BATTELLE: BUILDING A CENTER OF EXPERTISE IN CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE THROUGH DOE CARBONSAFE (Invited Presentation)

Battelle Memorial Institute is a leading nonprofit applied science and technology development company, known for its climate resilience work. This includes the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), as well as H₂ and Direct Air Capture Hubs, Geothermal projects, research into Critical Minerals and the recycling/upcycling of plastics.

This presentation will provide an overview of Battelle’s 25 years of experience in CCS, both domestic and internationally for government and commercial clients. Our approach is grounded in detailed geoscience, advanced simulations, laboratory work and pilot-to-commercial scale field projects.

The talk will briefly introduce the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, our commercial CCS development program, our international work with World Bank, and our public/private demonstration projects at AEP Mountaineer and Future Gen.

The talk will take a deeper dive into our CarbonSAFE projects. These public-private funded projects aim to develop 50-million-ton scale facilities. We have completed early-stage work in Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, and Michigan and we are in negotiation for a project in Kentucky. This talk will provide an overview of our plans for work in Southern Michigan and in Kentucky.

The CarbonSAFE - SEMI Phase II will conduct a comprehensive Storage Complex feasibility study to address subsurface aspects that will ensure safe and permanent storage of CO2 in the Southeastern Michigan Basin. Phase II will also consider the CO2 sources, pipeline placement and requirements, legal and regulatory requirements, risk management, community benefits and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility issues to ensure technical and economic viability and public acceptance.

The CarbonSafe- Kentucky Phase II will determine the potential plume size for sequestering CO₂ emissions, find the maximum injection rate and pressure of CO₂ for the Knox Group reservoir at our site location and to quantitatively estimate the total capacity of the formation in the region, validating the potential for large-scale commercial injection. The goals are to 1) Confirm storage feasibility; 2) Develop risk mitigation plans for technical and non-technical risks; 3) Plan for Underground Injection Control permitting; 4) Determine economic feasibility; and 5) Develop of Community Benefits Plan and execute stakeholder outreach.