City in southwest Kansas and one of Kansas' largest oil refineries, CHS Refinery, near McPherson in central Kansas are secondary sites. Importantly, the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU) with coal- and natural gas-fired plants in the Kansas City area will participate providing optional sites and an additional perspective from a large metropolitan area.

The KGS will undertake highly technical, sub-basinal evaluations of CO₂ storage building upon prior regional characterization studies conducted under DOE-NETL project DE-FE0002056. Risk assessment of the CO₂ storage sites will be augmented through the use and testing of new models and tools developed by the DOE national laboratories under the DOE-NETL's NRAP (National Risk Assessment Partnership). Site-specific, risk assessments will incorporate "lessons learned" by the KGS during the final EPA (Region 7) review of the Class VI geosequestration permit for storage of 26,000 tonnes of CO₂ within the Arbuckle saline aquifer at Wellington Field (DE-FE0006821). The success of the recent Class II CO₂-EOR injection in the overlying Mississippian oil reservoir at Wellington supports the viability of the stacked reservoir concept. Critically, the experience and knowledge gained during the Class VI application process demonstrates the team's technical capabilities to address post-injection site care, site closure, financial assurance, and long-long term liability. Inclusion of NRAP tools for storage assessment should provide common risk metrics for screening potential CO₂ storage sites.

The ICKan team will consist of a number of industry partners that will provide additional expertise in support of this project. These additional partners and their roles are described in the paragraphs below. The Linde Group, a multinational engineering company and the world's largest industrial gas company, will evaluate the technical challenges and develop plans for CO₂ capture and transportation in Kansas. They will incorporate real world lessons learned from their recent international CO₂ capture projects, in addition to DOE-sponsored projects such as the Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI). The Linde Group has already demonstrated planning and operational expertise in Kansas by coordinating with two industrial sources and transporting 20,000 tonnes of CO₂ allowing the Berexco/KGS team to complete a successful, small-scale CO₂-EOR pilot program at the Wellington site as part of DE-FE0006821. The Linde Group views Kansas as a strategic, midcontinent location for implementing an economically viable, anthropogenic-based, CO₂ source-to-sink network.

Oil producers operating fields near the primary CO₂ sources are also Team members and include Blake Exploration, Casillas Petroleum, Knighton Oil Company, and Stroke of Luck Energy and Exploration. They will provide access to information from the CO₂ storage sites and are interested in economic utilization and storage of CO₂ and reflect a large and growing interest among the petroleum industry in CO₂-EOR for revitalizing Kansas' mature oil fields.

The law firm, DePew, Gillen, Rathbun, and McInteer (DGRM), located in Wichita, Kansas is well qualified to assist in this CCS effort providing expertise in energy, environmental, regulatory, business law, and public policy.

The Great Plains Institute (GPI) is a non-profit organization that works with diverse interests to promote both environmentally and economically sustainable energy technologies. In collaboration with other team members, GPI's role will be to: 1) help foster public acceptance of the project, 2) develop a public input and education process that will take place in Phase II, 3) identify legal and regulatory obstacles and determine possible remedies, and 4) explore the impact of federal and state policies and incentives on project viability and economics. GPI and the KGS co-lead a CO₂-EOR assessment in 2012 for the Midwestern Governors' Association (MGA). GPI also brings a proven understanding of energy policy at the national level as exemplified as a co-convener with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions of the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative (NEORI).

Dr. Dubois with Improved Hydrocarbon Recovery in Lawrence, Kansas has managed large-scale multidiscipline geologic characterization, modeling, and simulation studies including leading the Southwest Kansas CO₂-EOR Initiative as a subcontractor for project DE-FE0002056. His experience in successful management, familiarity with Kansas geology, petroleum industry, and its people make him eminently qualified to manage the project and help in the realization of the project's goals.

The multi-disciplinary approach undertaken by ICKan will create a plan that addresses regulatory, legislative, technical, public policy, commercial, and financial challenges for commercial-scale CCS in Kansas. Furthermore, the CCS Coordination Team will offer a strategy that will bring rural and urban communities, state government, and academia together with industry to initiate and establish a viable path to CCS that will benefit the greater energy economy with cleaner air and water and new oil production with a reduced carbon footprint. The CCS Coordinating Team will help guide decisions including adding members to augment the existing expertise. Selected storage sites to be characterized and modeled would each be designed to safely store at least 50 million tonnes of CO₂ in stacked reservoirs that include the Arbuckle saline aquifer and overlying oil fields.

ICKan will address the handling of CO₂ emissions from the source and transport them to the storage site utilizing the combined knowledge and experience of The Linde Group including their own research on post-combustion 2nd Generation CO₂ capture currently sponsored by the DOE, the electrical utilities, refinery, and the latest R&D efforts such as DOE's Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative. The knowledge, experience, and lessoned learned by the KGS regarding regional studies, site characterization, monitoring, EPA Class VI permitting, and incorporating NRAP models and tools will be bring best-practices to bear on proving up a commercial-scale carbon storage complex that is safe and dependable.

In this Phase I: Integrated CCS Pre-Feasibility Study, ICKan will complete the formation of the CCS Coordination Team who will deliver a plan and strategy to address the technical and non-technical challenges specific to commercial-scale deployment of a CO₂ storage project utilizing the experience and the expertise of the Team. A development plan will address technical requirements, economic feasibility, and public acceptance of an eventual storage project at the primary source-sink site at Westar Energy's Jeffrey Energy Center. High-level technical evaluations will also be made of sub-basin and potential CO₂ sources utilizing prior experience and methodologies developed previously and for this project. The ICKan and CCS Coordination Team will generate information that will allow DOE to make a determination of the proposed storage complex's level of readiness for additional development under Phase II, based upon the findings for commercial-scale capture, transportation, and storage sites identified as part of this investigation. Information acquired will be shared via the NETL-EDX data portal.