Testing the ISO Carbon Dioxide Geological Storage International Standard (ISO 27914) Against a U.S. CO2 Storage Site Characterization Program

Kemper County in southern Mississippi, USA is home to “Project ECO₂S,” also known as “Establishing an Early CO₂ Storage Complex in Kemper County Mississippi.” Project ECO₂S is one of 16 Carbon-Safe program projects (Phase II) and is a commercial-scale CO₂ storage complex, with financial and technical support from Mississippi Power Company, a Southern Company Affiliate. Storage capacity at the site is on the order of one gigatonne. This effort will drive advancements in understanding of CO₂ storage business arrangements, processes and technologies, and potentially result in accelerating storage of industrial CO₂.

Project ECO₂S, along with other pilot CCS projects, provide significant experiential results which further the feasibility for commercial CCS implementation. Other important work on this front includes the recently published standard for Carbon Dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage standard (ISO27914:2018) developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This work contains internationally recognized requirements for the permanent geologic storage of CO₂. The standard, which was developed by a group of technical experts from around the world, including the United States, was developed with the intention of promoting an increase in CO₂ storage through globally harmonized practices and technologies.

The overarching objective of this study is to present a comparison of Project ECO₂S to the recently developed ISO27914 standard for geological storage. There is sufficient subject matter overlap between ISO27914 and Project ECO2S to generate useful insights that the Project Team and other proponents of Project ECO2S can use to evaluate current activity and incorporate in to planning for future phases of the CarbonSafe program. The presentation is also intended to serve as an outreach and education piece for the broader CCS community, both domestic and international, who can benefit from learning not only about Project ECO₂S, but the work of ISO Technical Committee 265.