(413d) Building the Permit for the First Carbon Storage Hub in the United States

Objectives/Scope: To commercialize CCUS, the U.S. Department of Energy is building on decades of characterization efforts and pilot-scale projects through their CarbonSAFE initiative. Administered through their Laboratory, this program seeks to bring fully integrated projects to the sector that are capable of storing more than 50 million tonnes of CO₂ over a 30 year period. The program, enacted prior to enhancement of the Internal Revenue Code Section 45Q, is in the characterization and permitting phase. The objectives of this paper are to discuss a) the injection permitting requirements for the project; b) information gathering in support of the permit; c) the timelines of field development and permit-related activities; d) the major technical components of the field development plan; and e) early feedback from the regulators towards acceptance of the permit.

Methods/Procedures/Process: In Mississippi, a >30,000 acre area has been characterized by six deep characterization wells, a deep groundwater well, and >90 line miles of 2D seismic. A suite of openhole well logs were taken from each well, allowing for detailed interpretation of prospective storage reservoirs and confining intervals, to complement 290 feet of whole core. The geologic model was assembled and input into a 3D model to assess injection capacity and the Area of Review (AoR). This information fed into the detailed corrective action, monitoring, testing, and Post Injection Site Care (PISC) modeling.

Results/Observations/Conclusions: The results have been exceptional. The geologic assessment has revealed three primary storage targets, ranging in depth from 3,500 to 6,000 ft. These storage reservoirs net 1,300 feet of sandstone reservoir, with mean porosity and permeability of 29% and 3.6 Darcies. Together, these reservoirs have storage capacities that may exceed 20 million tonnes per square mile, making this a gigatonne prospect. Forward modeling of the project resulted in an AoR of 17 sq miles, injecting 8,000 tonnes/day for 30 years, via two deep injection wells. The excellent confining characteristics of the caprock, relatively simple geologic structure, and lack of historical well drilling activity in this area provide excellent containment of the injected CO₂. Based on this work, the Project has proposed 20 years of PISC.

Applications/Significance/Novelty: To date, there have only been two U.S. CO₂ injection permits granted. These projects have been source to sink and have not looked at pulling together CO₂ emissions from other industrial activities. This is a first-of-a-kind storage hub concept that looks to develop an area capable of storing significant quantities of CO₂ from the region. Also, this work will show how characterization efforts, geological and numerical modeling efforts, and plan development were constructed in support of permit and incentives acceptance.