Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC)

Updates on Integrated Carbon Capture, Utilization,and Storage (CCUS) Projects in North Dakota
January 24, 2023
Charles D. Gorecki, CEO© 2023 University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center.

OUR VISION
TO LEAD THE WORLD IN
DEVELOPING SOLUTIONSTO ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
CHALLENGES.

OUR FACILITIES
254,000 SQ. FT. OF FACILITIESDIVERSE EXPERTISE

AND CAPABILITIES TO IMPACT THE WORLDCO2 CAN BE MANAGED
Image Credit – EERC

Image Credit – EERC

Image Credit – EERC

Image Credit – NACCO Industries

Image Credit – EERC

PLAINS CO2 REDUCTION(PCOR) PARTNERSHIP
2003–2005 – PCOR Partnership: Characterization
2005–2008 – PCOR Partnership: Field Validation
2007–2019 – PCOR Partnership: Commercial Demonstration
2019–2024 – PCOR Partnership Initiative: Commercial Deployment

Image credit – EERC

SAMPLING OF PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS THAT THE EERC HASPARTNERED ON WITH INDUSTRY TO ENABLE CCUS (SINCE 2003)** Does not include
direct contract work to
support commercial
CCUS project
development andimplementation withouta publicly funded
component.

WILLISTON BASIN SALINE STORAGE OPPORTUNITIESApproximate Location of Center, ND

Fox Hills Formation: Lowest
underground source of drinking
water (USDW).
Inyan Kara: Primary target for produced
water disposal in the Williston Basin.
Potential target for CO2 storage.
Broom Creek Formation:
Target for CO2 storage.
Winnipeg/Deadwood: Target forCO2 storage.

NORTH DAKOTA’S LEVERAGE
Class VI
Primacy
45Q Tax Credit
CO2 Storage LongTerm Liability Laws
Pore Space Ownership
Laws
20 Years of Applied R&D in
CCUS

North Dakota’s Energy
FutureUNDERGROUNDINJECTION CONTROL(UIC) Program
UIC Program Standards:

1) Protection of USDW
2) Injection zone3) Confining zones (upper and lower)4) Area of review and corrective action5) Wellbore integrity demonstration

Class IClass IIClass IIIClass IVClass VClass VI

Hazardous andnonhazardous fluids(industrial and municipal
wastes).

Brines and other fluids
associated with oil andgas production,
including CO2 EOR.

Fluids associated withsolution mining ofminerals.

Hazardous orradioactive wastes. This
class is banned by EPA.

Nonhazardous fluids
into or above a USDW
and are typicallyshallow.

Injection of CO2 forlong-term storage.

INCENTIVES
45Q Tax Credits•

Projects beginning construction before January 1, 2033,
can claim credits for 12 years after operations begin.

West Coast LCFS Markets•

Credits trading up to $80–$220 per ton(June 2021–2022).

•

Provides for direct payment for 45Q credits.

•

Stacked with 45Q.

•

Tax credit for CO2 stored in a qualified enhanced oil
recovery (EOR) project: $60/tonne.
• Tax credit from direct air capture (DAC):$130/tonne.

•

No sales tax on capture-related infrastructure.

•

No sales tax on CO2 sold for EOR.

•

No sales tax on construction of pipeline.

•

Property tax-exempt for 10 years (equipment).

•

Coal conversion tax: tax reduction with CO2 capture (upto 50%).

•

No sales tax on CO2 EOR infrastructure.

•

0% extraction tax for 20 years for CO2 EOR.

•Tax credit for CO2 stored in a saline formation:$85/tonne.
• Tax credit from DAC: $180/tonne.

North Dakota Incentives

Image Credit – EERCANCILLARYREGULATORYMECHANISMSFACILITATEINDUSTRIAL
CCUS

Carbon dioxide storage facility administrative fund ($0.01/ton): administer program.
Carbon dioxide storage facility trust fund ($0.07/ton): postinjection compliance and long-term liability.
Amalgamation of pore space (forced at 60%).
Final decision issued within 12 months of the date a submitted carbon storage facility permit (SFP)
application is deemed complete.
State issues certificate of project completion (all criteria met – at least 10 years postinjection).
•

Releases responsibility, regulatory requirements, and bonds.

•

Transfer of title and custody to storage facility and stored CO2 to state.

•State oversees/responsible for monitoring and managing the storage facility until such time as federal
government assumes responsibility (assures site access/confidence).

State retains all authority to regulate future mineral and UIC activities.
•

Preserve the integrity of storage facility (guard against recapture).

State-issued determination of storage (facilitate carbon credits, allowances, trading, emission
allocations, offsets, or participation in other incentive program).

NORTH DAKOTA
CCUS ACTIVITY

Approved permits:• Red Trail Energy (RTE)• Minnkota (Milton R. Young
Station)Pending permits:• Great Plains Synfuels Plant• Blue Flint Ethanol

8-month Review andApproval Process

RED TRAIL ENERGY• RTE announced June 16, 2022 as
the official start date of carbon
capture and storage (CCS)
operations.
• RTE is capturing 100% of CO2 fromthe fermentation process and isinjecting approximately 500 metrictons of CO2 per day into the Broom
Creek Formation.
• Approximately 82,000 tons stored
as of December 31, 2022.

Images Credit: Red Trail Energy Broom
Creek
Formation:
 Broom
Creek
Formation: >10>10 billion
COtons CObillion tonnes
2 Storage Potential
2 storage
potential

 RTE CCS: ~3 million tonnes CO2 over 20years RTE CCS: ~18 million tons
(if injecting up to 100
CO2years)

18

RED TRAIL ENERGY
SITE LAYOUT

RTE NORTH DAKOTA SFP•

RTE NDIC SFP

Supplemental U.S. Department ofEnergy (DOE)–PCOR Partnershipmonitoring activities integrated with
RTE’s SFP.
 SFP ensures safe storage andcompliance.
 SFP requires a periodic testing
and monitoring plan.

RED TRAIL ENERGYSTORAGE FACILITY
AREA

MONITORING CO2 SATURATION AND PRESSURE
Analyze historical InSAR.

Build and install reflective
monuments to improvesurface signal.
Surface expression of
injection operations.

Fiber-Optic Systems

InSAR
SASSA

Autonomous units for recording
SOV, vibroseis, and passive noise.

Parameter testing to optimize
autonomous sourcing.

DAS and DSS systems sense changes related
to saturation and pressure.
Record vibroseis for VSP (3D and walkaway).
Record strain and passive noise.
Parameter testing to optimize recording.

The project team will investigate the integration of these data sets into automated-predictive decision-making.

光ファイバーによるCO2モニタリング
CO2回収
SOV3

観測井
CO2パイプライン

光ファイバー

SOV2

WW2

RTE10.2

圧入井

SOV1

WW1

RTE10

SOV4

 Permanent fiber installed in the injection
well, deep monitoring well, CO2 flowline,
and groundwater-monitoring wells for realtime distributed temperature sensing(DTS), distributed acoustic sensing (DAS),
and distributed strain sensing (DSS). The
project team will integrate these data andinvestigate training methods with machinelearning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI) for
predictive decision-making.

Credit: Takayuki Miyoshi at RITEDAS （音響計測）
CO2プルームの広がり把握（DAS/VSP）DSS （ひずみ計
測）

坑井健全性、貯留層/遮蔽層安定性監視、CO2挙動監視

DTS （温度計測）

坑井周辺のCO2挙動監視（坑井健全性）
23

DISTRIBUTED FIBER-OPTIC STRAIN AND TEMPERATURE

DTS and DSS calibrated with casingconvey pressure/temperaturegauges.
DTS will continuously monitor
temperatures for wellbore integrity.
DSS will continuously measure andmonitor stress changes related toreservoir changes and integrate withother pressure data.

INTEGRATED GEOMECHANICAL MONITORING
InSAR• Integration between injection data,
InSAR, and DSS.
• High-frequency (weekly) data and
AI/ML-ready.

20-year Pressure
Difference
10 psi20 psi30 psi*Outlines based on approved
NIDC SFP permit.

SCALABLE AUTOMATED SPARSE SEISMIC ARRAY (SASSA) Monitoring of strategically locatedsubsurface discrete locations forunderstanding plume extents.
 Single-fold weekly reflectionchanges indicate change in CO2
saturation.
 Integrate with dynamic reservoir
simulations.

Bell Creek Oil Field, MT – SASSA Example

SASSASASSA PLANNING – NOISE TEST

Enhancing and optimizing cost-effective methods that
reduce surface impact, lower HSE risk, and allow forsafer storage.

 Deployment of a sparse array of geophones at strategic
locations for monitoring the injected CO2 plume.
 RITE’s SOV source will be recorded with the sparsearray on a daily/weekly basis.



96 Zland 3C nodes to be
deployed for noisecharacterization and
SASSA baseline.
20 Geospace GSX-C nodes
for demonstration of on
demand remote harvesting.
750 Stryde nodes deployedin high-density arrays fornoise characterization andmonitoring phase of
SASSA.
https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/seismic/permitfiles/970304.pdf

HIGH-FREQUENCY VERTICAL SEISMIC PROFILES• Four SOVs are installed insheds for protection.
• Each SOV includes ageophone installed beneaththe foundation to capturesource signature.
• Maximum ground force is
15 tonnes.

SUSTAINABLE MONITORING Ensure safe storage and regulatory compliance.
 Robust risk-based sustainable monitoring plan
to meets storage goals.
 Allows for adaptations to the monitoring plan.
 Track the movement of CO2 and assure
permanence for geologic storage.
 Provide measurements of downhole andreservoir conditions for real-time decisionmaking and process optimization.
 Decrease the cost and uncertainty inmeasurements and satisfy regulations.
 Provide long-term postinjection monitoring.

Be good stewards of the land...

PCOR PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE MISSION:
Accelerating Commercial Deployment of CCUS in the Region

Charles Gorecki, CEOcgorecki@undeerc.org
701.777.5355 (phone)

Energy & Environmental
Research Center
University of North Dakota
15 North 23rd Street, Stop 9018
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9018
www.undeerc.org
701.777.5000 (phone)
701.777.5181 (fax)

THANK YOU

Critical Challenges. Practical Solutions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy
National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award Nos. DE-FE0031838
and DE-FE0026160.
DISCLAIMER
This presentation was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the UnitedStates Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor anyof their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or
responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus,
product, or process disclosed or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned
rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by tradename, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its
endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency
thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state orreflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

EERC DISCLAIMERLEGAL NOTICE This material was prepared by the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), an agency of the University of North Dakota, as an account ofwork sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC). Because of
the research nature of the work performed, neither the EERC nor any of its employees makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility
for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.
Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its
endorsement or recommendation by the EERC.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This material is based upon work supported by DOE NETL under Award No. DE-FE0031838 and NDIC under Contract Nos. FX-XCI-226 and G-050-96.
DOE DISCLAIMER
This material was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency
thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of
any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial
product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by
the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States
Government or any agency thereof.
NDIC DISCLAIMER
This material was prepared by the EERC pursuant to an agreement partially funded by the Industrial Commission of North Dakota, and neither the EERC nor any of its
subcontractors nor the North Dakota Industrial Commission nor any person acting on behalf of either:(A)

Makes any warranty or representation, express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained in this report or that theuse of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report may not infringe privately owned rights; or(B) Assumes any liabilities with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of, any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report.
Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply
its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the North Dakota Industrial Commission. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state orreflect those of the North Dakota Industrial Commission.
BEST
Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FE0026160

DOE PCOR Agreement #: DE-FE0031838
DOE BEST Agreement #: DE-FE0026160
Red Trail Energy (MSA) Agreement #: None
NDIC LRP (PCOR) Agreement #: FY20-XCI-226
Legal Notice/Disclaimer:“This material was prepared by the Energy & Environmental Research Center pursuant to an agreement partially funded by the Industrial Commission of North Dakota andneither the Energy & Environmental Research Center, nor any of its subcontractors nor the Industrial Commission of North Dakota nor any person acting on behalf of either:(A) Make any warranty or representation, express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained in this report, or that theuse of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report may not infringe privately-owned rights; or(B) Assume any liabilities with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of, any information, apparatus, method or process disclosed in this report.
Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its
endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Industrial Commission of North Dakota. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state orreflect those of the Industrial Commission of North Dakota.”
NDIC OGRC (PCOR) Agreement Number #: G-050-C-096
Legal Notice/Disclaimer:“This material was prepared by the Energy & Environmental Research Center pursuant to an agreement partially funded by the Industrial Commission of North Dakota andneither the Energy & Environmental Research Center, nor any of its subcontractors nor the Industrial Commission of North Dakota nor any person acting on behalf of either:(A) Makes any warranty or representation, express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information contained in this report, or that theuse of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed in this report may not infringe privately-owned rights; or(B) Assumes any liabilities with respect to the use of, or for damages resulting from the use of, any information, apparatus, method or process disclosed in this report.
Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its
endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Industrial Commission of North Dakota. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state orreflect those of the Industrial Commission of North Dakota.”