U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

NETL’S CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL INDEX

FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2019

October 2018 – September 2019
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

NETL’S CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

This Annual Index is a compilation of the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) monthly Carbon Storage Newsletters (CSN) published from October 2018 to September 2019. The CSN is produced by NETL to 

provide information on activities and publications related to carbon storage. It covers domestic, international, 

public sector, and private sector news. Outdated information (e.g., conference dates, paper submittals, etc.) and 

duplicative stories have been removed. 

Note that all links were active at the time of publication.

A comprehensive archive of the CSN is available on the NETL website.

CONTENTS

DOE/NETL HIGHLIGHTS .....................................................................................................3

PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS .........................................................................5

LEGISLATION and POLICY..................................................................................................9

EMISSIONS TRADING ......................................................................................................12

SCIENCE NEWS ..............................................................................................................15

JOURNAL ARTICLES........................................................................................................19

REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS ..........................................................................................38

ANNOUNCEMENTS..........................................................................................................44
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

3

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 DOE/NETL HIGHLIGHTS

DOE/NETL HIGHLIGHTS

OCTOBER 2018

DOE Invests to Advance Associated Geologic Storage.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) selected 

two projects to receive federal funding for cost-shared research and 

development (R&D). Selected under Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) 

DE-FOA-0001829, “Developing Technologies for Advancement of Associated 

Geologic Storage in Basinal Geo-Laboratories,” the projects will address 

technical research needs and key challenges in advancing associated geologic 

storage in support of DOE’s Carbon Storage Program. In addition, the projects 

will support the development of best practices for commercial implementation 

of carbon storage technologies. From energy.gov on August 28, 2018.

NOVEMBER 2018

Energy Department Seeks Information on Transformational Sensing for 

the Subsurface.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) issued 

a Request for Information (RFI) on the development of transformational 

sensing capabilities for monitoring parameters associated with subsurface 

carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. The objective of the RFI is to assess relevant 

state-of-the-art sensor technologies and determine future needs associated 

with CO2 injection, including requirements of the future storage industry 

for cost-effective monitoring, the priority of technology opportunities 

for developing transformational sensor capabilities for monitoring 

parameters, and ways to improve how technology can be effectively 

measured at minimum cost. Stakeholder responses to the RFI are due to 

the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) by December 3, 2018. 

From energy.gov on November 5, 2018.

DECEMBER 2018

DOE Issues RFP to Advance Coal Plants.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) issued 

a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking conceptual designs for coal-based 

power plants of the future. In addition, the RFP includes an option to conduct 

preliminary front-end engineering design (Pre-FEED) studies. The RFP is in 

support of the Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small, Transformative) 

Initiative, which looks to develop coal plants that provide secure, stable, and 

reliable power. From energy.gov on December 7, 2018.

JANUARY 2019

DOE Issues Notice of Intent for Carbon Storage Funding.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to provide 

federal funding for research and development (R&D) projects that contribute 

to the development of transformational sensing capabilities for monitoring 

parameters associated with subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. The 

National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage the projects selected 

under the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), “Transformational 

Sensing Capabilities for Monitoring the Subsurface,” which will be issued in 

fiscal year (FY) 2019. The objective of the FOA is to competitively solicit and 

award R&D projects that improve existing technologies to reduce uncertainty 

and enable real-time decision-making associated with subsurface CO2 storage. 

From energy.gov on January 3, 2019.

FEBRUARY 2019

There were no new DOE/NETL Highlights printed in the February 2019 CSN.

MARCH 2019

Eight Projects Selected to Receive Federal Funding.

Eight projects have been selected to receive federal funding for cost-shared 

research and development (R&D) for “Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture 

Transformational Technologies.” The scope of the projects aligns with the U.S. 

Department of Energy’s (DOE) ministerial-level Mission Innovation report, titled 

“Accelerating Breakthrough Innovation in Carbon Capture, Utilization, and 

Storage.” The projects are funded by the Office of Fossil Energy’s (FE) Carbon 

Capture Program and will be managed by the National Energy Technology 

Laboratory (NETL). From energy.gov on February 28, 2019.

APRIL 2019

DOE Announces Funding to Accelerate CCUS.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced federal funding for 

cooperative agreements that will help accelerate the deployment of carbon 

capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). Through this Funding Opportunity 

Announcement (FOA), DOE will look to award cooperative agreements to 

research and development (R&D) projects that will help identify and address 

regional storage and transport challenges currently facing the development of 

CCUS. Specifically, this FOA seeks to preserve, share, and advance existing R&D 

by addressing key technical challenges; facilitating data collection, sharing, and 

analysis; evaluating regional infrastructure; and promoting regional technology 

transfer. The selected projects will support the Office of Fossil Energy’s (FE) 

Carbon Storage Program. From energy.gov on April 1, 2019. 

DOE Selects Carbon Storage Project for Funding.

DOE selected a carbon capture project and a carbon storage project to receive 

federal funding. The associated geologic storage project was selected under 

the FOA “Developing Technologies for Advancement of Associated Geologic 

Storage for Basinal Geo-Laboratories.” Supported by FE’s Carbon Storage 

Program and managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), 

the University of Wyoming project plans to establish the technical and 

economic viability of associated carbon dioxide (CO2) storage and oil recovery 

in the greenfield residual oil zones of the Powder River Basin of Wyoming 

and Montana (USA). It joins two other associated geologic storage projects

announced to receive funding in August 2018. From energy.gov on March 29, 

2019.

DOE Announces Funding for FEED Studies.

DOE announced federal funding for cost-shared R&D for front-end engineering 

design (FEED) studies for CO2 capture. Supporting FEED studies for 

commercial CO2 capture systems helps to understand the costs associated 

with CCUS. The projects will be funded by FE’s Carbon Capture Program. 

From energy.gov on March 14, 2019.

MAY 2019

DOE Announces Funding for Coal R&D Projects.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced federal funding for costshared research and development (R&D) projects for advanced coal 

technologies and research. The projects for coal-fueled power plants and 

technologies will fall under five separate Funding Opportunity Announcements 

(FOAs). One of the FOAs, Transformational Sensing Systems for Monitoring the 

Deep Subsurface, supported by the Office of Fossil Energy (FE) Carbon Storage 

Program, seeks to reduce uncertainty and enable real-time decision making 

associated with subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. All of the selected 

projects will be managed by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory 

(NETL). From energy.gov on April 10, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

4

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 DOE/NETL HIGHLIGHTS

JUNE 2019

NETL Signs Partnership with ExxonMobil and NREL.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory 

(NETL) signed a research and development (R&D) partnership with ExxonMobil 

and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Per the cooperative 

research and development agreement (CRADA), ExxonMobil is investing up 

to $100 million over 10 years for the R&D of advanced lower-emissions 

technologies. The agreement will support research and collaboration in 

bringing biofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS) to commercial 

scale. In addition to developing technologies related to energy efficiency and 

greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, the joint research will also focus on reducing 

emissions from fuel and petrochemicals production; stimulate collaborative 

projects among ExxonMobil, NREL, and NETL; and facilitate work with other 

national laboratories, such as the Idaho National Laboratory. From National 

Energy Technology Laboratory on May 8, 2019.

JULY 2019

There were no new DOE/NETL Highlights printed in the July 2019 CSN.

AUGUST 2019

DOE Invests in Large-Scale Fossil Fuel Pilot Projects.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) selected six 

projects to receive federal funding to support future design and construction 

of the next generation of coal-fired power plants that are flexible, resilient, 

economical, and emit near-zero emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2). The 

projects were selected under Phase II of the “Fossil Fuel Large-Scale Pilots” 

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), which was issued in August 2017 

and includes three phases, with competitive down-selections made between 

each phase. All of the selected projects will be managed by the National Energy 

Technology Laboratory (NETL). From energy.gov on July 9, 2019.

SEPTEMBER 2019

NETL Hosts Inaugural Comprehensive Annual Project Review Meeting.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) hosted the inaugural 

Carbon Capture, Utilization, Storage, and Oil & Gas Technologies Integrated 

Project Review Meeting, showcasing research aimed at developing novel 

technological solutions to the nation’s energy challenges. “Addressing the 

Nation’s Energy Needs Through Technology Innovation” combined four Office 

of Fossil Energy (FE) research programs, offering attendees an opportunity to 

share in the knowledge and insights gained from more than 200 research 

projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Carbon Capture, 

Utilization and Storage, and Oil and Natural Gas Programs. From energy.gov

on August 30, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

5

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

OCTOBER 2018

Application Submitted for CO2 Storage Project.

Partners in the Northern Lights project have submitted an application for an 

exploration permit for a subsea reservoir for CO2 injection and storage on the 

Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The project, which is part of Norwegian 

authorities’ efforts to develop full-scale CCS in Norway, will capture CO2 from 

the onshore industrial facilities in eastern Norway and transport it, via ship, to 

an onshore receiving plant located on the west coast of Norway. From there, 

the CO2 will be sent by pipeline on the seabed to injection wells east of the 

Troll field on the NCS. The first phase of the project has the potential to reach 

a capacity of approximately 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year. From Offshore 

Energy Today on September 10, 2018.

Climeworks Launches Third Direct Air CO2 Capture Plant.

Climeworks launched its third Direct Air Capture (DAC) demonstration plant, 

which removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Located in southern Italy, DAC-3 will 

be in operation for 4,000 hours over the next 17 months. Climeworks also has 

DAC plants in Switzerland and Iceland; the latter of which annually injects 50 

metric tons of CO2 underground. From Business Green on October 1, 2018.

NOVEMBER 2018

Ground Broken on STEP Pilot Power Plant.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for a Supercritical Transformational 

Electric Power (STEP) pilot plant in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Project partners 

include DOE, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), the Gas Technology Institute 

(GTI), and GE Global Research. The 10-megawatt (MW) supercritical carbon 

dioxide (sCO2) facility will demonstrate the next generation of higher-efficiency, 

lower-cost electric power technology. Current power plants use water as a 

thermal medium in power cycles; replacing it with sCO2 increases efficiency 

by as much as 10 percent. Because of the efficiency of sCO2 as a thermal 

medium, STEP turbomachinery can be one-tenth the size of conventional 

power plant components. From SwRI Press Release on October 15, 2018.

Companies Sign MOU to Support CCS.

Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) (Norway) and DNV GL signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a global advisory partnership 

to support carbon capture technologies. The partnership will build on current 

carbon capture and storage (CCS) efforts and deliver advisory and verification 

services for CO2 capture technology. Technology companies currently conduct 

advanced testing of their carbon capture technologies at TCM; integration of 

technology verification is expected to expedite new solutions to the market. 

From Carbon Capture Journal on October 28, 2018.

EOR Pipeline Proposed.

A Texas (USA) company is proposing a 110-mile CO2 pipeline in Montana 

(USA) that has the potential to release as many as 400 million barrels of oil 

through enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Subsidiaries of Denbury Resources, Inc. 

proposed the Cedar Creek Anticline CO2 pipeline, which would deliver CO2 from 

Bell Creek oil field in southwest Montana to the Cedar Creek Anticline fields 

in eastern Montana near the North Dakota border over several decades. If 

approved, Denbury plans to begin construction on the pipeline in 2019. From 

Great Falls Tribune on October 9, 2019.

DECEMBER 2018

DOE Awards Grant for CCS Research.

A DOE grant for CCS research will allow the University of Kentucky Center for 

Applied Energy Research (CAER) to develop new technologies to lower the 

cost of capturing CO2. CAER’s project, titled “Advancing Post-Combustion CO2

Capture through Increased Mass Transfer and Lower Degradation,” proposes 

to “advance deployment of CO2 capture through enabling technologies that 

increase CO2 mass transfer and reduce solvent loss.” CAER and partner 

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will develop and fabricate 

customized dynamic packing and an electrochemical cell, both of which will be 

tested on CAER’s bench-scale CO2 capture unit. From Carbon Capture Journal

on November 18, 2018.

BECCS Pilot Plant Underway in Europe.

The commissioning of a bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) 

pilot plant at Drax Power Station has been initiated. If successful, the project 

will capture 1 metric ton of CO2 per day at Drax, located near Selby in North 

Yorkshire, United Kingdom (UK). According to estimates by the Royal Academy 

and Royal Society of Engineers, BECCS technology has the potential to lead to 

the capture of approximately 50 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2050. 

From Drax Press Release on November 26, 2018.

UK Government Announces Plan for CCUS Project.

At a summit of international leaders, UK government officials announced plans 

for a CCUS project, which could be operational beginning in the mid-2020s. 

As part of the UK’s Industrial Strategy, the government action plan will commit 

the UK to begin identifying opportunities to enable the CCUS facility, invest in 

supporting construction of CCUS technologies at industrial sites across the UK, 

and invest in the decarbonizing industry. From UK Government Press Release 

on November 28, 2018. 

Agreement Reached on CO2 Storage Infrastructure.

Crown Estate Scotland announced the signing of a lease option for CO2 storage 

with the Acorn CCS project, based at the St. Fergus Gas Terminal on the 

Aberdeenshire coast. The project is designed to utilize existing oil and gas assets 

to deliver large-scale, cost-effective CO2 transport and storage infrastructure 

in the Central North Sea. When combined with CCUS infrastructure, Scotland’s 

geology below the Central North Sea has the potential to store approximately 

75 percent of the UK’s capacity of CO2 emissions, helping to meet UK and 

Scottish targets. From Crown Estate Scotland Media Release on November 

27, 2018. 

JANUARY 2019

CCS Test Started at Japanese Cement Plant.

In conjunction with the government of Japan’s Ministry of Environment, Taiheiyo 

Cement started a CCS test at its Fujiwara plant in Inabe, Japan. The company is 

testing a chemical absorption method, with further installations on the project 

planned in early 2019. From Global Cement on January 2, 2019.

CCS License Awarded.

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), the licensing authority of offshore CO2 storage 

in the United Kingdom (UK), awarded a CO2 appraisal and storage license to 

Pale Blue Dot Energy for the Acorn CCS project, which seeks to reuse existing 

oil and gas infrastructure for transporting and storing CO2. In addition, the Acorn 

CCS project will also repurpose or rebuild an existing CO2 capture facility based 

at the St. Fergus Gas Terminal, located on the Aberdeenshire coast. Together 

with the lease option awarded by Crown Estate Scotland, these documents 

allow Pale Blue Dot to undertake the characterization work required for a full 

lease and storage permit to permanently store CO2 at the Acorn CO2 storage 

site. From Oil and Gas Authority on December 6, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

6

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Zero-Emission Cement Plant Takes Shape in Norway.

A cement plant in Brevik, Norway, is moving towards becoming carbon free. 

According to officials at the Norcem plant, the first stage of CCS installation 

is expected to capture approximately half of the plant’s CO2 emissions. A final 

feasibility study will be published in August 2019 in order to inform a Norwegian 

government proposal to invest in building the full-scale CCS facility. According 

to officials, if the proposal is approved by Parliament, the project will enter a 

three-year construction phase. From EURACTIV.com on December 17, 2018.

CCS Projects Selected for EU Funding.

Twelve near-zero emissions projects were awarded European Union (EU) 

Horizon 2020 funding under the Competitive Low-Carbon Energy calls for 

proposals. The selected projects are expected to develop technologies for 

capturing, storing, and converting CO2. Project areas include advanced CO2

capture technologies, conversion of captured CO2, strategic planning for CCUS 

development, and modeling in support of the transition to a low-carbon energy 

system in Europe. The projects are expected to be launched in spring 2019. 

From Carbon Capture Journal on December 21, 2018.

FEBRUARY 2019

Large-Scale CO2 Storage Field Trials Planned.

Very Large Scale Decarbonization Partners (VLS Decarb) is planning field trails 

in several U.S. shale basins, with the potential to further develop the trials into 

fully functioning CO2 storage facilities. VLS Decarb is in the process of securing 

Precedent Agreements for long-term carbon storage contracts. From Carbon 

Capture Journal on February 4, 2019.

Permit Awarded for Carbon Storage Project.

The government of Norway awarded a permit for a CO2 storage project on the 

Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). Oil firm Equinor was awarded the permit 

for its “Northern Lights” project, which aligns with the government of Norway’s 

goal to develop and export new technologies for CCS. First announced in July 

2018, the Equinor project is currently performing FEED studies, which will 

provide cost estimates. From The Maritime Executive on January 11, 2019.

Technology Development May Lead to EOR Operations.

The development of Carbon Engineering’s “Air to Fuels” technology may enable 

captured CO2 to be used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations. Direct 

air capture (DAC) plants are not location-dependent, meaning they could 

be sited near an oil field to enable the CO2 to be used for EOR operations. 

Carbon Engineering has been capturing 1 ton/day of atmospheric CO2 at a 

pilot plant in Squamish, British Columbia (Canada), since 2015. The “Air to 

Fuels” technology produces synthetic fuel by combining the captured CO2

with hydrogen generated from electrolysis using renewable energy. From The 

Chemical Engineer on January 15, 2019.

DOE Collaboration May Help Identify, Design New CCS Materials.

A computational modeling method may help to fast-track the identification and 

design of new CCS materials for use by coal-fired power plants. Developed at 

the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, in collaboration 

with DOE/NETL scientists, the hypothetical mixed matrix membranes would 

provide an economical solution, with a predicted cost of less than $50/ton 

of CO2 removed. The research findings were published in the Royal Society 

of Chemistry journal Energy & Environmental Science. From University of 

Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering on January 8, 2019.

MARCH 2019

DOE Research Grant Awarded for CO2 Storage Monitoring.

As part of a new project awarded by DOE, GroundMetrics Inc. will use proprietary 

sensor systems and machine learning to monitor CO2 in the subsurface. In 

partnership with DOE, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and 

Expero Inc., GroundMetrics will develop a continuous monitoring system to 

measure resistivity changes in the subsurface, enabling CO2 saturation to be 

monitored and providing insight into how the CO2 is distributed underground. 

From Business Insider on February 21, 2019.

CCS Project Publishes Findings.

The ACT Acorn project announced findings of its research into the feasibility 

of establishing a carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility in the North Sea. 

Geologists involved in the international research project analyzed sandstone 

and caprock samples at two potential storage sites in the North Sea to 

determine if they were suitable for the injection and long-term storage of CO2. 

The key findings from the ACT Acorn project evaluated the potential value of the 

United Kingdom’s (U.K.) existing North Sea oil and gas transport infrastructure 

coupled with a natural CO2 geologic storage resource. From Phys.Org on 

February 20, 2019.

BECCS Pilot Plant Operations Underway.

The BECCS demonstration plant at Drax Power Station, near Shelby in North 

Yorkshire, U.K., has begun operations to capture one metric ton of CO2 per day. 

Data being obtained during the pilot will be analyzed to understand the utilized 

technology’s potential to be scaled-up and to identify and develop methods to 

store the captured CO2. From Drax Press Release on February 7, 2019.

Project Looks to Store CO2 in Salt Caverns.

Research conducted at the Research Center for Gas Innovation (RCGI) has 

shown the potential to store CO2 in salt caverns. According to RCGI, an 

Engineering Research Center (ERC) funded by São Paulo (Brazil) Research 

Foundation, the first “pilot cavern” may be ready by 2022. The site of the pilot 

has not yet been determined. From Phys.Org on February 14, 2019.

APRIL 2019

Aker Solutions Selected for CCUS Work.

The Swedish fuel company Preem selected Aker Solutions to perform CCUS 

work at a Scandinavian oil refinery in Lysekil on the Swedish west coast. Aker 

Solutions will conduct a feasibility study of the technological and economic 

impact of implementing CO2 capture at Preemraff Lysekil, Scandinavia’s largest 

refinery. The scope of work also includes pilot testing of CO2 capture from the 

oil refinery flue gas under industrial conditions. According to Aker Solutions 

officials, the refinery in Lysekil is a potential candidate for carbon capture and 

storage (CCS). From Aker Solutions News on February 27, 2019.

Oil and Gas Authority to Research Renewable Energy.

The U.K.’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) research into powering the North Sea oil 

and gas assets with renewable energy sources is assessing CCS technology. 

According to an OGA press release, OGA will publish a policy position as well 

as a strategy that will cover CO2-EOR. From Energy Voice on March 21, 2019. 

MAY 2019

Drilling Begins on Carbon Storage Test.

As part of a DOE-funded project, drilling on a test well in Gillette, Wyoming 

(USA) was initiated as part of a storage complex feasibility study. The project 

is from DOE’s Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) 

Initiative, and the drilling will take place near Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s 

Dry Fork Station. The Dry Fork Station was selected to develop integrated 

carbon capture and storage (CCS) complexes that will be constructed and 

permitted for operation around 2025. From University of Wyoming News on 

April 12, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

7

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Ethanol Plant Moving Forward with CCS Project.

Red Trail Energy completed a geophysical survey on a North Dakota (USA) 

ethanol plant in which they propose to capture CO2 and store it underground. 

The data from the survey is expected to help scientists from the University 

of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center gain a better 

understanding of the subsurface geology of the Brook Creek formation. The 

project would involve the injection of approximately 160,000 metric tons of 

CO2 per year into the Brook Creek formation. From Williston Herald on April 

15, 2019.

JUNE 2019

Quest CCS Facility Reaches Milestone.

Shell’s Quest CCS facility in Alberta, Canada, has captured and stored 4 million 

metric tons of CO2, according to officials. The designs, certain intellectual 

property, and data from Quest were made publicly available in order to benefit 

future CCS projects. The Quest CCS facility captures and stores approximately 

one-third of the CO2 emissions from the Shell-operated Scotford Upgrader near 

Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. The CO2 is transported through a pipeline and 

stored underground. From Shell News Release on May 23, 2019.

CCS Project Gains Funding.

A CCS venture in Indiana (USA) secured funding to develop a CCS project 

capable of storing up to 1.75 million metric tons of CO2. The Wabash Valley 

Resources (WVR) project is expected to capture nearly 100% of the plant’s 

CO2 and store it in the Mount Simon Sandstone approximately 7,000 feet 

underground. According to WVR officials, the company will utilize the 

investment from the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative to produce ammonia with a 

near-zero carbon footprint. From Gasworld on May 21, 2019. 

Engineering Begins on DAC and Storage Plant.

An international oil and gas exploration and production company and a 

Canadian-based clean energy company will begin engineering and design of 

a direct-air capture (DAC) and storage facility. Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC 

(OLCV) and Carbon Engineering Ltd. (CE) are evaluating a facility, to be located 

in the Permian Basin, that will be capable of capturing 500 metric kilotons 

of atmospheric CO2 per year for use in enhanced oil recovery operations. 

Construction is expected to begin in 2021 pending initial approval by OLCV 

and CE, with the plant becoming operational within approximately two years. 

From Occidental News Release on May 21, 2019.

North Sea Gas Fields To Be Used for CO2 Storage.

The Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Ghent ports in Europe will be used to capture and 

store approximately 10 million metric tons of CO2 emissions under the North 

Sea. According to the Dutch government, the ports will be used in the transport 

of the CO2 into a porous reservoir of sandstone approximately two miles below 

the seabed. Plans call to begin construction of the CO2 network by 2026, with 

the project to be completed by 2030. A further expansion is expected after 

2030. From The Guardian on May 9, 2019.

China Implements CCS Project.

China implemented a CCS demonstration project in saline aquifers in Ordos, 

North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The demonstration project 

was launched in 2010 and had completed carbon capture, purification, 

pressurization, and drilling work by the end of that year. Carbon dioxide produced 

by coal liquefaction will be liquefied after it is captured and transported to the 

operation area by special tankers, where it will be injected into saline aquifers 

at depths ranging from approximately 4,900 to 8,200 feet underground for 

storage. From Chinanews.com on May 9, 2019.

Consortium Launches Industrial-Scale CCS Project.

A consortium of European stakeholders launched a project to demonstrate CO2

capture from industrial activities as part of a study dedicated to the development 

of the future European Dunkirk North Sea CCS cluster. The project is part of 

Horizon 2020, the European Union’s (EU) research and innovation project. 

The Dunkirk North Sea cluster, which is expected to be capable of capturing, 

packing, transporting, and storing 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year, is 

expected to be operational by 2035. From Oil & Gas Journal on May 28, 2019.

Partnership to Demonstrate CCUS.

Inventys announced a partnership to develop and demonstrate a full-cycle 

solution to capture and reuse CO2 from a cement plant. Project CO2MENT, 

being conducted in partnership with Lafarge Canada Inc., LafargeHolcim, and 

Total, will evaluate the potential for a new business model for supplying postcombustion CO2 to the existing CO2 market, as well as assessing the economic 

feasibility of newly developed CO2 utilization technologies. From Carbon 

Capture Journal on May 29, 2019.

JULY 2019

Equinor to Publish Offshore Carbon Storage Data.

Equinor and its partners will publish a dataset from the Sleipner CCS project 

located in the North Sea region of Norway. The Sleipner field has been used 

for CCS since 1996, and Equinor has been sharing data with the research 

community for the past 15 years. The data will now be made openly available, 

published via the DOE-supported and SINTEF-led CO2 Data Share Consortium, 

which is an open international network for data and knowledge exchange. 

The digital platform for the data sharing is scheduled to be online in 2019. 

From The Maritime Executive on June 12, 2019.

Third Phase of CCS Project Announced.

Australian CCS research organization CO2CRC announced a $31.3 million 

investment for the third phase of the Otway CCS project located in southwest 

Victoria. The third phase (Otway Stage 3 Monitoring and Verification Project) 

follows the finalization of all project-related technical and scientific work 

programs, operational arrangements, regulatory approvals, and funding. 

According to CO2CRC officials, this phase of the project will be to develop 

subsurface storage technologies for long-term CO2 storage monitoring. 

From Gas World on June 12, 2019. 

CCUS Pilot Project Unveiled.

Drax and Deep Branch Biotechnology are collaborating on a CCUS pilot project 

to be executed within the CCUS Incubation Area at Drax’s power station in 

Yorkshire, United Kingdom (U.K.). According to officials, the objective of the 

project is to explore how captured CO2 can be used to make sustainable 

animal feed. The pilot project, expected to begin later this year, will capture 

CO2 from the energy generation process and feed it to microbes, which will use 

it to make single-cell proteins that could replace soy and fishmeal in fish and 

livestock feeds. From BusinessGreen on June 18, 2019.

AUGUST 2019

China Energy to Build New CCS Plant.

China Energy Group announced plans to launch a CCS project in northwest 

China in 2020. Officials also announced that the company would add more 

than 6 gigawatts (GW) of ultra-low emission, coal-fired capacity, as well as 

build another 5 GW of low-emissions capacity in 2020. From Reuters on 

July 18, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

8

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Work Starts at CCS Research Facility.

Work has begun at CO2CRC’s Otway National CCS Research Facility—located 

at Nirranda South in southwest Victoria (Canada)—with the drilling of four 

monitoring wells, equipped with fiber-optic sensing and subsurface gauges, 

approximately 1 mile underground. Part of CO2CRC’s Otway Stage 3 Project, 

the effort will develop subsurface carbon storage technologies that reduce 

the cost and carbon footprint of long-term CO2 storage monitoring for CCS 

projects. From CO2CRC News on July 17, 2019.

Project Stores CO2 in Mine Waste.

Technology developed by the University of British Columbia (UBC) will be used 

to store CO2 in two Canadian mines. The project, a collaboration among UBC, 

the University of Alberta, Trent University, INRS (a Canadian university focused 

on fundamental and applied research), and three mining companies, will store 

the CO2 in mine tailings, which is the waste left over from ore mining. The 

project received funding from Natural Resources Canada’s Clean Growth 

Program. From UCB News on July 23, 2019.

SEPTEMBER 2019

Companies Collaborate for Forest Carbon Storage Opportunities.

Two Canadian companies—AurCrest Gold Inc. and Blue Source Canada ULC—

signed a Carbon Development and Marketing Agreement (CDMA) to develop 

forest carbon storage opportunities. Under the CDMA, Lac Seul First Nation 

(Canada) will also collaborate with the companies to assess the potential of 

forests to capture and store CO2 within First Nation’s traditional territory for the 

development of GHG offsets and other potential environmental attributes. Blue 

Source prepared an initial carbon assessment. From StreetInsider on August 

19, 2019.

Australian CCS Project Begins Operation.

The CO2 injection system at the Gorgon natural gas facility on Barrow Island 

off the coast of Western Australia has begun operations. Once fully operational, 

the system will reduce Gorgon’s GHG emissions by approximately 40 percent 

(more than 100 million metric tons over the life of the project). The Australian 

government contributed to the capital cost of the Chevron Australia and Gorgon 

Joint Venture project as part of the Low-Emissions Technology Demonstration 

Fund. From Carbon Capture Journal on August 9, 2019.

Carbon Farming Incentive Offered in Australia.

A soil carbon farming developer in Australia announced a cash prize for carbon 

farming within the country. According to AgriProve, their 20/20 Olsen Prize for 

Soil Carbon Farming is designed to spur innovation in regenerative agriculture, 

encourage farmers to register projects under the Australian Emissions 

Reduction Fund (ERF), and build an evidence base for soil carbon farming. The 

prize will be awarded to the first farmer under an ERF project that achieves 20 

metric tons of dry matter yield plus an additional 20 metric tons of soil carbon 

abatement per hectare (~2.5 acres) in a 12-month period. The Australian 

Broadcasting Commission highlighted the carbon farming incentive in an audio 

segment. From AgriProve on August 5, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

9

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 LEGISLATION and POLICY

LEGISLATION and POLICY

OCTOBER 2018

California Aims for Carbon Neutrality.

An executive order was issued in California (USA), seeking carbon neutrality in 

the state by 2045. In addition, Senate Bill 100 was also signed, establishing 

mandatory renewable energy targets of 33 percent by 2020, 50 percent by 

2026, and 60 percent by 2030, before implementing a zero-carbon electricity 

grid by 2045. To achieve its goals, California will reduce carbon emissions; 

increase carbon storage in forests, soils, and other natural landscapes; and 

implement programs to improve air quality and public health. From International 

Institute for Sustainable Development on September 20, 2018.

Revised Tax Credit Role on CCUS Commercial Viability.

Research conducted by the Computational Earth Science group at Los Alamos 

National Laboratory (LANL) (USA) has shown that using CO2 for CCUS can be 

commercially viable under the revised 45Q tax regulation. Until recently, there 

was a limit on the 45Q tax credit, which creates incentives for capturing and 

storing CO2; the 2018 revision eliminated the cap. From Albuquerque Journal

on August 31, 2018.

CARB-Approved Changes Establish CCS Protocol.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved several amendments to 

their Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Program, one of which establishes a 

regulatory protocol to set requirements for CCS. In addition, the amendments 

set a new carbon-intensity target within the state. The LCFS currently 

requires a 10 percent reduction in California’s transportation fuels by 2020; 

the amendments will require a 20 percent reduction by 2030. From Ethanol 

Producer Magazine on October 1, 2018.

NOVEMBER 2018

Norway to Increase CCS Efforts.

The Norwegian government’s national budget for 2019 proposes to allocate 

approximately $80 million for CCS, representing an increase of nearly 

$19 million compared to the final budget for 2018. The proposal includes 

funds for continuing the work on a new, full-scale CCS project in Norway, 

as well as increased funding for TCM. Knowledge and experience gained 

from TCM is expected to be used for planning the full-scale CCS project. 

From Carbon Capture Journal on October 15, 2018.

North Carolina Sets GHG Reduction Goal.

The Governor of North Carolina (USA) signed an executive order to reduce the 

state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40 percent by 2025. In addition, 

the order creates a committee that will work with the state’s Department of 

Environmental Quality to develop a report on how the state’s government can 

use more renewable energy sources. From The News & Observer on October 

29, 2018.

Saskatchewan Introduces Legislation.

The Saskatchewan (Canada) environment minister introduced legislation to 

implement industry performance standards. “The Management and Reduction 

of Greenhouse Gases Amendment Act, Bill 132,” will also provide regulatory 

framework for emitters contributing to a green technology fund or purchasing 

performance credits and carbon offset credits. Under the bill, those emitting 

more than 10,000 metric tons of CO2 annually will be required to track their 

emissions, while those with emissions exceeding 25,000 metric tons will be 

required to comply with performance standards. From Global News on October 

30, 2018.

DECEMBER 2018

Carbon Tax Bill Introduced.

A carbon tax bill was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. The 

new bill is considered a “testing ground for a carbon-fee-and-dividend model” 

that distributes the revenue in the form of a monthly rebate to American 

households. Under the bill, a $15/ton of CO2 tax would be imposed in 2019, 

increasing by $10 every year, rising to nearly $100/ton by 2030. In addition, 

the bill would create a border carbon adjustment, which would require 

exporting countries to pay a fee on CO2-emitting products that come into the 

United States. According to the bill’s authors, the legislation has the potential to 

reduce U.S. CO2 emissions 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2015 levels, and 

80 to 90 percent by 2050. From Washington Examiner on November 27, 2018.

JANUARY 2019

Carbon Tax Legislation Introduced. [Link no longer active.]

Two U.S. senators introduced carbon tax legislation that would place a price 

on CO2 and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. S. 3791, “The Energy 

Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act,” is designed to address potential climate 

change and encourage market-driven innovation in clean energy technologies. 

A one-pager on the bill is available online. From U.S. Senator Jeff Flake Press 

Release on December 20, 2018.

Canada Carbon Pricing Act Takes Effect.

Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Polluting Pricing Act went into effect on January 

1, 2019, instituting a fee on carbon emissions beyond a certain threshold 

for larger industrial facilities. The act is reserved for the provinces that did 

not adopt the carbon pricing system or did not develop their own plan. 

From Kitchener Today on January 1, 2019.

FEBRUARY 2019

Draft Carbon Emissions Bill Released in Oregon.

A draft bill set to reduce CO2 emissions in Oregon (USA) has been released. 

The measure would establish a Carbon Policy Office and modify greenhouse 

gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals and market-based mechanisms for 

covered entities to demonstrate compliance. From The Register-Guard on 

February 1, 2019.

California CCS Protocol Takes Effect.

The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) decision to include a CCS protocol 

in its Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) has taken effect. The protocol allows 

transportation fuels whose lifecycle emissions have been reduced through CCS 

to become eligible for credits under the LCFS. Credits are currently trading at 

approximately $180 per ton, and can be combined with the federal tax credit 

(45Q) for CCS projects; 45Q provides $50 per ton for CO2 stored geologically 

and $35 per ton for CO2 stored permanently via EOR. From Carbon Capture 

Journal on January 20, 2019.

Carbon Legislation Introduced.

Legislation to help reduce U.S. CO2 emissions by up to 45 percent by 2030, 

with a more than 90 percent reduction target by 2050 (compared to 2016 

levels), was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Energy 

Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA) will price CO2 at $15 per metric ton 

of CO2e and increasing the price by $10 every year. From U.S. Congressman 

Ted Deutch Press Release on January 24, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

10

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 LEGISLATION and POLICY

Massachusetts Carbon Tax Analyzed.

According to analysis by researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School 

of Public Health (USA), a carbon tax based on several proposals in the 

Massachusetts legislature has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 33 

million metric tons. Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters 

(ERL), the findings were based on models of how a potential carbon fee-andrebate bill would affect CO2 emissions in the 2017 through 2040 timeframe. 

From Physics World on January 24, 2019.

MARCH 2019

Bill to Support CCS Introduced in US Senate.

A bill that would address a tax credit to better support CCS for coal power 

plants was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The “Carbon Capture Modernization 

Act” updates the tax credit system for coal producers and incentivizes the 

usage of modern technology for underground CO2 storage. From U.S. Senator 

Tina Smith Press Release on February 11, 2019.

South African Parliament Approves Carbon Tax Bill.

South Africa’s parliament approved a carbon tax bill that establishes a state tax 

of 120 rand (approximately $8.50) per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent 

(CO2e). South Africa pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by almost half by 2030. 

From Nasdaq.com on February 19, 2019.

APRIL 2019

CO2 Storage Bill Passes House.

Indiana (USA) legislation that would create a pilot program to store CO2

underground passed the House and is returning to the state Senate. The bill 

would create a pilot program that allows one company to store CO2 underground 

by taking ownership of the land, if approved by the Indiana Department of 

Natural Resources. From Indiana Public Media on March 26, 2019.

Nevada Introduces Carbon-Free Bill.

Nevada (USA) legislators introduced a bill that would require 100 percent 

carbon-free emissions by 2050. In addition, SB 358 would double Nevada’s 

renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2030. From Utility Dive on 

March 20, 2019.

Flemish Government Approves CO2 Package.

The executive branch of the Flemish Region of Belgium approved a plan to 

manage CO2 emissions over the next 20 years and become carbon-neutral by 

2050. As part of the plan, the Flemish government will focus on carbon capture 

and use projects. From Brussels Times on March 24, 2019.

South Africa Parliament to Consider Carbon Tax Legislation.

The National Council of Provinces of the Parliament of South Africa is considering 

carbon tax legislation. The Carbon Tax Bill would create a mechanism that 

puts a price on carbon emissions in South Africa. From Eyewitness News on 

March 25, 2019.

MAY 2019

Bill with Carbon Storage Focus Introduced.

A group of U.S. Senators introduced a bill to increase federal funding for 

developing carbon capture technology. The Enhancing Fossil Fuel Energy 

Carbon Technology (EFFECT) Act would also establish four new research 

programs within DOE FE: Carbon Storage, Carbon Utilization, Carbon Removal, 

and Coal and Natural Gas Technology. From The Hill on April 11, 2019. 

U.S. Senate Environment Panel Approves Bill.

The U.S. Senate Environment Panel approved a bill that would support 

collaboration to construct and develop CCUS facilities and CO2 pipelines. The 

Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USE IT) Act would, 

among other actions, clarify that CCUS projects and CO2 pipelines are eligible 

for permitting review processes as well as direct the Council on Environmental 

Quality to establish guidance to assist project developers and operators of 

CCUS facilities and CO2 pipelines. From Carbon Capture Journal on April 10, 

2019.

Norwegian Government Proposes Funding of CCS Exploration Well.

The Norwegian government, as part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project, 

will propose funding for an exploration well for CO2 storage on the Norwegian 

Continental Shelf. The exploration well is expected to provide Parliament with 

information on the quality and capacity of the reservoir, which will influence 

the decision on whether to proceed with the CCS project. The Norwegian 

government will present their proposal to Parliament in connection with the 

revised national budget for 2019. From Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum 

and Energy Press Release on April 11, 2019.

JUNE 2019

Newly Introduced Legislation Promotes Carbon Storage.

Two U.S. senators introduced legislation that promotes more carbon storage. 

In addition, the bill allows for the use of biomass from certain federal lands 

needing ecological restoration to develop renewable fuels to promote “healthier 

forests” and “cleaner transportation fuels.” A one-pager of the bill is available 

online. From U.S. Senator Ron Wyden Press Release on May 22, 2019.

South Africa Carbon Tax Signed into Law.

The South African President signed a carbon tax into law, effectively adopting 

a carbon-pricing program for the country. The tax will be introduced in phases: 

Phase I will begin in December 2022, taxing carbon at an approximate rate of 

$8.35/per ton of CO2 equivalent. The South African government will assess the 

impact of the tax and the nation’s progress toward emissions goals before the 

second phase of the policy, which will start in 2023 and end in 2030. From 

National Public Radio on May 26, 2019.

JULY 2019

Bill Seeks CO2 Reduction Through CCS Projects.

A bill reintroduced in the U.S. Senate would allow businesses to use 

governmental private activity bonds for CCS projects. If the Carbon Capture 

Improvement Act is passed, a project could be financed entirely if more than 

65% of the CO2 emissions at the facility are captured and stored underground 

(projects that achieve lower percentages could be permitted on a pro-rated 

basis). From Daily Energy Insider on June 13, 2019.

Canada Unveils CO2 Reduction Plan.

Canadian officials unveiled a CO2 reduction plan that encourages companies 

to make emissions reduction part of their business models. Under the plan, 

companies that release GHG emissions above set standards would be required 

to pay into a fund for investment in government-certified clean tech companies. 

According to officials, the plan has the potential to lower Canada’s baseline 

emissions by as much as 101 metric megatons by 2030. From CBC News on 

June 19, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

11

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 LEGISLATION and POLICY

AUGUST 2019

Energy Research Legislation Reintroduced.

A bill that reauthorizes DOE FE research activities and sets priorities for the 

next generation of clean energy technologies passed through the Committee 

on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy. The Fossil 

Energy Research and Development Act of 2019 is expected to be considered 

by the full committee next. The reintroduced legislation focuses on CCUS and 

CO2 removal, among other areas. From U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey Press 

Release on July 10, 2019.

EU Clarifies Intent to Support CCS Technology.

The European Commission clarified its intent to support CCS. According 

to officials, future European Union (EU) funding for CCS will likely focus on 

transport infrastructure, such as CO2 pipelines. While the prior focus was on 

CCS demonstration plants, the Commission will now concentrate on supporting 

carbon storage and utilization value chains. From EURACTIVE on July 10, 2019.

SEPTEMBER 2019

Low-Carbon Fuel Policy Boosts CCS Opportunities.

A new amendment to California’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard has created an 

incentive for the bioethanol industry to utilize CCS technology for the production 

of low-emissions bioethanol. Due to its highly concentrated CO2 waste stream, 

bioethanol production presents an opportunity for near-term CCS deployment; 

applying CCS to the fermentation and distillation process in the biorefinery has 

the potential to reduce the fuel’s carbon intensity. From Global CCS Institute 

on August 7, 2019.

New Zealand Government Announces Climate Action Plan.

The New Zealand government released their Climate Action Plan in response 

to the New Zealand Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the low-emissions 

economy. In 2017, the Productivity Commission was asked to identify options 

for New Zealand to reduce its GHG emissions, taking into account the country’s 

intention to set emissions-reduction goals through the Zero-Carbon Bill. From 

New Zealand Government Press Release on August 3, 2019.

Report Reviews Global Storage Regulations.

A report published by the CO2 Capture Project analyzed recent developments in 

regulations for CO2 storage projects globally, finding an increase in confidence 

for CCS policy and growth in regulatory regimes for CO2 storage worldwide. 

The “Survey of CO2 Storage Regulations” report examined key developments, 

issues, and gaps that may affect the commercial success of CCS. From Carbon 

Capture Journal on August 28, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

12

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 EMISSIONS TRADING

EMISSIONS TRADING

OCTOBER 2018

Report on RGGI Investments.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)-participating states released 

a report on the investments of proceeds generated from RGGI’s regional CO2

allowance auctions in 2016. According to the report, in 2016 more than $436.4 

million in RGGI proceeds were invested in programs such as energy efficiency, 

clean and renewable energy, GHG abatement, and direct bill assistance. More 

details, such as state-specific success stories and program highlights, as well 

as information on both the 2016 and cumulative investments of RGGI, are 

available in the full report, titled “Investment of RGGI Proceeds in 2016.” From 

RGGI News Release on September 19, 2018.

EU, California Strengthen Carbon Market Cooperation.

The European Union (EU) and California (USA) announced intentions to 

strengthen their bilateral cooperation on carbon markets. According to the 

announcement, made at the Global Action Summit held in San Francisco, 

California, in September 2018, officials from the EU and California will 

focus on sending near- and long-term investment signals for transformative 

technologies, addressing economic competitiveness, and maximizing public 

benefits of use of program revenues. In addition, the collaboration will work 

through the existing “Florence Process” – a workshop that seeks to bring 

together emissions trading scheme (ETS) experts. From Clean Technica on 

September 21, 2018.

Zero Carbon Project Set to Launch. [Link no longer active.]

The U.K.’s Zero Carbon Project announced it will launch in October 2018 in 

the U.K. and in early 2019 in Australia. The project is designed to mitigate 

potential climate change through blockchain technology and international 

carbon credits. From Market Journal on September 23, 2018.

NOVEMBER 2018

RGGI Releases Auction 42 Notice.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) 

released the Auction Notice and application materials for their 42nd quarterly 

CO2 allowance auction, to be held December 5, 2018. The Auction Notice 

provides potential participants with the information needed to indicate their 

intent to bid on Auction 42. As indicated in the Auction Notice, Auction 42 will 

offer for sale 13,360,649 CO2 allowances at a minimum reserve price of $2.20. 

In addition, there will also be a 10 million CO2 allowance cost containment 

reserve (CCR) made available for the auction, which will be accessed if the 

interim clearing price exceeds the CCR trigger price of $10.25. From RGGI 

News Release on October 9, 2019.

New Carbon Investment Fund to Be Launched.

A New Zealand investment company announced plans to launch a carbon 

fund that will be listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX). Salt Funds 

Management will manage the fund, with the intent to purchase carbon credits 

in emissions trading schemes from New Zealand and offshore. According to 

Salt Fund officials, the fund would provide individuals and organizations an 

opportunity to invest in or offset carbon. From NZ Herald on October 15, 2018.

Hexindai to Support Emissions Reduction.

Hexindai Inc., based in Beijing, China, reached an agreement with Shell Energy 

(China) Limited to support China’s national emissions trading scheme (ETS). 

Under the agreement, Hexindai will provide price hedging of National Carbon 

Allowances (NCAs) for three years, to begin when the cement sector is enrolled 

in China’s ETS and the Chinese carbon offsets can be used for compliance 

purposes. An NCA unit is equal to one ton of CO2 equivalent. From Hexindai 

Press Release on October 16, 2018.

DECEMBER 2018

RGGI States Release Results of 42nd Auction.

The RGGI-participating states released the results of their 42nd auction of CO2

allowances, in which 13,360,649 CO2 allowances were sold at a clearing price 

of $5.35. Bids ranged from $2.20 to $7.50 per allowance. None of the 10 million 

cost containment reserve (CCR) allowances were sold (CCR is a fixed additional 

supply of allowances only available for sale if CO2 allowance prices exceed 

certain price levels [$10.25 in 2018]). Auction 42 generated $71.5 million 

for reinvestment in strategic programs, such as energy efficiency, renewable 

energy, and GHG abatement. From RGGI News Release on December 7, 2018.

Cap-and-Trade Auction Held.

California (USA) and Québec (Canada) held a joint cap-and-trade auction in 

which all of the current and future vintage GHG emissions allowances were 

sold. Organized by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Québec’s 

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MELCC), a total of 78.8 

million current allowances and 9.4 million advance allowances were sold, 

generating approximately $813 million for a GHG reduction fund. The auction, 

which included current allowances for 2016, 2017, and 2018, as well as 

vintage 2021 credits, was the seventh consecutive CARB auction to sell 

out, with bids coming in both U.S. and Canadian dollars. From Natural Gas 

Intelligence on November 27, 2018. 

China’s Carbon Trading Valued.

China’s carbon trading saw transaction values exceed approximately $860 

million since June 2013, with traded emission quotas exceeding 270 million 

metric tons, according to officials. China’s government has committed to 

reducing its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 

from the 2005 level. From Xinhuanet on November 26, 2018. 

JANUARY 2019

RGGI Releases 2016 Annual Electricity Monitoring Report.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) 

released the “CO2 Emissions from Electricity Generation and Imports in the 

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: 2016 Monitoring Report.” The eighth in a 

series of annual monitoring reports, this report summarized data for the period 

from 2005 through 2016 for electricity generation, net electricity imports, and 

related CO2 emissions for the states participating in RGGI’s third control period. 

From RGGI News Release on December 13, 2018.

RGGI Releases Statement, Revision.

The RGGI-participating states released a statement on the New Jersey 

Department of Environmental Protection’s draft proposed regulation to reduce 

GHG emissions (which will be open for public comment through February 15, 

2019). In addition, the RGGI-participating states also issued a revision to the 

2017 Model Rule, which was developed to provide guidance to states as they 

implement the RGGI program. From RGGI News Releases on December 14 

and 17, 2018.

FEBRUARY 2019

RGGI States Initiate Auction Process for Auction 43.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) 

released the Auction Notice and application materials for their 43rd quarterly 

CO2 allowance auction, to be held on March 13, 2019. The Auction Notice 

provides potential participants with the information needed to submit a 

Qualification Application and indicate their intent to bid. Auction 43 will offer 

for sale 12,883,436 CO2 allowances at a minimum reserve price of $2.26. A 

10 million CO2 allowance cost containment reserve (CCR) will also be made 

available (the CCR will be accessed if the interim clearing price exceeds the 

CCR trigger price of $10.51). From RGGI News Release on January 15, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

13

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 EMISSIONS TRADING

Report Analyzes Value of Global CO2 Markets.

The value of traded global markets for CO2 allowances rose 250 percent in 

2018, according to a new report. According to analysts at Refinitiv, a global 

provider of financial markets and infrastructure, the overall value of traded 

global markets in 2018 was $164 billion (144 billion euros). A total of 9 billion 

carbon permits were traded globally in 2018, up 45 percent from 2017. The 

European market accounted for 90 percent of the total value of globally traded 

carbon permits, with North American trading schemes making up 9 percent. 

From Reuters on January 16, 2019.

MARCH 2019

California’s New Underground Injection Rules to go into Effect.

California’s (USA) underground injection requirements will go into effect 

on April 1, 2019. According to the states’ Department of Conservation, 

approximately 55,000 underground injection control wells will be affected 

under the new regulations, elements of which include (but are not limited 

to) testing requirements to identify potential leaks, continuous well-pressure 

monitoring, and monitoring for seismic activity. From Oil & Gas Journal on 

February 21, 2019.

UK Working on Carbon Trading System.

The U.K. is working to establish a domestic carbon emissions trading system 

(ETS). According to the energy minister, the U.K. will look to link to the existing 

European Union (EU) ETS beginning in January 2021. The U.K. government 

plans to launch a consultation on its plans in April 2019. From Reuters on 

February 27, 2019.

APRIL 2019

Dutch Government to Introduce CO2 Tax.

The Dutch government intends to introduce a tax on CO2 emissions for 

companies, according to the Prime Minister. The plan would be in addition to 

the European Union’s (EU) current Emissions Trading System. From Reuters on 

March 13, 2019.

RGGI Announces Auction Results.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) 

released the results of their 43rd auction of CO2 allowances. The first auction 

of 2019 (Auction 43) saw 12,883,436 CO2 allowances sold at a clearing price 

of $5.27, with bids ranging from $2.26 to $7.12 per allowance. The auction 

generated $67.9 million for reinvestment in strategic programs, including 

energy efficiency, renewable energy, direct bill assistance, and greenhouse 

gas abatement programs. More information is available in the Market Monitor 

Report for Auction 43. From RGGI News Release on March 15, 2019. 

MAY 2019

RGGI 2019 Interim Compliance Materials Available.

The states participating in RGGI made materials regarding the 2019 interim 

control period compliance available. RGGI’s fourth three-year control period is 

from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2020; the 2019 interim control 

period began on January 1, 2019, and ends December 31, 2019. Each CO2

budget source must hold allowances available for compliance deduction equal 

to 50% of their emissions by March 2, 2020. Market participants can acquire 

allowances through CO2 allowance auctions or secondary markets. The next 

CO2 allowance auction (Auction 44) will be held on June 5, 2019. From RGGI 

News Release on April 8, 2019.

Virginia Approves Regulation to Reduce GHGs.

Virginia (USA) officials approved a regulation to establish a market-based 

program to reduce GHGs by 30% by 2030. The regulations align with the RGGI 

Model Rule and guidelines set forth by RGGI. Virginia’s GHG reductions are set 

to begin in 2020. From Daily Press on April 22, 2019.

JUNE 2019

Oregon Legislature Approves Cap-and-Trade Bill.

Oregon (USA) Legislature’s Joint Carbon Reduction Committee approved 

a cap-and-trade bill that could put a progressively declining cap on GHGs 

across the state. Under the proposal (H.B. 2020), Oregon’s largest emitters 

would be required to purchase carbon credits for each ton of emissions they 

release annually. Before becoming law, the bill goes to the Oregon Joint Ways 

and Means Committee before heading to the House floor for a vote. From 

Statesman Journal on May 17, 2019.

RGGI Secondary Market Report Made Available.

The independent market monitor for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative 

(RGGI) released a report containing information on the secondary market for 

RGGI CO2 allowances, including future prices, market activity, and allowance 

holdings. Potomac Economics’ “Report on the Secondary Market for RGGI CO2

Allowances: First Quarter 2019” addresses the period from January through 

March 2019. The report is part of Potomac’s ongoing monitoring of the RGGI 

auctions and the secondary markets where CO2 allowances are traded, and is 

based on data reported to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

and the Intercontinental Exchange, as well as other data. From RGGI News 

Release on May 9, 2019.

JULY 2019

New Jersey Finalizes CO2 Regulation, Joins RGGI.

New Jersey (USA) finalized a regulation to establish a market-based program 

to reduce GHG emissions and, as a result, will join the Regional Greenhouse 

Gas Initiative (RGGI) as a participating state starting on January 1, 2020. The 

decision was made after an extensive public process, as well as an RGGI ruling 

that New Jersey’s starting CO2 allowance budget and emissions reduction 

trajectory demonstrates a stringency comparable to the existing RGGI program. 

From RGGI News Release on June 17, 2019.

RGGI Releases Results of 44th Auction of CO2 Allowances.

The RGGI-participating states released the results of their 44th auction of CO2

allowances. Auction 44 saw 13,221,453 CO2 allowances sold at a clearing 

price of $5.62, with bids ranging from $2.26 to $10.01 per allowance. None 

of the 10 million cost containment reserve (CCR) allowances made available 

were sold (CCR is a fixed additional supply of allowances only available for sale 

if CO2 allowance prices exceed certain price levels [$10.51 in 2019]). More 

information is available in the Market Monitor Report for Auction 44. From RGGI 

News Release on June 7, 2019.

Emissions Trading Scheme Unveiled in India.

Government officials in Gujarat, the westernmost Indian state, announced the 

launch of an emissions trading scheme (ETS). Under the ETS, an environmental 

governing body would set a limit on the amount of emissions that can be 

released with or without permits. From Business Standard on June 4, 2019.

Carbon Trading Market Launched.

Universal Solar Technology announced a joint venture to launch the Entrex 

Carbon Market, which utilized a blockchain-enabled technology platform to 

trade carbon credits and carbon offsets. The platform allows credits, offsets, 

and other products to be found, researched, tracked, managed, and traded via 

regulated entities through a compliant platform. From Yahoo! Finance on June 

17, 2019. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

14

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 EMISSIONS TRADING

AUGUST 2019

RGGI Releases Notice and Materials for Auction 45.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) 

released the Auction Notice and application materials for the 45th quarterly 

CO2 allowance auction, scheduled for September 4, 2019. The Auction Notice 

for CO2 Allowance Auction 45 provides the information needed to submit a 

Qualification Application for Auction 45, in which the RGGI states will offer 

13,116,447 CO2 allowances for sale at a minimum reserve price of $2.26. A 

10 million CO2 allowance cost containment reserve (CCR) will also be made 

available (the CCR will be accessed if the interim clearing price exceeds the 

CCR trigger price of $10.51). From RGGI News Release on July 9, 2019.

Carbon Trading Initiative Launched.

An initiative to trade carbon credits from mangrove conservation and 

restoration on the Kenyan coast was launched. Under the Vanga Blue Forests 

Project, the Kenya Forest Service and the Community Forest Association will 

co-manage the mangroves while the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research 

Institute will provide technical support to the community. The United Nations 

(UN) Environment Program also helped to develop the management plan, which 

includes the sale of carbon credits on the voluntary carbon market, verified 

by the Plan Vivo carbon trading standard. From UN Environment Program on 

July 24, 2019.

SEPTEMBER 2019

RGGI Secondary Market Report Made Available.

The independent market monitor for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative 

(RGGI) released a report containing information on the secondary market for 

RGGI CO2 allowances, including future prices, market activity, and allowance 

holdings. Potomac Economics’ “Report on the Secondary Market for RGGI CO2

Allowances: Second Quarter 2019” addresses the period from April through 

June 2019. The report is part of Potomac’s ongoing monitoring of the RGGI 

auctions and the secondary markets in which CO2 allowances are traded, and 

is based on data reported to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

and the Intercontinental Exchange, as well as other data. From RGGI News 

Release on August 21, 2019.

RGGI Releases Results of 45th Auction of CO2 Allowances.

The RGGI-participating states released the results of their 45th auction of CO2

allowances. Auction 45 saw 13,116,447 CO2 allowances sold at a clearing 

price of $5.20, with bids ranging from $2.26 to $8.00 per allowance. None 

of the 10 million cost containment reserve (CCR) allowances made available 

were sold. (CCR is a fixed additional supply of allowances only available for sale 

if CO2 allowance prices exceed certain price levels [$10.51 in 2019].) More 

information is available in the Market Monitor Report for Auction 45. From RGGI 

News Release on September 6, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

15

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 SCIENCE NEWS

SCIENCE NEWS

OCTOBER 2018

Plant’s Ability to Store CO2 Studied.

Scientists from the University of Washington (USA) have found that higher levels 

of atmospheric CO2 may lead to plants storing less carbon. When CO2 levels in 

the atmosphere rise, plants thicken their leaves as a result. The research found 

that plants with thicker leaves may be less efficient in storing atmospheric 

CO2, which models had not considered. In their study, which appeared in the 

journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, the researchers reported that when this 

data was incorporated into global models under potentially high CO2 levels, 

the global “carbon sink” contributed by plants was less productive, leaving 

approximately 6.39 million tons of CO2 in the atmosphere per year. From 

Science Daily on October 1, 2018.

Researchers Develop Battery to Capture, Store CO2.

Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (USA) have 

developed a new type of battery that could capture and store CO2 as a solid 

carbonate mineral. The lithium-based battery could be made partly from 

CO2 capture from power plants; instead of converting the CO2 to specialized 

chemicals using metal catalysts, the battery could continuously convert it into 

a solid mineral carbonate as it discharges. The findings were published in 

the journal Joule, in an article titled “Tailoring the Discharge Reaction in LiCO2 Batteries through Incorporation of CO2 Capture Chemistry.” From Carbon 

Capture Journal on September 23, 2018. 

Study Looks into CO2 Storage Potential in the United States.

According to a new study, the United States has the potential to double the 

amount of CO2 emissions currently captured and stored worldwide within the 

next six years. The study, conducted by Princeton University (USA), proposed 

a pipeline network that would transfer CO2 from ethanol refineries in the 

American Midwest to oilfields in West Texas, where it would be used for EOR 

activities. According to the study, which was published in the Proceedings of 

the National Academy of Sciences, the CCS network could prevent up to 30 

million metric tons of CO2 per year from entering the atmosphere. From Phys.

Org on September 25, 2019.

NOVEMBER 2018

New Report on Negative Emissions Technologies and Carbon Storage.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 

Medicine provides a research agenda for technologies that capture and store 

atmospheric CO2. The report, titled “Negative Emissions Technologies and 

Reliable Sequestration,” discusses the role negative emissions technologies 

(NETs) can have on achieving goals and reducing emissions. NETs remove 

CO2 directly from the atmosphere and enhance natural carbon sinks. The 

report concluded that the NETs available today could be scaled up, but that a 

research effort is needed to address potential constraints. From The National 

Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Press Release on October 

24, 2018. 

Article Analyzes Impact of CCS on Marine Ecosystems.

Implementing CCS at the point of CO2 generation is a possible solution to 

reduce GHGs and their impact on marine ecosystems, according to a recently 

published article, titled “Ocean Solutions to Address Climate Change and 

Its Effects on Marine Ecosystems.” Researchers assessed 13 ocean-based 

measures to reduce potential climate change and its impacts on marine 

ecosystems and ecosystem services. Other possible solutions include shifting 

from fossil fuels to renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, and 

protecting and enhancing natural carbon sinks. From International Institute for 

Sustainable Development on October 16, 2018.

DECEMBER 2018

Researchers Turn CO2 Into Useful Product.

A WVU-led research team is focusing on converting CO2 in power plant flue gas 

into commercial-quality sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Current techniques 

can increase costs on a clean, coal-fired ultrasupercritical power plant by more 

than 50 percent, according to data collected by the National Renewable Energy 

Laboratory. Potential product sales of the converted baking soda would be 

used to lower the cost of CCS technology. From West Virginia University Energy 

Institute on November 15, 2018. 

Researchers Locate Carbon Reserve.

Researchers from Washington State University (USA) conducted a survey to 

understand the role potential climate change could have on soil’s ability to 

store carbon. By analyzing climate data and soil samples from 65 different dig 

sites across the world, researchers created a global map of soil-based carbon 

storage, detailing the way carbon physically and chemically binds to minerals 

in soil. The data showed that while minimal amounts of carbon are stored in 

the sediments of deserts and dry forests, an abundance of carbon bound to 

reactive minerals is stored beneath the surfaces of wet forests. According to 

the research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, potential climate 

change won’t impact the carbon stored beneath the surface of wet forests, 

but it may alter the pathway by which new carbon is stored. From UPI.com on 

November 26, 2018.

Researchers Study Arctic Carbon Balance.

New research shows that damage to arctic vegetation can impact its ability 

to absorb CO2. In a study published in the journal Global Change Biology, a 

team of researchers from the UK, Norway, and Italy discovered a decline in the 

amount of CO2 absorbed by plants affected by an extreme climatic event. The 

study focused on the Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway. From Physics 

World on November 26, 2018. 

JANUARY 2019

Scientists Identify New Minerals for Carbon Capture and Storage.

University of Alberta (Canada) geologists have identified new minerals that are 

capturing and storing CO2. Members of the hydrotalcite group, the minerals are 

the first outside of the carbonate family to naturally capture CO2 in mine waste. 

The research, which was published in the International Journal of Greenhouse 

Gas Control, highlights the potential for improving carbon capture one to two 

meters beneath the surface of mining wastes, where most carbon storage 

usually occurs. According to researchers, findings of the study, which was 

conducted at the Woodsreef Asbestos Mine in New South Wales, Australia, 

point to the potential of mineral waste from mines to more effectively store 

CO2. From ScienceDaily on December 12, 2018.

New Soil Management Portal Helps Track Carbon Storage.

An Agri-Tech company has launched a Nutrient Management System that 

has the potential to quantify carbon storage in soil, according to company 

officials. Farmeye’s NMP Portal is an online, map-based system for soil nutrient 

management and a tool to help manage and monitor fertilizer usage on farms. 

From Agri-Land on December 31, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

16

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 SCIENCE NEWS

Global-Scale Evaluation of Role of Soil Minerals in Carbon Storage.

Scientists from University of California, Santa Barbara, and Washington State 

University (USA) have found that minerals in soil can store a significant amount 

of atmospheric CO2. The researchers conducted a global-scale evaluation 

of the role soil plays in producing dissolved organic matter and storing it in 

minerals by consulting soil profiles from the National Ecological Observatory 

Network (NEON). The results showed that wetter climates are more conducive 

to the formation of minerals that are more effective at storing CO2, while more 

arid climates store less CO2, thus suggesting that a change in water balance 

could drive carbon storage. From ScienceDaily on January 2, 2019.

Study Shows Organic Particles Effect on Carbon Cycling.

A new study analyzed how carbon degraded in different aquatic habitats in 

Sweden’s boreal forests, where CO2 is often stored in conifers. Conducting the 

study to better understand carbon transformation and the role of particulate 

organic carbon (POC) in boreal waters, the researchers found that across 

all aquatic ecosystems, the degradation rates of POC were approximately 

15 times higher than those of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). According to 

researchers, the results imply that particulate organic matter may play a role in 

aquatic CO2 emissions. From Eos.org on January 2, 2019.

FEBRUARY 2019

Pair of Studies Detail Accelerated Antarctica Ice Melt.

According to a pair of studies, Antarctica’s ice sheet has been melting at an 

accelerated rate over the past four decades, potentially due to elevated levels 

of CO2. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 

a new study led by the University of California at Irvine (USA) found that the 

rate of ice loss in Antarctica has increased from 40 gigatons per year from 

1979 through 1990 to 252 gigatons per year from 2009 through 2017 (a sixfold increase). Another study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience and 

led by New Zealand’s GNS Science, Victoria University of Wellington, and the 

University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that elevated atmospheric CO2 levels 

could be playing a role in the instability of the Antarctica ice sheet. From CNN

on January 14, 2019.

Research Team Finds Potential CCS Opportunities.

Japanese scientists found a way to separate carbon monoxide (CO) and CO2, 

allowing for potential CCS opportunities. The study, conducted by Kanazawa 

University, used a hollow, spherical cluster of vanadate molecules to separate 

the molecules. The results found that vanadium in V12 form has the potential to 

be an ideal solution in CO2 capture and CO2 storage. From Kanazawa University 

on January 7, 2019.

Small Trees Impact on CO2 Storage.

According to a study led by the Royal Museum for Central Africa, small trees 

can store CO2 for a longer period of time compared to larger trees due to 

smaller trees growing slower and living longer. The research, published in the 

online journal Nature Plants, found that small trees have the potential to store 

CO2 for an average of 74 years, whereas larger trees can store it for an average 

of 54 to 57 years. From Phys.Org on January 29, 2019.

Consortium Receives Grant to Research CO2 Storage.

A consortium led by the University of California, Davis, and the UC Working 

Lands Innovation Center (USA) received a grant from California’s Strategic 

Growth Council to research scalable methods of using soil amendments 

to store GHGs such as CO2. The consortium will oversee 29 treatment and 

control sites across California to find out if adding pulverized rock, compost, 

and biochar to different types of crops and rangelands can store CO2. The 

studies are expected to assess whether soil amendments can bring additional 

co-benefits, such as improved crop and rangeland productivity and soil health, 

to California growers and ranchers across diverse regions. After three years, 

the consortium plans to deliver the most promising soil amendment strategies. 

From UC Davis News on January 16, 2019.

MARCH 2019

Seismic Waves Reveal CO2 Storage Plume in NETL-Supported 

Research.

Researchers from Penn State University and LBNL are using seismic waves 

to track CO2 plumes underground. Supported by NETL, the research found 

that coda waves, which come after P and S waves following an earthquake 

or explosion, have the potential to reveal where CO2 is stored underground. 

Researchers believe that using permanent seismic sources and coda wave 

analysis will enable more frequent monitoring than the current standard of 

intervals. From Penn State University News on February 26, 2019.

Scientists Study Long-Term Storage Capability of Peatlands.

An international group of scientists conducted a study of global peatland and 

carbon storage over the last 130,000 years to gauge peatlands’ effectiveness 

as a long-term carbon storage mechanism over a long timescale. Peatlands, 

which are a type of wetland formed by incompletely decomposed organic 

matter and water, comprise approximately three percent of the Earth’s land 

area, but contain approximately one-third of the global soil carbon, according 

to the study. From EurekAlert! on February 25, 2019.

APRIL 2019

Researchers Study Mineral Trapping for CO2 Storage.

A computational study conducted by a Japanese-led group of international 

researchers showed the potential for “mineral trapping” to be used for CO2

storage. Researchers from Kyushu University ran computer simulations of 

CO2 reacting with rock surfaces to show how trapped CO2 can be converted 

into minerals. The results of the simulations were published in The Journal of 

Physical Chemistry C. From EurekAlert! on March 8, 2019.

Bamboo May Have Carbon Storage Potential.

Farmers in the Philippines’ province of Antique are being asked to plant more 

bamboo to mitigate potential CO2 emissions. According to speakers at the 

“Change Adaptation and Mitigation Summit of the Provincial Disaster Risk 

and Reduction and Management Council,” bamboo is a potential resource for 

carbon storage. From Panay News on March 24, 2019.

Scientists Turn CO2 Into Solid Carbon for Storage.

Research conducted by RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, has led to the 

development of a new CO2 capture process that converts CO2 gas into solid 

carbon, making it easier to store. Researchers used a liquid metal electrocatalyst 

to convert the CO2 at room temperature; previously developed electrocatalysts 

were only able to convert CO2 to solid carbon at temperatures above 600°C. 

Results of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications. 

From The Chemical Engineer on March 25, 2019.

Scientists Measure Ocean Sink for CO2 Emissions.

An international team of scientists studied the amount of manmade CO2

emissions stored in the ocean from 1994 to 2007. According to their research, 

published in the journal Science, the ocean stored as much as 34 gigatons 

of manmade atmospheric CO2 during the 13-year span (31 percent of all 

anthropogenic CO2 emitted during that time). From chemeurope.com on March 

18, 2019. 

Technique Could Lead to CO2 Reductions.

A team of researchers from Washington State University is working to develop 

ways to capture, store, and use the CO2 emitted during energy production. In 

their research, published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 

the team developed a way to create hollow, nanorod-shaped porous materials 

to separate the CO2 in a way that is applicable to real-life conditions. From 

Washington State University News on February 26, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

17

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 SCIENCE NEWS

MAY 2019

Researchers Develop Mechanical Trees to Capture, Store CO2.

Researchers from Arizona State University (USA) have developed a cluster of 

“mechanical trees” capable of capturing CO2 and storing it for industrial or 

agricultural use. A cluster of 12 trees has the potential to remove one metric 

ton of CO2 from the atmosphere per day. The technology will be deployed in 

a pilot CO2 farm targeting 100 metric tons of CO2 capture per day; according 

to researchers, full-scale CO2 farms using the mechanical trees should be 

capable of removing 3.8 million metric tons of CO2 per year. From The Engineer 

on April 29, 2019. 

Study Explains How Oceans Store CO2.

Research led by the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA) was performed 

to study mechanisms of ocean carbon storage to improve understanding of 

how CO2 moves in the ocean. The study, which appears in the journal Nature, 

discusses “particle injection pumps,” which represent a multidimensional 

approach to account for carbon movement in the deep ocean. From UC Santa 

Barbara News on April 10, 2019.

Plastic Eaten by Plankton May Impair Ocean’s Ability to Store CO2.

According to a study conducted by Irish researchers, the consumption of 

microplastics by plankton has the potential to reduce the efficiency of the 

ocean’s ability to store CO2 on the seafloor. Marine scientists from the Ryan 

Institute at the National University of Ireland in Galway found that microscopic 

fragments of waste plastic might be interfering with the marine food chain, 

altering the density of faecal pellets and reducing the speed at which they 

sink to the seafloor. According to the research, published in the journal 

Environmental Science and Technology, the longer the faecal pellets remain 

at the sea surface, the greater their potential to be broken down as CO2 and 

released into the ocean and atmosphere. From The Irish Times on April 30, 

2019. 

JUNE 2019

Scientists Study Seaweed’s Ability to Store CO2.

New research measured the importance of the coastal ocean as a potential 

global carbon sink and the relevance of macroalgae (seaweed) in storing 

CO2. Led by scientists from the U.K.’s Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the 

study assessed how much of the organic macroalgal CO2 was stored in the 

sediment. In addition, the study, which was part of the Natural Environmental 

Research Council and the U.K.’s Department for the Environment, Food, and 

Rural Affairs-funded Marine Ecosystems Research Programme, highlighted the 

importance of macroalgae in supporting seabed organisms through the winter 

months when other food resources were low, as well as how they contribute to 

carbon storage. From Plymouth Marine Laboratory on May 23, 2019.

New Process Converts CO2 Into Useful Products.

Researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T) engineering department 

developed a new electrochemical path to convert CO2 into valuable products. 

Currently, implementing DAC technology to convert CO2 requires temperatures 

above 900°C; the U of T’s alternative process applies an electrolyzer to drive 

chemical reactions, skipping the heating step. From Carbon Capture Journal 

on June 3, 2019.

Patent Awarded to Store CO2 During Crop Harvesting.

A Newton, Kansas (USA) company received a patent from the U.S. Patent Office 

for a system that will enable farmers to permanently store CO2 in the soil. 

The new TRIBINE Harvester system will be used during grain harvesting and, 

according to officials, has the potential to store up to 1.4 tons of CO2 per acre 

in the soil when combined with other crop practices. From High Plains Journal

on May 29, 2019.

JULY 2019

Researchers Study Ice Age CO2 Levels.

New research conducted by scientists at Oregon State University claims that 

the lower atmospheric CO2 levels during the ice age could be attributed in part 

to seawater temperature variation. According to the study, which was published 

in the journal Science Advances, the difference in ocean surface temperatures 

between the high latitudes and the mid latitudes was significant during the 

warm phases of the ice age. As the warmer water moved toward Antarctica 

and began to cool, the lost heat went into the atmosphere, increasing the 

ocean’s potential to store CO2. From Oregon State University Press Release on 

June 12, 2019.

Company Launches Initiative to Capture, Store CO2.

A Boston, Massachusetts (USA) company launched an initiative to accelerate 

carbon storage. According to Indigo Agriculture officials, the Terraton Initiative

seeks to utilize the potential of agricultural soils to remove 1 trillion tons of 

atmospheric CO2. From Indigo Agriculture Press Release on June 12, 2019.

Researchers Develop Organisms to Convert CO2. 

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Department of Chemical 

and Biological Engineering developed organisms capable of using CO2 to 

produce a variety of plastics and fuels. By using light-activated quantum dots 

to fire particular enzymes within microbial cells, the researchers were able 

to create nanobio-hybrid organisms that “eat” CO2 and convert it into useful 

products such as biodegradable plastic, gasoline, ammonia, and biodiesel. 

Findings of the study, which were published in the Journal of the American 

Chemical Society, are expected to help researchers develop low-cost carbon 

storage. From University of Colorado Boulder on June 11, 2019. 

Tropical Soil Disturbance Could Be Source of CO2.

According to a new study, CO2 that had previously been stored in the Earth 

for millennia could now be re-entering the carbon cycle. Researchers from 

Florida State University studied 19 sites in the eastern Democratic Republic 

of the Congo and discovered that thousand-year-old tropical soil unearthed 

by deforestation and agriculture land use could be releasing CO2 into the 

atmosphere. The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience. From 

Phys.org on June 24, 2019.

Researchers Convert CO2 into Liquefiable Fuels.

Researchers from the University of Illinois developed an artificial photosynthesis 

process that converts CO2 into fuels. In the study, published in the journal 

Nature Communications, the researchers developed a process that uses 

the same green light portion of the visible light spectrum during natural 

photosynthesis to convert CO2 and water into fuel, in conjunction with electronrich gold nanoparticles that serve as a catalyst. From University of Illinois News 

Bureau on June 24, 2019.

AUGUST 2019

Scientists Engineering Plants to Store CO2.

Researchers at Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative (USA) discovered a 

gene with the potential to optimize a plant’s natural ability to capture and store 

CO2. The deeper a plant’s root system, the better the plant’s ability to store 

CO2; the gene discovered by Salk researchers, called EXOCYST70A3, has the 

ability to determine how deep a plant’s roots grow in soil. According to the 

study, published in the journal Cell, the EXOCYST70A3 gene can be altered, 

enabling the plant’s root system to grow more deeply. From Science Alert on 

July 15, 2019.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

18

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 SCIENCE NEWS

Forest Elephant Extinction Linked to Carbon Storage.

Biologists from Saint Louis University (USA) conducted a study of the effect of 

potential elephant extinction on forest composition. According to their findings, 

forest elephants prefer to browse on fast-growing trees, enabling slowgrowing trees, which are capable of storing more CO2, to be more dominant. 

Therefore, the extinction of forest elephants, according to the study published 

in the journal Nature Geoscience, could potentially cause an increase in the 

fast-growing trees at the expense of the slow-growing trees, thus reducing the 

forest’s ability to store CO2. From Newswise on July 24, 2019.

SEPTEMBER 2019

Study Identifies Way to Enhance Soil Sustainability.

Scientists from the University of Plymouth (United Kingdom) demonstrated that 

adding biochar (a product of biomass) to soils constructed from waste materials 

has the potential to improve manufactured soil sustainability by enhancing 

conditions suitable to sustain plant growth, such as carbon storage capacity. 

The study was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. From 

University of Plymouth News on August 2, 2019.

Refitted Oil Rigs Could Store CO2.

A research study found that North Sea oil and gas rigs could be modified 

to pump CO2 emissions into formations below the seabed. Researchers from 

the University of Edinburgh used a computer model to analyze data from the 

Beatrice oil field (located 15 miles off the north east coast of Scotland), and 

found that making modifications to existing platforms is potentially less costly 

than decommissioning the oil field. The study was published in the International 

Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. From University of Edinburgh School of 

Geosciences on August 9, 2019.

Structurally Complex Forests Better at Carbon Storage.

According to a study published in the journal Ecology, a forest’s structural 

complexity is a better predictor of its carbon storage potential than tree species 

diversity. The study, conducted by researchers from Virginia Commonwealth 

University (USA), found that forests in the Eastern United States with highly 

varied arrangements of vegetation have the potential to store more carbon. The 

study suggests that using light detection and ranging to map forest structure 

could predict the potential of forests to store carbon in biomass better than 

conventional approaches. From Phys.Org on August 12, 2019.

Study Looks Into Plants’ CO2 Storage Potential.

A team of international researchers mapped the potential of today’s plants and 

trees to store extra CO2 by the end of the century. By analyzing 138 experiments, 

the researchers found that trees and plants have the potential to increase 

their biomass (organic material) by 12% when exposed to concentrations of 

CO2 predicted for the year 2100. According to the results, published in the 

journal Nature Climate Change, the extra growth could draw enough CO2 from 

the atmosphere to remove several years of current emissions. From Imperial 

College London on August 12, 2019. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

19

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

JOURNAL ARTICLES

OCTOBER 2018

A novel experimental system for the exploration of CO2-water-rock 

interactions under conditions relevant to CO2 geological storage.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This paper describes the design 

and experimental validation of a novel flow-through reactor system conceived 

for experimental studies to determine the kinetics and thermodynamics of 

mineral precipitation and dissolution in environmental conditions relevant 

to CO2 geological storage. The experimental system was designed to work 

under a confining pressure of up to 150 bar, temperature up to 150°C and 

corrosive conditions. The unique design allows the injection of precise amounts 

of liquid CO2 into the reactor while avoiding the formation of multiple CO2

phases. The modular design enables the in-situ measurement of pH using a 

pressure resistant in-line probe and electronic gauges which record pressure 

and temperature at multiple points. The system enables the user to withdraw 

liquid samples without disturbing the experimental conditions in the reactor. 

Customized computer software was developed and connected to the system 

to provide automatic data-logging capabilities, remote process control and 

the ability to partially shut-down the system in case of safety issues.” Pedro 

M. Rendel, Domenik Wolff-Boenisch, Ittai Gavrieli, and Jiwchar Ganor,

Chemical Engineering Journal. (Subscription may be required.)

Natural enhancement and mobility of oil reservoirs by supercritical 

CO2 and implication for vertical multi-trap CO2 geological storage.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The accumulation and production 

of both deep mantle-derived CO2 and light oil were discovered in the Huangqiao 

reservoir, which is located in the Subei Basin, East China. The Huangqiao 

reservoir shows that both CO2 and oil are entrapped in and produced from 

vertical multi-traps. The effects of deep CO2 on the accumulation and production 

of oil under natural conditions and the implications for CO2 geological storage 

are investigated in detail. The fluid inclusions in quartz or calcite veins from 

the Silurian Fentou Formation (S2-3f), Permian Longtan Formation (P2l) and 

Triassic Qinglong Formation (T1q) have homogenization temperatures (Ths) that 

display peak ranges of 180°C–190 °C, 170°C–180 °C and 150°C–160 °C, 

respectively. The Ths are higher than the formation temperatures. The calcite 

veins have light carbon and oxygen isotope compositions and have high 87Sr/86Sr 

ratios and positive Eu anomalies. These characteristics reveal the activities of 

deep CO2-rich hydrothermal fluids in the basin strata. The feldspar in the S2-3f 

and P2l sandstone reservoirs underwent significant dissolution because of the 

presence of CO2-rich fluids, forming of a large amount of secondary pores in 

the sandstone reservoirs and enhancing the reservoirs’ physical properties. 

The measured porosity reaches 12.3%. CO2 in a supercritical state extracted 

or dissolved light petroleum components out of sedimentary rocks and then 

carried them towards reservoirs. Thus, CO2 and oil co-accumulated in the 

enhanced reservoirs, e.g. S2-3f, P2l and T1q. During drilling development, this 

supercritical CO2 naturally increased the mobility of oil, resulting in the coproduction of highly pure CO2 and light oil. Based on the unique features of 

the Huangqiao CO2-oil reservoir, [the authors] propose a new CO2 geological 

storage model, namely, a vertical multi-trap geological storage model, which 

can either entrap large volumes of CO2 or lower the risk of long-term storage.” 

Dongya Zhu, Qingqiang Meng, Quanyou Liu, Bing Zhou, Zhijun Jin, and 

Wenxuan Hu, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. (Subscription 

may be required.)

The cost of getting CCS wrong: Uncertainty, infrastructure design, 

and stranded CO2.

The following is the abstract of this article: “CCS infrastructure will require 

industry—such as fossil-fuel power, ethanol production, and oil and gas 

extraction—to make massive investment in infrastructure. The cost of getting 

these investments wrong will be substantial and will impact the success of CCS 

technology. Multiple factors can and will impact the success of commercialscale CCS, including significant uncertainties regarding capture, transport, and 

injection-storage decisions. Uncertainties throughout the CCS supply chain 

include policy, technology, engineering performance, economics, and market 

forces. In particular, large uncertainties exist for the injection and storage of 

CO2. Even taking into account upfront investment in site characterization, the 

final performance of the storage phase is largely unknown until commercialscale injection has started. [The authors] explore and quantify the impact 

of getting CCS infrastructure decisions wrong based on uncertain injection 

rates and uncertain CO2 storage capacities using a case study managing 

CO2 emissions from the Canadian oil sands industry in Alberta. [The authors] 

use SimCCS, a widely used CCS infrastructure design framework, to develop 

multiple CCS infrastructure scenarios. Each scenario consists of a CCS 

infrastructure network that connects CO2 sources (oil sands extraction and 

processing) with CO2 storage reservoirs (acid gas storage reservoirs) using a 

dedicated CO2 pipeline network. Each scenario is analyzed under a range of 

uncertain storage estimates and infrastructure performance is assessed and 

quantified in terms of cost to build additional infrastructure to store all CO2. 

[The authors] also include the role of stranded CO2, CO2 that a source was 

expecting to but cannot capture due substandard performance in the transport 

and storage infrastructure. Results show that the cost of getting the original 

infrastructure design wrong are significant and that comprehensive planning 

will be required to ensure that CCS becomes a successful climate mitigation 

technology. In particular, [the authors] show that the concept of stranded CO2

can transform a seemingly high-performing infrastructure design into the worst 

case scenario.” Richard S. Middleton and Sean Yaw, International Journal of 

Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Policy Insights from the EMF 32 Study on U.S. Carbon Tax Scenarios.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The Stanford Energy Modeling 

Forum exercise 32 (EMF 32) used 11 different models to assess emissions, 

energy, and economic outcomes from a plausible range of economy-wide 

carbon price policies to reduce CO2 emissions in the United States. Here [the 

authors] discuss the most policy-relevant results of the study, mindful of the 

strengths and weaknesses of current models. Across all models, carbon prices 

lead to significant reductions in CO2 emissions and conventional pollutants, 

with the vast majority of the reductions occurring in the electricity sector. 

Importantly, emissions reductions do not significantly depend on the rebate 

or tax cut used to return revenues to the economy. Expected economic costs, 

as modeled by either GDP or welfare, are modest, but vary across models. 

These costs are offset by benefits from avoided climate damages and health 

benefits from reductions in conventional air pollution. Using revenues to 

reduce preexisting capital or labor taxes reduces costs in most models relative 

to lump-sum rebates, but the size of the cost reductions varies significantly. 

Devoting at least some revenue to household rebates can significantly reduce 

adverse impacts on low income households. Carbon prices at $25/ton or even 

lower levels cause significant shifts away from coal as an energy source with 

responses of other energy sources highly dependent upon technology cost 

assumptions. Beyond 2030, [the authors] conclude that model uncertainties 

are too large to make quantitative results useful for near-term policy design. 

[The authors] close by describing recommendations for policymakers on 

interacting with model results in the future.” Alexander R. Barron, Allen A. 

Fawcett, Marc A. C. Hafstead, James R. McFarland, and Adele C. Morris,

Climate Change Economics. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

20

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Tech-economic assessment of second-generation CCS: 

Chemical looping combustion.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Chemical looping combustion 

(CLC) is regarded as the most promising technology for CO2 capture to mitigate 

[GHG] effect. In this work, a technical and economic performance of [methane 

(CH4)]-feed CLC power plant by means of utilizing promising nickel-, copper-, 

and ilmenite-based oxygen carriers is studied. Nickel-based CLC power 

plant has the highest net power efficiency of 50.14%, followed by 48.02% 

for ilmenite-based case and 45.59% for copper-based case. By contrast 

nickel-based case has a specific CO2 emission of 1.44 kg/MW h, which is 

dramatically lower than the referenced [natural gas combined cycle (NGCC)] 

with CCS system (40.10 kg/MW h). The economic [analyses] reveal nickelbased case is most economic-benefits due to the lowest cost of electricity 

(COE) of 71.66€/MW h, approximately 0.32 €/MW h and 13.06 €/MW h COE 

reduction benefits have been increased in comparison with ilmenite-based 

and copper-based case, respectively. The natural gas price has an important 

influence on COE, as approximately 49.73%, 48.60% and 56.30% of COE 

enhancement is expected with the natural gas price ranging in 4–8 €/GJ for 

nickel-based, copper-based, and ilmenite-based case, respectively. Finally a 

comparison between [natural gas combined cycle (NGCC)] and CLC-related 

power system in terms of economic performance further demonstrates the 

feasibility of the latter system.” Lin Zhu, Yangdong He, Luling Li, and Pengbin 

Wu, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Mass flow measurement of gas-liquid two-phase CO2

in CCS transportation pipelines using Coriolis flowmeters.

The following is the abstract of this article: “CCS is a promising technology that 

stops the release of CO2 from industrial processes such as electrical power 

generation. Accurate measurement of CO2 flows in a CCS system where CO2

flow is a gas, liquid, or gas-liquid two-phase mixture is essential for the fiscal 

purpose and potential leakage detection. This paper presents a novel method 

based on Coriolis mass flowmeters in conjunction with least squares support 

vector machine (LSSVM) models to measure gas-liquid two-phase CO2 flow 

under CCS conditions. The method uses a classifier to identify the flow pattern 

and individual LSSVM models for the metering of CO2 mass flowrate and 

prediction of gas volume fraction of CO2, respectively. Experimental work was 

undertaken on a multiphase CO2 flow test facility. Performance comparisons 

between the general LSSVM and flow pattern based LSSVM models are 

conducted. Results demonstrate that Coriolis mass flowmeters with the 

LSSVM model incorporating flow pattern identification algorithms perform 

significantly better than those using the general LSSVM model. The mass 

flowrate measurement of gas-liquid CO2 is found to yield errors less than ±2% 

on the horizontal pipeline and ±1.5% on the vertical pipeline, respectively, over 

flowrates from 250 kg/h to 3200 kg/h. The error in the estimation of CO2 gas 

volume fraction is within ±10% over the same range of flow rates.” Lijuan 

Wang, Yong Yan, Xue Wang, Tao Wang, Quansheng Duan, and Wenbiao 

Zhang, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may 

be required.)

How China’s current carbon trading policy affects carbon price? 

An investigation of the Shanghai Emission Trading Scheme pilot.

The following is the abstract of this article: “To better establish a unified carbon 

market in China, this study evaluates the effect of current carbon trading policy 

and further investigates the relationship between such policy that is published 

during the second phase of Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange (SEEE) 

and Shanghai Emission Allowance (SHEA) price. [The authors] aim to analyze 

whether these policies can improve the operation efficiency of current carbon 

market. By the Mean Reversion Test, Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) Model, and Event 

Study Method, [the authors] first analyze the potential price discovery function 

of SHEA products, thereby describing the transmission channel of current 

policy to SHEA price. Then [the authors] examine the effect of carbon policies 

published in different periods on their corresponding SHEA price. By the Autocorrelation Test and CIR simulation, [the authors] find that 3/4 of all autocorrelation values are less than 0 after Apr. 2017, and the minimum cumulative 

error is 31.3792 under the supply and demand channel. These findings imply 

that SHEA price has the discovery function at the middle and end of trading 

period, and the current policy affects SHEA price through its effect on the 

fundamentals of supply and demand. Further, more than 60% of all r-values 

(r-value that reflects the response of price to policy) are less than 1, which 

implies that the published policy will improves future SHEA price. Accordingly, 

[the authors] argue that SEEE belongs to a policy-oriented market, and the 

change of carbon price is closely related to emission allocation policies. In this 

case, China’s government should further push forward the smooth operation 

of current carbon market by the aid of incentive policy in the coming period.” 

Yazhi Song, Dapeng Liang, Tiansen Liu, and Xiaoqiu Song, Journal of Cleaner 

Production. (Subscription may be required.)

Carbon pricing and system linking: Lessons from the New Zealand 

Emissions Trading Scheme.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Textbook theory of linking carbon 

systems suggests linking reduces marginal abatement costs. Contrasting 

theoretical work and policy analyses suggests that linking, or at least 

unfettered linking, may not always be beneficial. The New Zealand Emissions 

Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) is unique in that, until 2013, it allowed unlimited 

use of Kyoto allowances. NZ ETS, thus provides an ideal context to explore the 

effect of linking and linking restrictions on carbon pricing of small systems. 

Using data on importation and exportation of allowances, [the authors] provide 

the first empirical analysis of the determinants of allowance prices in the early 

phase of the NZ ETS. [The authors’] results indicate that imports of offsets 

rather than fundamentals have been the major price determinant. Moreover, 

the pricing of New Zealand units (NZUs) can be placed into three distinct 

periods, delineated by two structural breaks. In the first period, the system 

is largely autarkic; in the second period, as international offset prices drop 

below the NZU price, the system becomes a ‘price taker’; in the final period, 

following policy interventions, the system regains some independence. The 

case of the NZ ETS shows that small trading systems need to impose, or have 

the option to impose, quantitative import restriction so as to reap the benefits 

(lower abatement cost), but not the drawbacks (‘importation’ of distortions and 

market integrity issues), of linking.” Ivan Diaz-Rainey and Daniel J. Tulloch, 

Energy Economics. (Subscription may be required.)

NOVEMBER 2018

Enhanced safety of geologic CO2 storage with nanoparticles.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Some methods have been 

developed to detect leakage of CO2 from its desired storage domain, but that 

is not sufficient to prevent and mitigate a leak. Two techniques have been 

proposed to prevent the migration of buoyant CO2 from the storage domain by 

expediting mixing of CO2 with the brine and mitigate risk of its leakage risk. 

These two methods are injection of CO2 pre-mixed with brine, and injection 

of CO2 with nanoparticles (NPs). The former has been studied to some extent, 

however, understanding of the latter is very limited. Unlike the application of 

NPs in hydrocarbon recovery, its use to enhance safety of CO2 storage is a 

fairly unexplored topic that can have important benefits for the safety of the 

storage process. Also, the use of NPs for subsurface application in general 

is compromised for its cost. [The authors] investigate how NPs produced 

from low-level nuclear waste can be added with injected CO2 to enhance the 

mixing of CO2 with brine, which can mitigate leakage risk of CO2. [The authors] 

numerically investigate the effect of adding NPs from nuclear waste with the 

CO2 and show that it enhances the mixing of CO2 with in-situ brine in saline 

aquifers that mitigates the risk related to buoyancy and high mobility of CO2. 

Additionally, [the authors] examine the effect of reservoir heterogeneity on 

mixing of CO2 in reservoir brine when it is injected with NPs. The results show 

that: (i) addition of NPs to CO2 leads to higher mixing, (ii) the discrete shape 

of CO2 concentration in brine tends to diffuse and become smooth as the 

heterogeneity of the medium increases, and (iii) the impact of heterogeneity 

is more pronounced than the fraction of NPs on mixing.” Harpreet Singh and 

Akand Islam, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. (Subscription 

may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

21

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Pricing forest carbon: Implications of asymmetry in climate policy.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Using an integrated assessment 

model, [the authors] examine the implications of climate policies that do 

not fully recognize forest carbon. Specifically, [the authors] first investigate 

the impact of an asymmetric policy that recognizes carbon emissions from 

fossil fuels while fully ignoring forest carbon. Next, [the authors] investigate 

the relative importance of not recognizing emissions from a reduction in the 

stock of forest biomass compared to not recognizing sequestration from the 

growth of forest biomass. [The authors] show that asymmetric carbon policies 

lead to lower levels of welfare, as well as higher emissions and carbon prices. 

This occurs because the forest resource will be allocated inefficiently under 

these carbon policies. Broadly, [the authors] find that when the social planner 

does not account for emissions or sequestration from the forest, the planner 

will set bioenergy levels that are too high and afforestation and avoided 

deforestation levels that are too low. [The authors’] results further reveal 

that not recognizing forest emissions leads to larger welfare losses than not 

recognizing sequestration.” Mathilda Eriksson, Runar Brännlund, and Tommy 

Lundgren, Journal of Forest Economics. (Subscription may be required.) 

The impact of gradational contact at the reservoir-seal interface 

on geological CO2 storage capacity and security.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The implementation of CO2 storage 

in sub-surface sedimentary formations can involve decision making using 

relevant numerical modelling. These models are often represented by 2D or 

3D grids that show an abrupt boundary between the reservoir and the seal 

lithologies. However, in an actual geological formation, an abrupt contact does 

not always exist at the interface between distinct clastic lithologies such as 

sandstone and shale. This article presents a numerical investigation of the 

effect of sediment-size variation on CO2 transport processes in saline aquifers. 

Using the Triassic Bunter Sandstone Formation (BSF) of the Southern North 

Sea (SNS), this study investigates the impact a gradation change at the 

reservoir-seal interface on CO2 sequestration. This is of great interest due 

to the importance of enhanced geological detail in reservoir models used to 

predict CO2 plume migration and the integrity of trapping mechanisms within 

the storage formation. The simplified strategy was to apply the Van Genutchen 

formulation to establish constitutive relationships for pore geometric 

properties, which include capillary pressure (Pc) and relative permeability (kr), 

as a function of brine saturation in the porous media. The results show that 

the existence of sediment gradation at the reservoir-seal interface and within 

the reservoir has an important effect on CO2 migration and pressure diffusion 

in the formation. The modelling exercise shows that these features can lead 

to an increase in residual gas trapping in the reservoir and [localized] pore 

pressures at the caprock’s injection point.” Michael U. Onoja and Seyed M. 

Shariatipour, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription 

may be required.)

[Decarbonization] of the Industrial Sector by means 

of Fuel Switching, Electrification and CCS.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The industrial sector will have 

to undergo major changes in order to reduce its emissions with the goal 

of climate change mitigation. In this context, the iron and steel subsector 

accounts for the highest CO2 emissions share. This work uses a simulation 

model of the global energy system and quantifies the impacts of different 

measures for CO2 reduction (such as fuel switching, electrification and Carbon 

Capture and Storage - CCS) on investment and operation decisions. The 

reported scenarios consider the implementation of a CO2 price as a policy 

instrument to [decarbonize] the industrial sector. The selected case study 

covers steel production in the USA up to the year 2050. The results show that 

single measures such as fuel switching, electrification and CCS adoption alone 

have a limited impact on the [decarbonization] of the iron and steel sector and 

should be rather implemented all together in an integrated approach towards 

climate change mitigation.” Sandro Luh, Sara Budinis, Thomas J. Schmidt, 

and Adam Hawkes, Computer Aided Chemical Engineering. (Subscription may 

be required.)

A meta-frontier DEA approach to efficiency comparison 

of carbon reduction technologies on project level.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Carbon reduction technologies 

such as renewable energy, nuclear energy and CCS technology for the power 

industry play a significant role in achieving low-carbon development goals. 

This research employed a meta-frontier DEA approach to evaluate carbon 

reduction efficiency of technologies on project level. The sample consists of 

several groups of projects such as nuclear energy, hydro-electric energy, wind 

energy, solar energy and biomass energy and CCS technology in power plants. 

The comparison study takes consideration the carbon reduction efficiency gap 

and management level of different technologies for the power industry. The 

results reveal that 1) Biomass energy power plants and conventional power 

plants installed with CCS have the highest efficiency in carbon reduction 

efficiency, with potential improvement in management. 2) Nuclear power plants 

show a high efficiency in carbon reduction while facing some constraints from 

safety and stability issues. 3) Although wind power, hydro-electric power and 

solar power have been exploited in power generation for a long time, they 

still have low efficiency in reducing carbon emission from the power industry. 

Suggestions are provided for policy makers to choose appropriate low-carbon 

development route of the power industry.” Nannan Wang, Ji Chen, Shengnan 

Yao, and Yen-Chiang Chang, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 

(Subscriptions may be required.)

An integrated measurement of household carbon emissions from 

a trading-oriented perspective: A case study of urban families 

in Xuzhou, China.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The measurement of household 

carbon emissions from a trading-oriented perspective has become 

increasingly important and urgently required due to the growing attention 

to personal carbon trading. From a trading-oriented perspective, this study 

established an integrated measurement system of household carbon 

emissions that consists of four modules: direct carbon emissions produced 

by energy use and private transport, and indirect carbon emissions produced 

by the consumption of a portion of non-energy goods and services and waste 

disposal. The emissions coefficient method and input–output model were then 

adopted to systematically calculate the carbon emissions coefficients of 31 

items related to household activities. Furthermore, this study developed an 

integrated measurement scale of household carbon emissions that includes 

23 questions based on the integrated measurement system. Additionally, 

the carbon emissions of three urban families in Xuzhou were measured and 

analyzed using the integrated measurement scale, which exhibits the simple, 

clear, and calculable characteristics of the integrated measurement system 

and integrated measurement scale. This study provides new perspectives for 

the measurement of household carbon emissions and valuable references 

for the research and implementation of personal carbon trading scheme, and 

then contributes to the reduction of households’ carbon emissions.” Daoyan 

Guo, Hong Chen, Ruyin Long, and Yingzhe Ni, Journal of Cleaner Production. 

(Subscription may be required.)

A general equilibrium analysis on the impacts of regional and sectoral 

emission allowance allocation at carbon trading market.

The following is the abstract of this article: “It is critical to adapt to climate 

change and reduce the overall carbon emissions. China announced its 

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) at the Paris climate conference in 

2015. The carbon cap-and-trade scheme, which plays a key role in carbon 

emissions abatement, is an effective policy for China to achieve its NDC. This 

study focuses on the allocation of regional and sectoral initial carbon emission 

allowances in Shanghai. An impact evaluation on the macro-economy, carbon 

trading markets and participating sectors for the year 2030 was conducted 

by applying a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The results show 

that the carbon cap-and-trade scheme would cause a 3.4% GDP loss and 

an 8.9% welfare loss in 2030. The carbon price would be 161.2 USD/t and 

147.2 USD/t under the two representative scenarios. The allocation of initial 

allowances would have a significant impact on both carbon market scale and 

sectoral trading behaviors. The power generation sector and the petrol oil sector 

would undertake the greatest output loss, while the metal smelting sector 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

22

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

would become the main seller. Furthermore, the initial allowances allocation 

under a certain abatement target would hardly affect sectoral production but 

remarkably affect trade behaviors at the carbon trading markets.” Zhongjue 

Yu, Yong Geng, Hancheng Dai, Rui Wu, Zhiqing Liu, Xu Tian, and Raimund 

Bleischwitz, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)

DECEMBER 2018

Probabilistic evaluation of multi-fluid-phase carbon dioxide storage 

capacities of saline formations in the Pohang Basin, Korea using 

three-dimensional geologic modeling and grid-based Monte 

Carlo simulation.

The following is the abstract of this article: “A series of probabilistic evaluation 

is performed sequentially using three-dimensional geologic modeling and gridbased Monte Carlo simulation as a linked methodology to estimate multi-fluidphase (i.e., individual gas-, liquid-, supercritical-, and whole fluid-phase) CO2

storage capacities of the target clastic saline formations in the Pohang Basin, 

Korea. The Pohang Basin is subdivided into the six geologic formations including 

the two clastic saline formations, which are the sandstone-dominant Fluvial 

Conglomerate and Sandstone (FCSS) and Shallow Marine Sandstone (SMSS) 

in ascending order. The results of the three-dimensional geologic modeling 

show that the six geologic formations are distributed very complicatedly both 

onshore and offshore with irregular depths and thicknesses, and they are 

partly dissected and offset by the eight major faults. The two clastic saline 

formations FCSS and SMSS are deep and thick at the three prospective 

areas such as Areas 1, 2, and 3 in the modeling domain. The results of the 

grid-based Monte Carlo simulation show the following three main contents. 

First, in the two clastic saline formations SMSS and FCSS, CO2 exists as gas, 

liquid, and supercritical phases with the corresponding distinctive density 

ranges depending on the pressure and temperature with depth. Second, the 

theoretical multi-fluid-phase CO2 storage capacities of the SMSS and FCSS all 

show asymmetric normal distributions. On the other hand, the effective multifluid-phase CO2 storage capacities of the saline formations all show log-normal 

distributions, and their values are much lower than the values of the theoretical 

multi-fluid-phase CO2 storage capacities. The mean theoretical fluid-phase 

CO2 storage capacities of the SMSS and FCSS are equal to 2,511.60 Mton 

and 1,370.91 Mton, respectively. The mean effective fluid-phase CO2 storage 

capacities of the SMSS and FCSS are equal to 64.19 Mton and 35.32 Mton,

respectively. Third, in the SMSS, the grid-wise (elemental) median theoretical 

and effective multi-fluid-phase CO2 storage capacities are probabilistically 

higher at Area 1 (mainly as supercritical and liquid phases), intermediate at 

Area 2 (mainly as liquid and gas phases), and lower at Area 3 (mainly as a gas 

phase). However, in the FCSS, the grid-wise median theoretical and effective 

multi-fluid-phase CO2 storage capacities are probabilistically higher at Area 2 

(mainly as supercritical and liquid phases), intermediate at Area 1 (mainly as 

a supercritical phase), and lower at Area 3 (mainly as a gas phase). Finally, 

four key criteria (parameters) for selecting or ranking the optimal CO2 storage 

locations are decided by summarizing and analyzing the results of the threedimensional geologic modeling and grid-based Monte Carlo simulation. On the 

basis of the four key criteria (parameters), the overall suitability ranks of Areas 

1, 2, and 3 for geologic CO2 storage are determined to be the first, second, 

and third, respectively.” Jai-Yong Park, Sungho Lee, Jung-Hwi Kihm, JunMo Kim, and Yong Il Lee, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Cost-efficient climate policies for interdependent carbon pools.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The purpose of this paper is to 

investigate cost-effective climate policy instruments for bioenergy and timber, 

adapted to the impacts on interdependent forest carbon pools, and applied 

in the [European Union (EU)] climate policy to 2050. [The authors] develop a 

discrete time dynamic model including forest carbon pools in biomass, soil, and 

products, as well as fossil fuel consumption. The analytical results show that 

the optimal taxes on forest products depend on the growth in the respective 

carbon pool. The application to the EU 2050 climate policy for emission trading 

shows that total costs for target achievement can be reduced by 33 percent if 

all carbon pools are included, and the carbon tax on fossil fuel can be reduced 

by 50 percent. Optimal taxes on forest products differ among countries and 

over time depending on the potential for increased carbon sequestration over 

the planning period.” Katarina Elofsson and Ing-Marie Gren, Environmental 

Modelling & Software. (Subscription may be required.)

Reducing emissions in transportation and inventory management: 

(R, Q) Policy with considerations of carbon reduction.

The following is the abstract of this article: “In this study, [the authors] 

examine three approaches on the effects of controlling carbon emissions in 

transportation and inventory management. A Business-As-Usual Scenario 

Model (BAUSM), which delineates how carbon footprints from inventory storage 

and related transportation are captured, is firstly developed as the benchmark 

model. Based on BAUSM, [the authors] then develop three models with 

different carbon reduction approaches. The first one is constructed by adding 

a constraint to represent the percentage target of emission reduction. The 

second one integrates carbon taxes (or cap-and-trade scheme) into inventory 

management, and the last one takes both reduction target and carbon offset 

opportunities into account. [The authors’] work provides new analytical models, 

which integrate cost and emissions in transportation and storage under the 

framework of continuous inventory review (R, Q) policy for stochastic demand. 

Optimization algorithms are developed for solving models and related properties 

are investigated to examine the effects of carbon reduction and associated 

costs of three models. The policy implications of the models are examined 

and discussed to provide insights for reference of the practitioners and the 

policy makers.” Tang, Shaolong; Wang, Wenjie; Cho, Stella; and Yan, Hong, 

European Journal of Operational Research. (Subscription may be required.) 

Residual trapping of carbon dioxide during geological storage

—Insight gained through a pore-network modeling approach.

The following is the abstract of this article: “To reduce emissions of the 

[GHG] CO2 to the atmosphere, sequestration in deep saline aquifers is a 

viable strategy. Residual trapping is a key containment process important to 

the success of CO2 storage operations. While residual trapping affects CO2

migration over large scales, it is inherently a pore-scale process. Pore-network 

models (PNMs), capturing such processes, are useful for... understanding 

of residual trapping, and for upscaling trapping parameters for larger scale 

models. A PNM for simulation of quasi-static two-phase flow; CO2 intrusion 

(drainage) followed by water flooding (imbibition) was developed. It accounts 

for pore-scale displacement mechanisms, and was used to investigate 

residual CO2 trapping. The sensitivity of the residual CO2 saturation to several 

parameters was studied, to validate a trapping behavior in agreement with 

earlier studies. Then the PNM was calibrated to core sample data and used to 

simulate drainage-imbibition scenarios with different turning point saturations. 

From these the initial-residual saturation curves of CO2 in Heletz sandstone 

were estimated, essential for future macroscopic-scale simulations. Further, 

the occurrence of different pore-scale mechanisms were quantified and 

the size distribution of the residual clusters was shown to exhibit a bimodal 

appearance. The findings improve the understanding of residual trapping in 

Heletz sandstone.” K. Rasmusson, M. Rasmusson, Y. Tsang, S. Benson, F. 

Hingerl, F. Fagerlund, and A. Niemi, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas 

Control. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

23

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

On the variability of CO2 feed flows into CCS transportation 

and storage networks.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The flexible operation of CO2

injection wells presents significant challenges. To avoid premature degradation 

of wells or loss of integrity it is imperative to understand the feed flow patterns 

that future CO2 transportation and storage networks will face. [The authors] use 

a unit commitment economic dispatch (UCED) model to study CCS operating 

regimes in low carbon energy systems scenarios that are [characterized] by 

high shares of weather dependent renewable power generation. Using the 

case study of Great Britain, [the authors] determine the extent to which flexible 

operation of CCS plants is required, resulting in variable CO2 flows that need 

to be accommodated by future CO2 transportation and storage networks. [The 

authors] find that around 21% and 12% of the net flow rate changes over 

6h-periods in the core scenario have greater amplitudes than 30% and 50% of 

nominal flow, respectively. When changes are averaged over two consecutive 

blocks of 6 h, representing the smoothing effect achievable via line-packing 

over a pipeline of reasonable length and diameter, around 9% of the net 

changes have greater amplitudes than 40% of nominal flow. Given the high 

and frequent fluctuations in feed flows across all considered scenarios, further 

research is urgently required on the capability of transportation and storage 

networks to accommodate variable CO2 flow rates.” T. Spitz, V. Avagyan, F. 

Ascui, A.R.W. Bruce, H. Chalmers, and M. Lucquiaud, International Journal of 

Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

The role of CCS and biomass-based processes in the refinery sector 

for different carbon scenarios.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This paper studies technological 

pathways in the refinery sector, such as fuel switching, CCS, energy efficiency 

as well as retrofit decisions (i.e. upgrading, scaling-up, and equipment 

[modernization]) with the aim of [decarbonization]. A global refinery outlook is 

presented for a 2.5°C and 2°C climate target scenario from 2010 through to 

2050. The results highlight that a full portfolio of technologies (non-conventional 

processes, gas-/coal-based, with/without CCS, and biomass-based process) is 

necessary. Among the conventional refineries, only the most efficient ones or 

those investing in CCS to increase competitiveness and reducing emissions, 

can stay in the market.” Julia Sachs, Sukma Hidayat, Sara Giarola, and 

Adam Hawkes, Computer Aided Chemical Engineering. (Subscription may be 

required.)

Analysis of the contribution of CCS to achieve the objectives 

of Mexico to reduce GHG emissions.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Mexico has a strong commitment to 

reduce its GHG emissions. The electrical and the industrial sectors have been 

the second and third largest contributors to GHG emissions–excluding fugitive 

emissions-. This paper analyzes the potential contributions of CCS systems 

on the electrical sector, as well as the participation of the cement, metal 

and chemical industries. This study was carried out using a computational 

mathematical model, the MEM70, which is a partial equilibrium model that 

represents the Mexican energy system. It was found that, even considering 

energy efficiency measures, a high penetration of electric vehicles and the 

electrical sector with high participation of low carbon emission technologies 

such as renewable and nuclear sources. Further, it is necessary to implement 

CCS to achieve the goal for reducing national greenhouse gas emissions.” 

David Castrejón, Alan M. Zavala, Jesús A. Flores, Marco Polo Flores, and 

Diana Barrón, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription 

may be required.)

Tracking carbon transfers embodied in Chinese municipalities’ 

domestic and foreign trade.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Cities are the major contributors 

to global [CO2] emissions; however, the carbon transfers embodied in cities’ 

domestic and foreign trade have not been fully discussed. As carbon emissions 

from different domestic and foreign trade partners have not been distinguished, 

and since China’s four municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing) 

carry an increasingly significant responsibility for carbon reduction in China, 

a multi-scale and multi-regional carbon emission assessment is applied 

to identify their emission transfers to and from 26 domestic provinces and 

184 foreign economies. The results show that the intensities of the four 

municipalities are mainly above the international standard (0.14 kg/CNY) but 

beneath the Chinese average (0.24 kg/CNY). 71.72%, 55.35%, 65.34% and 

33.65% of their emissions are imported from other regions. Generally, the four 

municipalities are net recipients of domestic carbon transfers and suppliers of 

foreign carbon transfers. Carbon transfers from Hebei to Beijing and Tianjin, 

Zhejiang to Shanghai, and Sichuan to Chongqing as well as from Beijing and 

Tianjin to Japan and South Korea and from Shanghai and Chongqing to the 

United States and Germany are identified in domestic and foreign supply 

chains. The multi-scale and multi-regional simulation and assessment in this 

work allows [the authors] to identify the carbon emissions not only within a 

city’s boundaries but also via inter- and intra-national trade, providing a solid 

foundation for the carbon emission assessments of Chinese mega cities from 

an embodied perspective.” Y.L. Li, Bin Chen, M.Y. Han, Michael Dunford, 

Weidong Liu, and Zhi Li, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may 

be required.)

Can carbon cap and trade mechanism be beneficial 

for remanufacturing?

The following is the abstract of this article: “Remanufacturing is an 

environmentally friendly and profitable way to conduct production operations. 

For environmental protection, carbon cap and trade mechanism, which is 

conventionally considered a burden for manufacturers, is a viable approach to 

reduce carbon emissions. This paper explores the possibility of a monopolistic 

manufacturer involved in both manufacturing and remanufacturing to profit 

under carbon cap and trade mechanism in a single period. [The authors] 

develop a model to derive the [favorable] conditions under which carbon cap 

and trade is beneficial for the manufacturer in ordinary markets and green 

markets and obtain the manufacturer’s optimal decisions. Furthermore, [the 

authors analyze] the influence of carbon emissions-related parameters on the 

manufacturer’s optimal decisions and carbon trading quantity. The results show 

that carbon cap and trade can be valuable for remanufacturing in both the 

ordinary market and the green market. Policy makers should focus on carbon 

trading prices to reduce carbon emissions and improve the manufacturers’ 

profits in both markets. In addition, the low carbon emissions characteristics 

of remanufactured products allow for better profits for manufacturers under 

carbon cap and trade, and their investments in low carbon production 

technology should be expanded. Finally, the proportion of green consumers 

has important performance implications for remanufacturing in green markets. 

Specifically, excessive green consumers in a monopolistic market are not 

always a blessing when the carbon trading price is high.” Qiangfei Chai, 

Zhongdong Xiao, Kee-hung Lai, and Guanghui Zhou, International Journal of 

Production Economics. (Subscription may be required.)

JANUARY 2019

CO2-SCREEN tool: Application to the Oriskany sandstone to estimate 

prospective CO2 storage resource.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The ability to accurately predict 

the CO2 storage resource in saline formations is important to make highlevel, energy-related government policy and business decisions. CO2-SCREEN 

(Storage prospeCtive Resource Estimation Excel aNalysis) is a tool developed 

by DOE-NETL to screen saline formations for prospective CO2 storage 

resources. CO2-SCREEN uses DOE methods and equations to serve as a 

consistent mechanism for calculating prospective CO2 storage resources. CO2-

SCREEN is comprised of two files: an Excel file used for inputs and outputs 

and a GoldSim Player file used to run Monte Carlo simulations. CO2-SCREEN 

requires input of physical geologic parameters (i.e. thickness, porosity) as 

well as efficiency factor ranges (i.e. net-to-gross thickness) to calculate a 

mass storage estimate. An application of CO2-SCREEN is demonstrated here 

using well log data from the Oriskany Sandstone portion in Pennsylvania. The 

Oriskany Sandstone is divided into 20 km x 20 km grid cells in which 151 

cells contain well log data. CO2-SCREEN calculates prospective CO2 storage 

resource for each grid cell based on the well log data and uses lithology and 

depositional environment information for efficiency factor ranges. The Oriskany 

Sandstone CO2 storage resource estimate for Pennsylvania, calculated by CO2-
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

24

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

SCREEN, ranges from 0.07 to 1.28 gigatons (Gt) with a P50 value of 0.32 Gt. 

This resource assessment analysis is done to demonstrate the use of CO2-

SCREEN and results are comparable to previous studies which encourages 

the application of CO2-SCREEN to other saline formations and warrants 

exploring the expansion of this tool to assess the CO2 storage resource in 

other formations such as shale and depleted oil and gas reservoirs.” Sean 

Sanguinito, Angela L. Goodman, and James I. Sams III, International Journal 

of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Immediate and long-run impacts of a forest carbon policy—A marketlevel assessment with heterogeneous forest owners.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Sequestering carbon in forests 

and wood products is an inexpensive way to reduce the atmospheric carbon 

concentration. However, its full potential is not utilized in present climate 

policies. Optimizing sequestration, while continuing to harvest wood for 

materials and energy, could reduce the economic burden of mitigation efforts. 

Optimal sequestration can be incentivized by subsidizing carbon storage 

according to its social value. [The authors] analyze the dynamic market-level 

impacts of implementing a forest carbon policy by using the Finnish Forest and 

Energy Policy model (FinFEP). [The authors] find that sizeable and immediate 

increases in carbon sinks can be obtained, even with low carbon prices. High 

carbon payments strongly increase the carbon sink in the short run, but this 

impact diminishes over time. Low payments have a milder but longer-lasting 

impact. Forest owners’ valuations of forest amenities also affect the magnitude 

and dynamics of harvest and carbon sequestration results. Thus, a realistic 

description of forest owner behavior is needed to assess the impacts of forest 

carbon policies. Moreover, [the authors] show that a market-level model is 

necessary for assessing the regional carbon sequestration impacts and 

costs. Relying on stand-level models with fixed timber prices may yield overly 

optimistic results.” Johanna Pohjola, Jani Laturi, Jussi Lintunen, and Jussi 

Uusivuori, Journal of Forest Economics. (Subscription may be required.) 

A dynamic assessment of instrument interaction and timing 

alternatives in the EU low-carbon policy mix design.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The European Union low-carbon 

strategy includes a range of complementary policies. Potential interactions 

between instruments and different timing of their implementation can 

influence the cost and likelihood of achieving the targets. [The authors] test 

the interactions between the three main pillars of the European Union strategy 

through a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model (GDynEP) with a 

time horizon of 2050. Main results are: i) going for the unilateral European 

Union carbon mitigation target without any complementary technological 

policy will produce large economic losses; ii) by investing in clean energy 

technologies (energy efficiency and renewable energy) with a carbon tax 

revenue recycling mechanism, these losses will decrease substantially; iii) 

when complementary clean energy technology policies are implemented, the 

optimal timing of binding targets changes; iv) the higher the public support to 

clean energy technologies, the larger the economic gains in early adoption of 

challenging abatement targets.” Massimiliano Corradini, Valeria Costantini, 

Anil Markandya, Elena Paglialunga, and Giorgia Sforna, Energy Policy. 

(Subscription may be required.) 

Economic [optimization] of European supply chains for CO2 capture, 

transport and sequestration, including societal risk analysis and risk 

mitigation measures.

The following is the abstract of this article: “European large stationary sources 

are currently emitting more than 1.4 Gt of CO2 every year. A significant 

decrease in [GHG] emissions cannot be achieved without CCS technologies. 

However, although being practiced for over 30 years, CO2 transportation 

is intrinsically [characterized] by the risk of leakage. This study proposes to 

assess and tackle this issue within the CCS design problem, by proposing a 

spatially explicit mixed integer linear programming approach for the economic 

[optimization] of a European supply chain for carbon capture, transport and 

geological storage, where societal risk assessment is formally incorporated 

within the modelling framework. Post-combustion, oxy-fuel combustion and 

pre-combustion are considered as technological options for CO2 capture, 

whereas both pipelines (inshore and offshore) and ships are taken into account 

as transport means. Both inland-inshore and offshore injection options are 

available for carbon geological sequestration. Risk mitigation measures are 

considered in the design of the transport network. The overall supply chain is 

economically [optimized] for different minimum carbon reduction scenarios. 

Results demonstrate that accounting for societal risk may impact the overall 

carbon sequestration capacity, and that the proposed approach may represent 

a valuable tool to support policy makers in their strategic decisions.” Federico 

d’Amore, Paolo Mocellin, Chiara Vianello, Giuseppe Maschio, and Fabrizio 

Bezzo, Applied Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Carbon Capture and Sustainable Utilization by Algal Polyacrylonitrile 

Fiber Production: Process Design, Techno-Economic Analysis, and 

Climate Related Aspects.

The following is the abstract of this Article: “Carbon capture and sustainable 

utilization (CCU) is essential to accomplishing the targets of 2015’s Paris 

Agreement. A promising option consists of algal based CO2 conversion into lipid 

rich biomass with further processing into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber, the major 

precursor for carbon fiber production. A first feasibility analysis was carried out 

under multiple constraints for price, byproduct yield, and consumption of land, 

CO2, and energy. Several process-route alternatives were composed, modeled, 

and compared in terms of mass and energy flows, resource needs, and cost. To 

quantify risks from market and modeling uncertainties, [the authors] conducted 

a primary techno-economic analysis (TEA) with variable process pathways in 

a dynamic economic model of a related project company (SPV), embedded in 

a Monte Carlo simulation. First results indicate that process combinations with 

algal biodiesel-production and biomass-liquefaction (BtL) components come 

close to meeting the multiple constraints and justify progressing to extended 

research and development activities.” Uwe Arnold, Thomas Brück, Andreas 

De Palmenaer, and Kolja Kuse, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 

(Subscription may be required.) 

Practical deployment of pipelines for the CCS network in critical 

conditions using MINLP modelling and optimization: A case study of 

South Korea.

The following is the abstract of this article: “In applying CCS technology, 

pipelines are an economic choice for transporting CO2. However, it is difficult 

to plan the pipeline network in detail since various factors, such as mountain 

regions and high population density increase the cost of pipeline installation. 

Also, uncertainty of the reservoir capacity and national policies is important 

factors in practical pipeline deployment, especially in critical conditions 

mentioned above. In this study, the development of an optimal CCS pipeline 

network in critical conditions, and the effect of practical design conditions on 

the network, are studied using mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) 

modeling and optimization. South Korea is selected as a case study and 

optimal CCS networks are obtained according to four scenarios developed with 

regard to reservoir capacity and policy options. A rigorous cost model was 

developed, and subdivided penalty factors were applied to consider the drastic 

change in geographical conditions. The four scenarios were evaluated and the 

effect of the considered factors on the timely development of the CCS network 

was analyzed.” Changsoo Kim, Kyeongsu Kim, Jeongnam Kim, Usama 

Ahmed, and Chonghun Han, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. 

(Subscription may be required.) 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

25

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Shelf space allocation problem under carbon tax 

and emission trading policies.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This study formulates a mixed 

integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model for the shelf space allocation 

problem (SSAP) under two common environmental policies: the Carbon Tax 

System and the Emission Trading System. For each system, the impact on 

profitability and the opportunities for emission cuts are presented. Via numerical 

experiments [the authors] specifically explore the impact of a fixed carbon tax, 

emission allowances, and emission price on two of the most important in-store 

management decisions in retail: shelf space capacity and product allocation 

decisions. Real-life retail data of four product categories are tested and solved 

to optimality using COUENNE. Then, [the authors] analyze optimal solutions 

to gain important insights for the benefit of both retailers and governmental 

decision makers.” Vincent F. Yu, Renan Maglasang, and Yu-Chung Tsao, 

Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)

Regional impacts of launching national carbon emissions trading 

market: A case study of Shanghai.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This study investigates the 

impacts of launching a national carbon trade market through the IMED|CGE 

(Integrated Model of Energy, Environment and Economy for Sustainable 

Development|Computable General Equilibrium) model, between Shanghai 

and the Rest of China (ROC). Five scenarios are established by considering 

China’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets, including a 

baseline scenario (BaU scenario), a carbon cap on ETS participating sectors 

scenario (CAPsec scenario), a carbon cap on Shanghai and ROC regions 

scenario (CAPreg scenario), a carbon cap scenario with local carbon emissions 

trading among ETS participating sectors (ETsec scenario) and a carbon cap 

scenario with inter-regional carbon emissions trading (ETreg scenario). The 

results under the ETreg scenario predict a carbon price of 164.64 USD/tCO2

and a total carbon trade volume of 189.91 Mt by 2030. The metal smelting 

sector will be the largest seller of emissions quotas in Shanghai, whereas the 

power generation sector will be the largest buyer. Due to its higher carbon 

mitigation cost and increasing autonomous carbon intensity, the aviation 

sector will face more challenges to reduce emissions among ETS participating 

sectors in Shanghai. The results indicate that launching a national carbon 

trade market could generate both economic and environmental benefits and 

help China achieve its NDC targets.” Zhiqing Liu, Yong Geng, Hancheng Dai, 

Jeffrey Wilson, Yang Xie, Rui Wu, We You, and Zhongjue Yu, Applied Energy. 

(Subscription may be required.)

FEBRUARY 2019

Tracking CO2 Plumes in Clay-Rich Rock by Distributed Fiber Optic 

Strain Sensing (DFOSS): A Laboratory Demonstration.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Monitoring the migration of pore 

pressure, deformation, and saturation plumes with effective tools is important 

for the storage and utilization of fluids in underground reservoirs, such as 

geological stores of CO2 and natural gas. Such tools would also verify the 

security of the fluid contained reservoir-caprock system. Utilizing the swelling 

strain attributed to pressure buildup and the adsorption of supercritical CO2

on clay minerals, [the authors] tracked the fluid plume in a natural clay-rich 

Tako sandstone at the laboratory core scale. The strain was measured by a 

high-resolution distributed fiber optic strain sensing (DFOSS) tool. The strain 

changes induced by CO2 adsorptions on clay minerals were significantly greater 

than those caused by pore pressure alone. The distribution of the swelling 

strain signals effectively captured the dynamic breakthrough of the CO2 plume 

from the high- to low-permeability regions in the Tako sandstone. Besides 

revealing the in situ deformation state, the measured strain changes can 

track the movement of the CO2 plume as it enters the clay-rich critical regions 

in the reservoir-caprock system. The present findings and potential future 

applications of DFOSS in the field are expected to enhance the monitoring and 

management of underground fluid reservoirs.” Yi Zhang, Ziqiu Xue, Hyuck 

Park, Ji-Quan Shi, Tamotsu Kiyama, Xinglin Lei, Yankun Sun, and Yunfeng 

Liang, Water Resources Research. (Subscription may be required.)

The U.S. power sector decarbonization: Investigating technology 

options with MARKAL nine-region model.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The U.S. economy decarbonization 

over the next 35 years requires a large transformation of the energy system. 

The main finding of this study is that it is technically feasible to achieve 80% 

GHG emissions reduction below the 2005 levels by 2050 through deployment 

of existing or near-commercially available technologies. GHG reductions are 

primarily achieved through high levels of electricity sector decarbonization, 

electrification of end uses, and exchange of the remaining end-uses to 

lower carbon fuels such as natural gas. However, deep decarbonization by 

2050 triggers very high marginal CO2 reduction costs, unless significant cost 

reductions of zero and near-zero carbon technologies occur. The results show 

that CO2 reduction policies accelerate the deployment of renewables and CCS 

only in the scenarios where the decarbonization policies are more stringent 

than those in the Clean Power Plan (CPP). Electricity generation mixes in the 

reference scenarios are largely dependent on the price of natural gas, but also 

show significant sensitivity to cost reductions in CCS. When increased CCS 

learning rates are incorporated into the model runs, more CCS is optimal in 

the medium-term and long-term future in the scenarios with CO2 constraints. 

An 80% reduction scenario also prompts electrification in end-use demand 

sectors, creating even more dependence on CO2 management in the electricity 

generation sector.” Nadejda Victor, Christopher Nichols, and Charles Zelek, 

Energy Economics. (Subscription may be required.)

Econometric supply-and-demand models to analyze carbon pricing 

policies.

The following is the abstract of this article: “In this paper, the introduction of 

a carbon pricing policy in air transport industry is investigated. The impact 

on ticket prices, airlines’ market shares and resulting network-wide carbon 

emissions is studied via a methodology which includes a supply and demand 

model and a method for estimating carbon emissions costs by airline and 

itinerary. The application of the carbon pricing policy at the U.S. domestic 

aviation network revealed that the policy could have some significant effects 

on ticket prices, air travel demand and resulting CO2 emissions for high 

carbon price. But, to achieve the aviation industry ambitious goal to reduce net 

aviation CO2 emissions by 50% until 2050, this paper suggests that airlines 

and policy makers need to adopt a multi-faceted approach with carbon pricing 

policies, technological, operational and infrastructure improvements to ensure 

economic and environmental sustainability.” Ioanna Pagoni and Paraskevi 

Psaraki-Kalouptsidi, International Journal of Transportation Science and 

Technology. (Subscription may be required.)

Exploring the impacts of a low-carbon policy instrument: A case of 

carbon tax on transportation in China.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The rapid growth of energy 

consumption and CO2 emission in transportation has brought great challenges 

to China’s energy demand and environmental issues. Carbon tax, considered 

as an efficient low-carbon policy instrument, can effectively reduce the use 

of fossil fuels and improve energy efficiency. This study aims to explore the 

impacts of a transportation carbon tax on transport sectors, macroeconomy 

and social welfare by developing a computable general equilibrium (CGE) 

model. Meanwhile, to achieve fiscal revenue neutrality, two schemes are 

employed for revenue recycling. One is that all of the carbon tax revenue is 

recycled to subsidize households through lump-sum transfer; the other one is 

that carbon tax revenue is used to reduce the income tax of households and 

enterprises. The simulation results show that the appropriate carbon tax rate 

is 50 Chinese Yuan (RMB)/ton-CO2. At this level of taxation, energy demand 

and carbon reduction have fewer negative impacts on the macro-economy 

and transport sectors. [The authors] also find that the appropriate carbon tax 

rates among different transport sectors and different energy categories are 

different. The appropriate carbon tax rates for airlines, railway, urban transport 

and water transport are same (50 RMB/ton-CO2), while the appropriate carbon 

tax rate for road transport sector is 60 RMB/ton-CO2. The recycling of carbon 

tax revenue to households and enterprises should be implemented to realize 

the ‘weak double dividend’ effect of the carbon tax.” Yinxiang Zhou, Wenshi 

Fang, Mengjuan Li, and Weili Liu, Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 

(Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

26

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Optimum storage depths for structural CO2 trapping.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Structural trapping is the primary 

CO2 geo-storage mechanism, and it has historically been quantified by CO2

column heights, which can be permanently immobilized beneath a caprock, 

using a buoyancy force-capillary force balance. However, the high dependence 

of CO2-wettability (a key parameter in the above analysis) on pressure and 

temperature – and thus storage depth – has not been taken into account. 

Importantly, rock can be CO2-wet at high pressure, and this wettability reversal 

results in zero structural trapping below a certain storage depth (~2400m 

maximum caprock depth for a most likely scenario is estimated here). 

Furthermore, more relevant than the CO2 column height is the actual mass 

of CO2 which can be stored by structural trapping (mCO2). This aspect has 

now been quantified here, and importantly, mCO2 goes through a maximum at 

~1300m depth, thus there exists an optimal storage depth at around 1300m 

depth.” Stefan Iglauer, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Postcombustion CO2 Capture from Wet Flue Gas by Temperature Swing 

Adsorption.

The following is the abstract of this article: “[The authors] present an analysis 

of a novel temperature swing adsorption (TSA) process with condensers 

capable of treating wet flue gas reaching 90% CO2 recovery and 95% purity 

(on a dry basis). In the first part, the characterization of the binary CO2/

water vapor adsorption equilibrium on zeolite 13X is presented, quantifying 

residual CO2 adsorption at different levels of water adsorption. On this basis, 

[the authors] propose an empirical and analytical isotherm model able to 

capture the competition between CO2 and water vapor. In the second part, 

the isotherm model is used in a process simulator to assess the performance 

of the proposed TSA process in detail. The strict specifications on the CO2

product could be reached by employing a layered-bed configuration, where 

a portion of the zeolite 13X bed is replaced by activated alumina. Further, the 

process is optimized by parametric analysis with respect to productivity and 

energy consumption while using the specifications as constraints. It is shown 

that reasonable performance can be obtained, comparable to the scenario 

where a drying step precedes the cyclic adsorption process but achieving 

this in a single process step. Moreover, the critical effect of the significant 

mass transfer resistance of water vapor on zeolite 13X is quantified. Due to a 

spread of reported mass transfer coefficients of water vapor on zeolite 13X, the 

process is assessed for three representative values, showing that comparable 

performance can be obtained for all cases considered by varying the length 

of the guard layer. The robustness of the process is further underlined by the 

reasonable performance for varying concentrations of water vapor in the feed.” 

Max Hefti and Marco Mazzotti, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 

(Subscription may be required.)

The impact on electric power industry under the implementation of 

national carbon trading market in China: A dynamic CGE analysis.

The following is the abstract of this article: “As the largest carbon emissions 

source sector, electric power industry is undoubtedly a principal part of the 

carbon trading market in China. Aimed at researching the impact on power 

industry beyond establishing the national carbon trading market, a dynamic 

computable general equilibrium (CGE) model embedded with carbon trading 

block is introduced in this paper. Subsequently, [the authors] design 8 scenarios 

of which illustrate corresponding industry carbon emissions baselines and free 

quotas ratios. The main simulation results are as follows. The implementation of 

carbon emissions trading would bring a certain negative impact on the overall 

economy. Real GDP will be reduced by about 0.08%–0.52% in 2030. Though 

low free quotas ratio will cause a relatively high loss of GDP, this negative 

impact would be eliminated in the long run. In addition, carbon emissions 

trading would also promote the clean production of electricity. Indeed, the 

electric power industry would reach carbon emissions peak around 2020. 

Relative to scenarios without carbon trading, carbon emissions would reduce 

more than 1000 million tons in 2030 when industry carbon emissions baseline 

declines at an annual rate of 2%. Consequently, the carbon market can achieve 

a more significant reduction in carbon emissions with the influencing of quotas 

fully auctioned scenario.” Wei Li, Yan-Wu Zhang, and Can Lu, Journal of 

Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)

Impact of carbon allowance allocation on power industry in China’s 

carbon trading market: Computable general equilibrium based 

analysis.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Global warming has necessitated 

the quest for CO2 mitigation globally. Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is 

a market-oriented strategy which may be effective for CO2 mitigation. This 

study establishes a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze 

the impact of different ETS quota allocation scheme on the electricity industry 

and determine the best choice of quota allocation scheme for the electricity 

industry in China. The research on China’s carbon trading market may provide 

an important case for the global carbon trading market. The results show that 

different quota allocation schemes have impacts on electricity price, and there 

are some spillover effects to other industries. Higher Annual Decline Factor 

(ADF) will reduce carbon rights than lower ones. Changes in the quota allocation 

schemes of a single industry (electricity) can hardly affect aggregate GDP 

and CO2 emissions. Moreover, ETS quota allocation scheme in the electricity 

sector based on historical emission intensity could have better performance in 

commodity price, electricity supply, ETS price, GDP and social welfare. Thus, 

this paper suggests that the best choice of ETS quota allocation scheme in the 

electricity sector is the scheme that is based on historical emission intensity 

which ADF is 0.” Lirong Zhang, Yakun Li, and Zhijie Jia, Applied Energy. 

(Subscription may be required.)

MARCH 2019

Carbon sequestration in biogenic magnesite and other magnesium 

carbonate minerals.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The stability and longevity of carbonate 

minerals make them an ideal sink for surplus atmospheric [CO2]. Biogenic 

magnesium carbonate mineral precipitation from the magnesium-rich tailings 

generated by many mining operations could offset net mining greenhouse gas 

emissions, while simultaneously giving value to mine waste products. In this 

investigation, cyanobacteria in a wetland bioreactor enabled the precipitation 

of magnesite (MgCO3), hydromagnesite [Mg5(CO3)4(OH)2·4H2O], and dypingite 

[Mg5(CO3)4(OH)2·5H2O] from a synthetic wastewater comparable in chemistry 

to what is produced by acid leaching of ultramafic mine tailings. These 

precipitates occurred as micrometer-scale mineral grains and microcrystalline 

carbonate coatings that entombed filamentous cyanobacteria. This provides 

the first laboratory demonstration of low temperature, biogenic magnesite 

precipitation for carbon sequestration purposes. These findings demonstrate 

the importance of extracellular polymeric substances in microbially enabled 

carbonate mineral nucleation. Fluid composition was monitored to determine 

carbon sequestration rates. The results demonstrate that up to 238 t of CO2

could be stored per hectare of wetland/year if this method of [CO2] sequestration 

was implemented at an ultramafic mine tailing storage facility. The abundance 

of tailings available for carbonation and the anticipated global implementation 

of carbon pricing make this method of mineral carbonation worth further 

investigation.” Jenine McCutcheon, Ian M. Power, Jeremiah Shuster, Anna 

Lee Harrison, Gregory Dipple, and Gordon Southam, Environmental Science 

& Technology. (Subscription may be required.)

Integrated assessment for solar-assisted carbon capture and storage 

power plant by adopting resilience thinking on energy system.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Integrating solar-thermal energy 

into the power plant with post-combustion [CCS] can reduce the energy 

penalty derived from solvent regeneration. However, few metrics exist to 

evaluate the trade-off associated with technic, economic and ecological 

perspectives for different integration schemes of the three subsystems, namely 

the solar field, power plant and carbon capture system. This paper analysis five 

configurations of coal-fired power plant with and without solar field as well as 

CCS technology based on the resilience concept. Still at the budding stage, 

the status of resilience definitions and evaluation methods related to energy 

system is reviewed. The resilience level for five configurations of coal-fired 

power plant both with and without solar-field, together with the CCS system is 

measured, which takes into consideration five critical characteristics towards 

resilience: fossil fuel depletion potential (CADP), global warming potential 

(GWP), levelized cost of energy (LCOE), solar to electricity fraction and spare 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

27

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

capacity. Results indicate that among all the configurations, the solar-assisted 

power generation CCS power plant with 90% capture rate shows the highest 

resilience level. However, the scheme which utilizes solar energy to assisted 

solvent regeneration, shows limited advantage in terms of resilience level due 

to high CADP and LCOE.” Junyao Wang, Jun Zhao, Shuai Deng, Taiwei Sun, 

Yanping Du, Kaixiang Li, and Yaofeng Xu, Journal of Cleaner Production. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Retrofitting carbon capture and storage to natural gas-fired power 

plants: A real-options approach.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This paper presents a realoptions approach to assess the value of retrofitting [CCS] technology to an 

existing natural gas-fired base-load power plant. Operating in a deregulated 

electricity market, a power plant owner seeks to decide whether to retrofit 

and at what techno-economic conditions to retrofit [CCS]. The value of the 

plant is determined based on clean spark spread options. Two alternative [CCS] 

technologies, post-combustion and oxy-fuel combustion, are evaluated. Price 

uncertainties of electricity and natural gas are modeled as mean-reverting 

processes. The plant is abided by the emission reduction policy of carbon 

tax or price. Results show that a plant owner would opt for retrofitting postcombustion technology to an existing power plant if the carbon price hits to 

at least 140 dollars per ton of [CO2], and would select oxy-fuel combustion 

technology if the carbon price moves further to 185 dollars per ton of [CO2] or 

above. Since parameters of [CCS] vary widely across the literature, sensitivity 

tests of the expected values to different costs, prices, and volatility parameters 

are also presented for an insightful comparative view of which [CCS] technology 

to adopt at what techno-economic conditions.” R.S. Elias, M.I.M. Wahab, and 

L. Fang, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)

Carbon dioxide sequestration and methane production promotion by 

wollastonite in sludge anaerobic digestion.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This study investigated the 

feasibility and performance of simultaneous in-situ CO2 sequestration and 

[methane (CH4)] production promotion by wollastonite addition in sludge AD. A 

maximum CH4 yield increment of 30.8% and maximum methane production 

rate increment of 64.9% with wollastonite addition at dosage of 16.25 g/L were 

achieved. CO2 was efficient sequestered by wollastonite addition and resulted in 

a higher CH4 content of 81.7%–82.4%. The mechanism of CO2 sequestration 

by wollastonite was confirmed as Ca2+ release and subsequently carbonation 

based on cation and precipitates analysis. The results demonstrated that 

wollastonite could be applied as an effective additive for simultaneous in-situ 

CO2 sequestration and CH4 production promotion of sludge AD.” Yan Zhang, 

Lihui Zhang, He Liu, Linlin Gong, Qianqian Jiang, Hongbo Liu, and Bo Fu, 

Bioresource Technology. (Subscription may be required.)

Geologic CO2 sequestration monitoring design: A machine learning and 

uncertainty quantification based approach.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Monitoring is a crucial aspect of 

geologic CO2 sequestration risk management. Effective monitoring is critical 

to ensure CO2 is safely and permanently stored throughout the life-cycle of 

a geologic CO2 sequestration project. Effective monitoring involves deciding: 

(i) where is the optimal location to place the monitoring well(s), and (ii) what 

type of data (pressure, temperature, CO2 saturation, etc.) should be measured 

taking into consideration the uncertainties at geologic sequestration sites. 

[The authors] have developed a filtering-based data assimilation procedure to 

design effective monitoring approaches. To reduce the computational cost of 

the filtering-based data assimilation process, a machine-learning algorithm: 

Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines is used to derive computationally 

efficient reduced order models from results of full-physics numerical simulations 

of CO2 injection in saline aquifer and subsequent multi-phase fluid flow. [The 

authors] use example scenarios of CO2 leakage through legacy wellbore and 

demonstrate a monitoring strategy can be selected with the aim of reducing 

uncertainty in metrics related to CO2 leakage. [The authors] demonstrate the 

proposed framework with two synthetic examples: a simple validation case and 

a more complicated case including multiple monitoring wells. The examples 

demonstrate that the proposed approach can be effective in developing 

monitoring approaches that take into consideration uncertainties.” Bailian 

Chen, Dylan R. Harp, Youzuo Lin, Elizabeth H. Keating, and Rajesh J. Pawar, 

Applied Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Effects of N2 and H2S binary impurities on CO2 geological storage in 

stratified formation – A sensitivity study.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Impurities are unavoidable during 

CO2 geological storage, and they would potentially affect the plume spread as 

well as storage capacity and/or efficiency of CO2. The current study numerically 

investigated the effects of binary impurities comprising typical components 

[nitrogen (N2)] and [hydrogen sulfide (H2S)] on CO2 geological storage in stratified 

formations. For a fixed total content of the binary impurities, increasing ratio 

of N2/H2S resulted in larger plume spread which meant a higher dissolution 

trapping efficiency. Because of the backflow of formation brine during the 

post-injection period, the residual trapping efficiency decreased while the 

dissolution trapping efficiency increased. This tendency was reinforced with 

increasing ratio of N2/H2S. Besides, this work examined the effects of the ratio 

of vertical permeability (kv) to horizontal permeability (kh) and the addition of 

an injection point in the stratified formation. It was found that lower kv/kh 

shrunk the plume spread and intensified the maximum pressure build-up. 

However, in the case of two injection points, the plume in the vertical direction 

was elongated and the maximum pressure build-up was lessened. The results 

should be taken into consideration to determine the types and concentrations 

of impurities allowed in the injected CO2 stream as well as the site selection 

and injection design for impure CO2 geological storage in stratified formation.” 

Didi Li, Hongcheng Zhang, Yang Li, Wenbin Xu, and Xi Jiang, Applied Energy. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Drivers of tree carbon storage in subtropical forests.

The following is the abstract of this document: “Tropical and subtropical forest 

ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon regulation. Despite 

increasing evidence for effects of biodiversity (species diversity, functional 

diversity and functional dominance), stand structural attributes, stand age and 

environmental conditions (climate and topography) on tree carbon storage, the 

relative importance of these drivers at large scale is poorly understood. It is also 

still unclear whether biodiversity effects on tree carbon storage work through 

niche complementarity (i.e. increased tree carbon storage due to interspecific 

resource partitioning) or through the mass-ratio effect (tree carbon storage 

regulated by dominant traits within communities). Here [the authors] analyze 

tree carbon storage and its drivers using data of 480 plots sampled across 

subtropical forests in China. [The authors] use multiple regression models to 

test the relative effects of biodiversity, stand structural attributes, stand age 

and environmental conditions on tree carbon storage, and use a partial least 

squares path model to test how these variables directly and/or indirectly affect 

tree carbon storage. [The authors’] results show that tree carbon storage is 

most strongly affected by stand age, followed by climate, biodiversity and 

stand structural attributes. Stand age and climate had both direct and indirect 

(through species diversity, functional dominance and stand structural attributes) 

effects. [The authors] find that tree carbon storage correlates with both species 

diversity and functional dominance after stand age and environmental drivers 

are accounted for. [The authors’] results suggest that niche complementarity 

and the mass-ratio effect, not necessarily mutually exclusive, both play a role 

in maintaining ecosystem functioning. [The authors’] results further indicate 

that biodiversity conservation might be an effective way for enhancing tree 

carbon storage in natural, species-rich forest ecosystems.” Yin Li, Weikai Bao, 

Frans Bongers, Bin Chen, Guoke Chen, Ke Guo, Mingxi Jiang, Jiangshan 

Lai, Dunmei Lin, Chunjiang Liu, Xiaojuan Liu, Yi Liu, Xiangcheng Mi, Xingjun 

Tian, Xihua Wang, Wubing Xu, Junhua Yan, Bo Yang, Yuanrun Zheng, and 

Keping Ma, Science of The Total Environment. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

28

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Full-infinite interval two-stage credibility constrained programming for 

electric power system management by considering carbon emission 

trading.

The following is the abstract of this article: “In this study, a full-infinite interval 

two-stage credibility constrained programming (FITCP) method is developed 

for optimizing electric power system (EPS) by considering CO2 mitigation and 

air pollutant emission control. Through integrating full-infinite programming 

(FIP), interval two-stage programming (ITSP) and credibility constrained 

programming (CCP) within a general framework, the developed FITCP method 

can tackle multiple uncertainties in terms of interval values (both crisp and 

functional interval values), probabilistic and possibilistic distributions. Then, a 

FITCP-based electric power system (FITCP-EPS) model has been formulated 

for EPS planning where carbon emission trading (CET) scheme and air pollutant 

emission limitation are introduced to cope with the problem of carbon and air 

pollutant mitigation. Scenarios in response to diverse carbon mitigation levels, 

different trading schemes and different environmental policies are generated. 

Moreover, sensitive analysis and value of information analysis are conducted 

to help decision makers to have a clear view of the effects of data variation 

and uncertainty data collection. Results reveal that (i) CET scheme can bring 

more economic benefits for power plants especially when mitigation level is 

high; (ii) whether the CET is carried out or not, a corresponding construction of 

[CCS] infrastructure should be implemented to achieve the mitigation target; 

(iii) the expected system benefit would increase [0, 2.17] % by resolving the 

uncertainty of CO2 emission levels. The results also indicate that FITCP-EPS 

model can not only provide an effective linkage between the pre-regulated 

generation targets and environmental policies, but also generate more decision 

options under different credibility levels and CO2 emission levels, which are 

useful for helping decision makers to make appropriate generation targets, 

plan electricity generation mix, as well as gain in-depth insight into the effects 

of carbon emission trading and pollutant control on EPS.” J.W. Gong, Y.P. 

Li, and C. Suo, International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems. 

(Subscription may be required).

APRIL 2019

Effect of thermal stress on wellbore integrity during CO2 injection.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Wellbore integrity is a critical 

component of long-term carbon storage. Depleted reservoirs that are potential 

CO2 storage sites, typically contain several wells. Due to years of operations 

and abandonment, these wells can have cracks in the cement, cement-casing 

interface, and/or cement-formation interface. During CO2 injection, changes in 

temperature may result in stress variations that can further damage the well, 

threatening its integrity. The temperature difference between the cold injected 

CO2 and warm reservoir, and different thermal properties for the wellbore 

casing, cement, and the lithology, will stress the near wellbore environment, 

potentially extending pre-existing defects creating leakage pathways from 

the storage reservoir to the overlying strata. [The authors] have conducted a 

systematic numerical study to explore the role of CO2 injection temperature, 

downhole effective in-situ horizontal stress, and the thermo-mechanical 

properties by coupling a linear elastic stress model with heat conduction. [The 

authors] consider conditions in non-perforated casing above the injection zone 

where conductive heating is dominant. The injection temperatures considered 

covers current industrial practice as well as sub-zero temperatures. The latter 

represents direct injection following ship transport, without pre-heating. In 

this study, [the authors] consider the connection between damage risk and 

the temperature difference between the injected CO2 and the formation and 

downhole effective in-situ horizontal stress. The study found that the negative 

impacts of thermal stress in the wellbore environment are mitigated by the 

presence of effective in-situ horizontal stresses. Stresses normal to the well 

have the potential to reduce the tensile stress and stress intensity factor. In 

the absence of sufficient effective in-situ horizontal stress, thermal stress may 

cause the fracture to propagate due to high stress concentration near the 

fracture edges. In general, formations with large effective in-situ horizontal 

stress can prevent leakage paths from growing even when large temperature 

difference exists between the formation and the injected CO2. [The authors’] 

simulations suggest that CO2 can be injected at sub-zero temperatures, 

suitable for ship transport, when the downhole effective in-situ horizontal 

stress is greater than 10 or 12 MPa, depending on the location of the preexisting cracks. For onshore transportation, injection of liquid CO2 results in 

minimal damage, provided there is ample in-situ horizontal stress.” Pratanu 

Roy, Joseph P. Morris, Stuart D.C. Walsh, Jaisree Iyer, and Susan Carroll,

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be 

required.)

Best practices and recent advances in CCS cost engineering and 

economic analysis.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Cost engineering and economic 

analysis are key elements of the performance assessment of carbon capture 

and storage (CCS) technology. The CCS field has seen noticeable advances in 

the transparency and rigor of costing studies, but there is still significant room 

for improvement in three major areas: the more rigorous application of good cost 

engineering practices; the inclusion (and progression) of recent methodological 

advances; and adaptation to changing policy focus. Here, [the authors] discuss 

each of these three areas, bringing diverse information sources together into 

one paper, and [summarizing] important advances made in recent years, with 

the goal of strengthening CCS cost engineering and economic analysis in 

general. The first part of the paper discusses equipment design and sizing; 

cost indices and location factors; process and project contingency costs; CO2

transport and storage costs; and uncertainty analysis and validation. The second 

part discusses new insights and advances in capture plant integration costs; 

the costs of steam supply; flexible dispatch of power plants with CCS; a hybrid 

method for the costing of advanced CCS technologies; qualitative uncertainty 

analysis methods; and calculation methods for CO2 avoidance costs in nonpower industries. The third part highlights several recent changes in the policy 

environments and how they affect the requirements of CCS costing studies. 

[The authors] close the paper by echoing earlier calls for the transparent 

reporting of assumptions and input variables underlying costing studies and 

by [prioritizing] three CCS costing issues for further methods and guideline 

development.” Mijndert van der Spek, Simon Roussanaly, and Edward S. 

Rubin, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be 

required.) 

Low carbon unit commitment (LCUC) with post carbon capture and 

storage (CCS) technology considering resource sensitivity. 

The following is the abstract of this article: “This paper proposes a new 

methodology for scheduling of thermal generation plants equipped with Amine 

based post combustion carbon capture technology. The methodology develops 

a generic and simplified model for operational planning of thermal generators 

through unit commitment. The performance indices developed in this paper 

can accommodate the resource sensitivity of the fuel used for combustion. 

The proposed performance indices are coupled to unit commitment procedure 

through intelligent scheduling methodology considering both economic and 

environmental concerns of the system. The proposed models can be readily 

integrated into the unit commitment algorithm using the test system data and 

fuel composition. The same provides a simple and near appropriate model to 

consider resource sensitivity as compared to detailed (or) dedicated modeling 

carried out in Aspen, APEA, promax etc. The impact of resource sensitivity and 

scheduling strategy has been illustrated using a 10 unit thermal generation 

test system with amine based post combustion carbon capture technology. The 

resource sensitivity of the model has been demonstrated using three different 

compositions of fuel/coal viz. sub-bituminous, bituminous and lignite coals. 

The simulation results of resource sensitivity at various capture efficiencies are 

presented and discussed in detail with respect to various performance indices 

developed. The models developed in this paper can be integrated to wide range 

of thermal generation plants with wide range of coal type (or) fuel compositions 

across the globe.” Srikanth ReddyK, Lokesh Panwar, B.K. Panigrahi, and 

Rajesh Kumar, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

29

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Quantities versus prices for best social welfare in carbon reduction: A 

literature review.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Weitzman’s price-quantity analysis 

framework has been widely used, and in the field of climate economy it is 

applied to choose proper emissions reduction instruments for best welfare 

under uncertainty. This article summarizes the principle and method of 

selecting carbon emission reduction instruments by price versus quantities 

decision criterion. The probability of uncontrollable outcomes under uncertainty 

is reduced by comparing marginal abatement costs with marginal abatement 

benefits. On this basis, the following outreach research are summarized on 

some key issues such as dynamic analysis, assumptions improvements, 

elements expansion and hybrid policies. This topic drives a lot of research 

but no review has been conducted. [The authors] sum up the time-correlated 

cost and multi-period policy research to extend the static framework 

to dynamic analysis. There are also many studies that relax the strong 

assumptions of original framework including correlated uncertainty between 

cost and benefit, stock effect of carbon, nonlinear marginal cost and benefit, 

distributional inefficiency and extension of partial equilibrium. In addition, more 

elements around emissions control have been included and specified such 

as uncertainty, incomplete enforcement, technology innovation and multiple 

pollutants. [The authors] also summarize the researches of hybrid policy which 

combines quantity and price control to be a new regulation method and dual 

regulation which suggest applying both quantity and price control in different 

departments. It is found that early researches favor carbon tax while quantity 

regulation has gradually become popular. Finally, this article puts forward 

some research directions worth more exploring at both theory and application 

level.” Bao-Jun Tang, Xiang-Yu Wang, and Yi-Ming Wei, Applied Energy. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Carbon leakage from geological storage sites: Implications for carbon 

trading.

The following is the abstract of this article: “A number of studies show that 

large-scale deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is necessary 

to limit the increase in global average temperature to less than 2°C by 2100. 

However, some experts and citizens worry about the integrity of [CO2] storage 

sites due to the possibility of future leakage. [The authors] introduce a twoperiod model where two emission mitigation technologies are available to 

society in the first period: CCS, with a risk of [CO2] leakage in the second 

period, and a riskless mitigation alternative, such as renewable energy. [The 

authors] first solve the model assuming that society does not know what the 

future rate of leakage will be. [The authors] then solve the model assuming that 

society will eventually learn the actual leakage rate. [The authors] find that, in a 

trading market in period one, reductions of CO2 emissions through CCS should 

generate a less than proportional amount of CO2 allowances. Estimates from 

simulations, using a coarse range of parameters, indicate that the discount 

factor of CCS allowances lies in the range (0.72, 1). Site-specific data is 

required to determine site-specific risks of leakage and discount factors.” 

Jorge H. García and Asbjørn Torvanger, Energy Policy. (Subscription may be 

required.)

MAY 2019

Feasibility of CO2 migration detection using pressure and CO2

saturation monitoring above an imperfect primary seal of a geologic 

CO2 storage formation: a numerical investigation.

The following is the abstract of this article: “A numerical model was developed 

to investigate the potential to detect fluid migration in a (homogeneous, 

isotropic, with constant pressure lateral boundaries) porous and permeable 

interval overlying an imperfect primary seal of a geologic CO2 storage 

formation. The seal imperfection was modeled as a single higher-permeability 

zone in an otherwise low-permeability seal, with the center of that zone offset 

from the CO2 injection well by 1400 m. Pressure response resulting from fluid 

migration through the high-permeability zone was detectable up to 1650 

m from the centroid of that zone at the base of the monitored interval after 

30 years of CO2 injection (detection limit = 0.1 MPa pressure increase); no 

pressure response was detectable at the top of the monitored interval at the 

same point in time. CO2 saturation response could be up to 774 m from the 

center of the high-permeability zone at the bottom of the monitored interval, 

and 1103 m at the top (saturation detection limit = 0.01). More than 6% of the 

injected CO2, by mass, migrated out of primary containment after 130 years 

of site performance (including 30 years of active injection) in the case where 

the zone of seal imperfection had a moderately high permeability (10−17 m2

or 0.01 mD). Free-phase CO2 saturation monitoring at the top of the overlying 

interval provides favorable spatial coverage for detecting fluid migration across 

the primary seal. Improved sensitivity of detection for pressure perturbation 

will benefit time of detection above an imperfect seal.” Robert Dilmore, Argha 

Namhata, and Grant Bromhal, Computational Geosciences. (Subscription may 

be required.)

Application of Blockchain in Carbon Trading.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This paper introduces the similarity 

between the mechanism of carbon trading and blockchain, then it elaborates 

on the application of blockchain in carbon trading. In corporate carbon trading, 

blockchain technology can record and transfer information flow reliably, realize 

point-to-point transactions between suppliers and demanders to achieve 

‘decentralization,’ help to reduce the entry threshold for the carbon trading 

market. At the same time, an analysis of social environment for blockchainbased carbon trading on person is made. Finally, the paper confirms the value 

of ‘blockchain + carbon trading’ and looks forward to the future.” Yuting Pan, 

Xiaosong Zhang, Yi Wang, Junhui Yan, Shuonv Zhou, Guanghua Li, and 

Jiexiong Bao, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

Analysis of the Impact of China’s Emissions Trading Scheme on 

Reducing Carbon Emissions.

The following is the abstract of this article: “By referring to the methods 

provided by Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and National 

Development and Reform Committee (NDRC), [the authors] first calculate the 

carbon emissions and carbon intensity (measured by emissions per output) 

of 39 sectors in 24 provinces from 2005 to 2015. Then using the panel data 

calculated, [the authors] apply difference-in-difference (DID) two-way fixed 

effects models to evaluate the causal impact of China’s Emissions Trading 

Scheme (ETS) on the reduction of carbon emissions. Empirical results indicate 

that ETS sectors significantly decreased their emissions relative to non-ETS 

sectors after the start of ETS, while no obvious impact on carbon intensity 

was identified after ETS started. The results suggest that there is still room 

for policy makers to improve the ETS design to achieve declines not only in 

carbon emissions but also in carbon intensity in national ETS.” Zhang Haijun, 

Duan Maosheng, and Zhang Peng, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be 

required.)

The CCS hub in Norway: some insights from 22 years of saline aquifer 

storage.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The development of industrial-scale 

CCS in Norway, starting with the Sleipner project in 1996, gives a uniquely 

long track record of experience with CCS and provides valuable insights for 

the projected global growth in CCS. By the end of 2017, the Sleipner and 

Snøhvit CCS projects had captured and stored 22 Mt of CO2 in saline aquifers 

offshore Norway. CO2 plume monitoring observations at Sleipner can be used 

to indicate an overall storage efficiency of around 5% of the pore volume, with 

approximately one tenth of this volume dissolved in the brine phase. These 

estimates are consistent with the fluid dynamics of CO2 injection in which a 

gravity dominated processes are expected to give efficiencies in the range of 

1-6%. Future projects may be able to find ways of improving these efficiencies.” 

Philip S. Ringrose, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

30

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Offshore power generation with carbon capture and storage to 

decarbonise mainland electricity and offshore oil and gas installations: 

A techno-economic analysis.

The following is the abstract of this article: “This study investigates the technoeconomic potential of offshore power generation from natural gas with carbon 

capture and storage to reduce the climate impact of mainland electricity and 

the offshore oil and gas industry. This potential is assessed through technoeconomic assessments over two relevant cases (‘floating’ and ‘shallow water’ 

cases) including comparison with relevant reference concepts. In the base 

case evaluation, the offshore power plant concept toward decarbonising 

mainland electricity results in high costs (178 and 258 $/MWh respectively 

for the floating and shallow water cases) compared to a reference onshore 

power plant with carbon capture and storage (around 95 $/MWh). However, a 

stronger potential is identified for the concept toward decarbonising offshore 

oil and gas platforms as the concept results in costs more comparable with the 

reference electrification concept (137 compared to 133 $/MWh in the floating 

case and 207 compared to 166 $/MWh in the shallow water case). Although 

the base cases show a limited potential for the offshore concept, the results 

show that with technological improvements (advanced capture technology, 

reuse of infrastructure...) and more suited case characteristics (development 

based on associated gas...), the offshore concept offers a significant potential 

for cost-efficiently decarbonising the offshore oil and gas industry, while a more 

moderate potential is foreseen for the decarbonisation of mainland electricity.” 

S. Roussanaly, A. Aasen, R. Anantharaman, B. Danielsen, J. Jakobsen, L. 

Heme-De-Lacotte, G. Neji, A. Sødal, P.E. Wahl, T.K. Vrana and R. Dreuxd,

Applied Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Salt marsh ecosystem restructuring enhances elevation resilience and 

carbon storage during accelerating relative sea-level rise.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Salt marshes respond to sealevel rise through a series of complex and dynamic bio-physical feedbacks. In 

this study, [the authors] found that sea-level rise triggered salt marsh habitat 

restructuring, with the associated vegetation changes enhancing salt marsh 

elevation resilience. A continuous record of marsh elevation relative to sea 

level that includes reconstruction of high-resolution, sub-decadal, marsh 

elevation over the past century, coupled with a lower-resolution 1500-year 

record, revealed that relative sea-level rose 1.5±0.4 m, following local glacial 

isostatic adjustment (1.2 mm/yr). As sea-level rise has rapidly accelerated, the 

high marsh zone dropped 11 cm within the tidal frame since 1932, leading to 

greater inundation and a shift to flood- and salt-tolerant low marsh species. 

Once the marsh platform fell to the elevation favored by low-marsh Spartina 

alterniflora, the elevation stabilized relative to sea level. Currently low marsh 

accretion keeps pace with sea-level rise, while present day high marsh zones 

that have not transitioned to low marsh have a vertical accretion deficit. Greater 

biomass productivity, and an expanding subsurface accommodation space 

favorable for salt marsh organic matter preservation, provide a positive feedback between sea-level rise and marsh platform elevation. Carbon storage 

was 46±28 g C/m2/yr from 550 to 1800 CE, increasing to 129±50 g C/m2/

yr in the last decade...” Meagan Eagle Gonneea, Christopher V. Maio, Kevin 

D. Kroeger, Andrea D. Hawkes, Jordan Mora, Richard Sullivan, Stephanie 

Madsen, Richard M. Buzard, Niamh Cahill, and Jeffrey P. Donnelly, Estuarine, 

Coastal and Shelf Science. (Subscription may be required.)

Uncovering attitudes towards carbon capture storage and utilization 

technologies in Germany: Insights into affective-cognitive evaluations 

of benefits and risks.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Carbon capture and storage 

(CCS) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) are technologies which aim 

at mitigating climate change and saving fossil resources: CO2 emissions from 

industrial plants are captured and stored underground (CCS) or used for the 

manufacturing of products (CCU). In contrast to CCS, CCU is less about the 

reduction of CO2 emissions, since the global demand for feedstock CO2 to be 

used for CCU products is considerably lower than the CO2 emissions produced 

worldwide. Moreover, the CO2 is only temporarily stored until the disposal 

of the CCU products. Instead, a reduction of fossil resources in product 

manufacturing is the primary goal for CCU. The successful roll-out of CCS and 

CCU is not solely determined by technical feasibility but also depends on public 

acceptance. Research has shown that acceptance of energy technologies is 

impacted by laypersons’ attitudes. So far, little is known about differences in 

affective and cognitive evaluations of CCU in comparison to CCS. To address this 

research gap, an online survey was conducted in Germany (n=449), in which 

affective and cognitive evaluation profiles for CCS and CCU were compared. 

Also, it was explored whether attitudes towards CCS are predictive of CCU 

acceptance. Results revealed basically similar evaluation profiles for CCS and 

CCU but CCU was rated significantly more positively. Comparing results for 

CCS supporters and opponents, it was found that CCS supporters rated CCU 

similarly positive whereas CCS opponents evaluated CCU significantly better 

than CCS. The findings can be used for communication concepts tailored to 

laypeople’s requirements and concerns and yield implications for industrial 

policy-making.” Anika Linzenich, Katrin Arning, Julia Offerman-van Heek, 

and Martina Ziefle, Energy Research & Social Science. (Subscription may be 

required.)

JUNE 2019

420,000 year assessment of fault leakage rates shows geological 

carbon storage is secure.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “... CCS can directly reduce 

industrial CO2 emissions and is essential for the retention of CO2 extracted from 

the atmosphere. To be effective... CO2 must be securely retained for 10,000 

years (10 ka) with a leakage rate of below 0.01% per year of the total amount 

of CO2 injected. Migration of CO2 back to the atmosphere via leakage through 

geological faults is a potential high impact risk to CO2 storage integrity. Here, 

[the authors] calculate for the first time natural leakage rates from a 420 ka 

paleo-record of CO2 leakage above a naturally occurring, faulted, CO2 reservoir 

in Arizona, USA. Surface travertine (CaCO3) deposits provide evidence of 

vertical CO2 leakage linked to known faults. U-Th dating of travertine deposits 

shows leakage varies along a single fault and that individual seeps have 

lifespans of up to 200 ka. Whilst the total volumes of CO2 required to form the 

travertine deposits are high, time-averaged leakage equates to a linear rate 

of less than 0.01%/yr. Hence, even this natural geological storage site, which 

would be deemed to be of too high risk to be selected for engineered geologic 

storage, is adequate to store CO2 for climate mitigation purposes.” Johannes 

M. Miocic, Stuart M. V. Gilfillan, Norbert Frank, Andrea Schroeder-Ritzrau, 

Neil M. Burnside, and R. Stuart Haszeldine, Scientific Reports. (Subscription 

may be required.)

Establishing rates of carbon sequestration in mangroves 

from an earthquake uplift event.

The following is the abstract of this article: “[The authors] assessed the carbon 

stocks (CS) in mangroves that developed after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 

Silonay, Oriental Mindoro, south Luzon, The Philippines in November 1994. The 

earthquake resulted in a 50 cm uplift of sediment that provided new habitat 

within the upper intertidal zone which mangroves colonized (from less than 

2 ha pre-earthquake to the current 45 ha, 23 years post-earthquake). The 

site provided an opportunity for a novel assessment of the rate of carbon 

sequestration in recently established mangroves. The carbon stock was 

measured in above-ground, below-ground and sediment compartments over 

a seaward to landward transect. Results showed a mean carbon stock of 549 

± 30 Mg C ha−1 (of which 13% was from the above-ground biomass, 5% 

from the below-ground biomass and 82% from the sediments). There was 

high carbon sequestration at a 40 cm depth that can be inferred attributable 

to the developed mangroves. The calculated rate of C sequestration (over 23 

years post-earthquake) was 10.2 ± 0.7 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 and is comparable 

to rates reported from mangroves recovering from forest clearing. The rates 

[the authors] present here from newly developed mangroves contributes 

to calibrating estimates of total CS from restored mangroves (of different 

developmental stages) and in mangroves that are affected by disturbances.” 

Severino G. Salmo, Vanessa Malapit, Maria Carmela A. Garcia, and Homer 

M. Pagkalinawan, Biology Letters. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

31

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Same or different? Insights on public perception and acceptance 

of carbon capture and storage or utilization in Germany.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “...This research takes 

a social science perspective and investigates the awareness, general 

perception and acceptance of CCS in comparison to [carbon capture and 

utilization (CCU)] by applying an online survey in Germany (2017, n = 509).

In addition, the risk perception of single steps in the CCU/CCS process chains 

was explored (CCS: CO2-capturing, CO2-transport, CO2-storage; CCU: CO2-

capturing, CO2-transport, temporary CO2-storage, production, product usage, 

product disposal). Significant differences were found for the perception and 

acceptance of CCS and CCU: while both technologies were generally accepted, 

CCU was perceived significantly more positively than CCS. CCS-acceptance 

was negatively influenced by storage and transport risks; for CCU, disposal 

and product risks decreased acceptance. [The authors’] results contribute to 

the development of communication concepts for a successful implementation 

of CO2-based technologies by considering public concerns.” K. Arning, J. 

Offermann-van Heek, A. Linzenich, A. Kaetelhoen, A. Sternberg, A. Bardow, 

and M. Ziefle, Energy Policy. (Subscription may be required.)

A Review on Public Understanding of Carbon Dioxide Capture 

and Storage (CCS) in South Korea.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Since the Paris Agreement, member 

countries have set national goals clearly stated in the ‘Intended Nationally 

Determined Contributions’ (INDC) to reduce the intended amount of carbon 

dioxide. In many other countries, the government has invested in national R&D 

to promote cleaner energy and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects that 

is considered as one of the most pragmatic means to achieve the set mitigation 

target in a national scale. In some country, the control and management of 

CO2 has been implemented in new technical systems called CO2 smart grids. 

However, along with continual CCS R&D, laws and regulatory interventions 

supporting its technical pillars should mutually encompass its development. 

Without public understanding, technological development cannot be fully 

implemented by the involved public and private entities permitting to attain 

the set mitigation targets. In previous research, only few studies on public 

understanding have linked its policies to the actual valid legislation. This article 

therefore aims to review the overall public understanding conditions on CCS in 

Korea and to systematically outline public understanding in actual Acts as well 

as in the Draft of Korean integrated CCS Act. Finally, this research tried to imply 

regulatory intervention guidelines on public understanding of CCS along with 

possible improvement for the next revision of the Korean CCS Act.” Moonhyun 

Koh, Bola Ju, and Woongchan Seo, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be 

required.)

The economics of CCS: Why have CCS technologies 

not had an international breakthrough?

The following is the abstract of this article: “Eleven years on since the United 

Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was awarded the Nobel 

Peace Prize in recognition of its efforts in combating climate change, fossil 

fuels remain the most dominant global energy source. As the total replacement 

of fossil fuel energy is not expected to take place immediately in the near 

future, the International Energy Agency has repeatedly declared carbon capture 

and sequestration (CCS) as a key technology for mitigating climate change. 

However, CCS lacks the scale required for substantial reduction in carbon 

dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power generation. Even though CCS is one 

of the key technologies for mitigating climate change, why has this technology 

not had an international breakthrough? To shed light on this question, this 

paper employs a simple model of energy generation, scrutinizes the economic 

drivers of CCS based on the analytical results, and discusses the possible 

obstacles that can prevent a widespread rollout of the technology. This is 

followed by a state-of-the-art in literature pertaining to the economics of CCS, 

and a discussion that points to a dichotomy between the economic theory and 

reality. The study concludes with some policy suggestions and directions for 

future research.” Tunç Durmaz, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 

(Subscription may be required.)

CO2-enhanced oil recovery and CO2 capture and storage: 

An environmental economic trade-off analysis.

The following is the abstract of this article: “CO2 enhanced oil recovery can play a 

significant role in stimulating carbon capture and storage because of additional 

oil revenues generated. However, it also leads to additional greenhouse gas 

emissions. [The authors] estimate the global warming potential of different CO2

capture scenarios with and without enhanced oil recovery. During a 10 year 

period in which oil and electricity are produced without CO2 being captured, 

the global warming potential is 11 MtCO2 equivalents. [The authors] show that 

if CO2 is captured and used for 15 years of enhanced oil recovery, the global 

warming potential decreases to 3.4 MtCO2 equivalents. This level is 100% 

higher compared to the scenario in which the captured CO2 would be stored 

in an offshore aquifer instead. If the capture of CO2 is stopped when the oil 

reservoir is depleted, the global warming potential resulting from 10 years 

electricity production is 6 MtCO2 equivalents. However, if CO2 is stored in the 

depleted reservoir, the global warming potential is six times lower during that 

period. Electricity production and oil refining are the main contributors to the 

global warming potential. The net present value analysis indicates that for CO2

prices lower than or equal to 15 €/t and oil prices greater than or equal to 

115 €/t, it is most profitable to capture CO2 for enhanced oil recovery only. 

Because of the low CO2 price considered, large incomes from oil production 

are required to stimulate CO2 capture. The environmental economic trade-off 

analysis shows that if CO2-enhanced oil recovery is followed by CO2 capture 

and storage, costs increase, but the net present value remains positive and 

the global warming potential is reduced. Authorities could use these outcomes 

to support the development of economic mechanisms for shared investments 

in CO2 capture installations and to mandate both oil producer and large CO2

emitting firms to store CO2 in depleted oil fields.” Pieter Roefs, Michele 

Moretti, Kris Welkenhuysen, Kris Piessens, and Tine Compernolle, Journal 

of Environmental Management. (Subscription may be required.)

Anatomy of Emissions Trading Systems: What is the EU ETS?

The following is the abstract of this article: “An anatomy identifies four main 

components of actual or proposed Emissions Trading Systems (ETS): (1) 

Pursued policy goals with the ETS instrument; (2) Public authority allocations 

of permits to the regulated participants; (3) Carbon emissions price levels; and 

(4) Participants’ abatement expenses dependent on the ready availability of 

affordable abatement techniques or of low-carbon innovation opportunities. 

These components cover a range of options. A different assemblage of options 

delivers different ETS exemplars. Two main exemplars are identified. The actual 

EU ETS is highly successful in meeting the goal of low financial burdens on 

EU industry, thereby precluding carbon leakage. The other exemplar opts 

for high carbon emissions prices in the EU to induce industrial innovations 

towards a low-carbon economy. Incumbent industrial interests oppose this 

exemplar. Contrary to current policy discourse and to wishful proposals, both 

ETS exemplars cannot co-exist. ETS anatomy offers insight and structure for 

thorough analysis and evaluation of existing ETS, resulting in context–specific 

and appropriate designs of the carbon trading systems.” Aviel Verbruggen, Erik 

Laes, and Edwin Woerdman, Environmental Science & Policy. (Subscription 

may be required.)

Governmental cap regulation and manufacturer’s low carbon strategy 

in a supply chain with different power structures.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Considering the cap-and-trade 

regulation and manufacturer’s two types of strategies: adopting green 

technology (GT) and purchasing carbon credits (PC), [the authors] develop game 

models to investigate the manufacturer’s production and emission abatement 

decisions as well as the governmental emission cap regulation in a supply 

chain with three power structures (Manufacturer Stackelberg (MS), Retail 

Stackelberg (RS) and Vertical Nash (VN)), and analyze how a manufacturer’s 

low carbon strategy changes with the various governmental cap under the 

three supply chain power structures. The main conclusions are as follows. 

If the manufacturer adopts green technology strategy, supply chain power 

structure will not affect social welfare. High consumer’s low-carbon preference 

is more beneficial to the social welfare, the government should advocate the 

consumer’s preference for low carbon product. If the manufacturer purchases 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

32

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

carbon credits, the government under the power structure of VN will gain the 

most social welfare.” Suyong Zhang, Chuanxu Wang, Chao Yu, and Yangjun 

Ren, Computers & Industrial Engineering. (Subscription may be required.)

JULY 2019

High-resolution 3D marine seismic acquisition in the overburden 

at the Tomakomai CO2 storage project, offshore Hokkaido, Japan.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Monitoring injected CO2 is an 

important part of assuring permanence of long term storage to mitigate 

atmospheric emissions. Three-dimensional (3D) seismic has been shown 

to be an effective technology for visualizing and quantifying subsurface 

geology and fluids. In this study, [the authors] demonstrate the successful 

acquisition, processing, and initial interpretation of a first-of-its-kind highresolution 3D (HR3D) marine seismic survey above an active CO2 injection 

site offshore Tomakomai, Japan. An initial sensitivity study indicated generally 

favorable subsurface conditions for imaging subsurface pore fluid changes. 

A unique processing workflow incorporating multiple data processing 

software packages has been tailored to the short-offset and low-fold HR3D 

acquisition. The final 3D volume shows generally flat and laterally-continuous 

stratigraphy in the overburden above the injection zone without identifiable 

faults, indicating coherent overburden above the CO2 injection site and low 

associated risk of vertical CO2 migration. The successful deployment of this 

novel marine seismic monitoring technology in the overburden at a smallscale (100 kt/yr) demonstration project suggests HR3D will also be a useful 

characterization and monitoring tool for larger demonstration and commercialscale ( ̃10 MT) offshore CCS sites.” T.A. Meckel, Y.E. Feng, R.H. Treviño, and 

D. Sava, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may 

be required.)

Application of the Aquifer Impact Model to support decisions 

at a CO2 sequestration site.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The National Risk Assessment 

Partnership (NRAP) has developed a suite of tools to assess and manage risk 

at CO2 sequestration sites. The NRAP tool suite includes the Aquifer Impact 

Model (AIM), which evaluates the potential for groundwater impacts from leaks 

of CO2 and brine through abandoned wellbores. There are two aquifer reducedorder models (ROMs) included with the AIM tool, a confined alluvium aquifer, 

and an unconfined carbonate aquifer. The models accept aquifer parameters 

as a range of variable inputs so they may have broad applicability. The generic 

aquifer models may be used at the early stages of site selection, when sitespecific data is not available. Guidelines have been developed for determining 

when the generic ROMs might be applicable to a new site. This paper considers 

the application of the AIM to predicting the impact of CO2 or brine leakage 

were it to occur at the Illinois Basin Decatur Project (IBDP). Results of the 

model sensitivity analysis can help guide characterization efforts; the hydraulic 

parameters and leakage source term magnitude are more sensitive than clay 

fraction or cation exchange capacity. Sand permeability was the only hydraulic 

parameter measured at the IBDP site. More information on the other hydraulic 

parameters could reduce uncertainty in risk estimates. Some non-adjustable 

parameters are significantly different for the ROM than for the observations at 

the IBDP site. The generic ROMs could be made more useful to a wider range 

of sites if the initial conditions and no-impact threshold values were adjustable 

parameters.” Diana Holford Bacon, Randall A. Locke II, Elizabeth Keating, 

Susan Carroll, Abbas Iranmanesh, Kayyum Mansoor, Bracken Wimmer, 

Liange Zheng, Hongbo Shao, and Sallie E. Greenberg, Greenhouse Gases: 

Science and Technology. (Subscription may be required.)

Researching candidate sites for a carbon storage complex 

in the Central Appalachian Basin, USA.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The purpose of the Central 

Appalachian Basin-Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise Integrated 

Prefeasibility Project was to identify candidate sites in eastern Ohio for a 

storage complex capable of storing 50 million [metric tons]. Carbon capture 

and storage (CCS) will be essential in the Appalachian Basin, which includes 

coal-fired power plants, natural gas processing, refineries, chemical plants, 

and natural gas power. The project team investigated Cambrian-Ordovician 

Age sandstones and carbonates collocated near depleted oilfields, where 

enhanced oil recovery could provide a stepping stone for developing a storage 

hub. Feasible routes for linking sources to sinks via regional pipelines were 

assessed. The sub-basinal analysis demonstrated significant potential storage 

capacity in both deep saline reservoirs and depleted oil and gas fields. The 

project definition analysis revealed the project footprint would be reasonable 

and only two wells would be needed for injection of CO2. Project economics 

illustrated a need for both government and private investment in the absence 

of a regulatory mandate. Ohio also lacks a comprehensive policy for long-term 

liability and subsurface storage rights, which could be addressed during pilot 

testing. Developing qualified sites within two selected areas for large-scale 

deployment of CCS appears feasible and the study helped to define future 

research needs.” Lydia Cumming, Jared Hawkins, Joel Sminchak, Manoj 

Valluri, and Neeraj Gupta, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. 

(Subscription may be required.) 

Carbon pricing, technology transition, and skill-based development.

The following is the abstract of this article: “[The authors] analyze the impact of 

carbon prices on human capital accumulation, sectoral change, and economic 

growth. In [the authors’] framework output is produced with dirty and/or clean 

technologies using skilled and unskilled labor as inputs. Carbon policy affects 

technology selection which transmits incentives for human capital formation. 

[The authors] show that a temporary policy may be sufficient for a transition 

to a clean economy and that such a policy also stimulates economic growth. 

Moreover, in the presence of inter-country knowledge spillovers, a carbon policy 

in the North helps human capital formation in the South and induces South’s 

transition to the clean steady state.” Kirill Borissov, Alexandra Brausmann, 

and Lucas Bretschger, European Economic Review. (Subscription may be 

required.)

On the role of spatially correlated heterogeneity in determining 

mudrock sealing capacity for CO2 sequestration.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Storing CO2 in depleted hydrocarbon 

reservoirs is a common practice world-wide. Mudrocks often serve as seals 

above these reservoirs due to their small pore throats and low permeability, 

but they can fail if the buoyant pressure of the trapped fluid overcomes the 

threshold pressure of the seal. Mudrocks are primarily made of silt-sized 

and clay-sized particles, and sufficiently high silt concentrations can create 

situations where the silt grains create a connected stress chain through the 

rock matrix, which preserves the large pore throats under compaction. This 

phenomenon, termed silt bridging, can reduce the threshold pressure of the 

mudrock, causing seal failure. [The authors] used grain-scale modeling to 

create computer-generated grain packs with and without the effect of gravity 

to understand the effects of deposition and compaction on the petrophysical 

properties like capillary pressure, tortuosity, permeability, capillary drainage 

curves, and spatial correlation of heterogeneities. [The authors] found that, 

when the fraction of silt-sized grains exceeded 40%, the percolation length 

(the length of the first path of the non-wetting fluid through a medium) and 

the tortuosity suddenly decreased. This was supported by the results from the 

throat size variograms, where the same type of correlations between throats 

were observed at greater lag distances, signifying increased intergranular 

distances. [The authors’] work provides an insight into the role of different 

grain sizes, concentrations and spatial distributions on the flow properties and 

sealing capacity of mudrocks.” Abhishek Bihani and Hugh Daigle, Marine and 

Petroleum Geology. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

33

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) experts’ attitudes to and experience 

with public engagement.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “...Public engagement with 

CCS is important for a range of reasons, but previous work has not explored 

the perceived rationales for, or benefits of, public engagement amongst 

CCS experts (including those who engage the public themselves). Here, [the 

authors] present mixed-methods research (comprising expert interviews and 

an online survey) to elucidate these rationales, and expose CCS expert views 

of public engagement. [The authors’] findings indicate some differences in 

perceptions of public engagement with CCS (and of the risks and benefits of 

CCS) between those who engage directly with the public and those who do 

not: the former tend to have a more nuanced view of engagement, and are 

also more enthusiastic about the benefits of CCS, than the latter. Overall, CCS 

experts recognise the importance of public engagement for the roll-out of CCS 

for both substantive and instrumental rationales, and are largely aware of the 

range of factors (knowledge, values, trust, etc.) influencing public engagement. 

Nevertheless, the relatively low salience of early and substantive engagement 

amongst CCS experts suggests there is room for improving the flow of 

learning from the public engagement research literature to those charged with 

delivering it.” Dimitrios Xenias and Lorraine Whitmarsh, International Journal 

of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Can a carbon emission trading scheme generate the Porter effect? 

Evidence from pilot areas in China.

The following is the abstract of this article: “‘...Since 2013 China implemented 

carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) in seven provinces or cities. The purpose 

of this paper is to investigate whether the implementation of ETS can result in 

the Porter effect. Based on the Porter hypothesis theory, this study employs the 

difference-in-difference (DID) method and the improved DEA model to analyze 

whether ETS can bring economic dividend and environmental dividend. The 

empirical results specify that in the short term, ETS can significantly reduce 

carbon emissions in the pilot provinces, but fail to increase GDP. Therefore, 

ETS does not realize the Porter effect in the short term. Nevertheless, in terms 

of the empirical results [the authors] can find ETS plays a significant role in 

emission reduction. In the long term, ETS can stimulate sustainable economic 

dividend and environmental dividend, and achieve the Porter effect. From 

the test results, [the authors] can find ETS has good economic and emission 

reduction functions. ETS achieves the Porter effect in the long term but not 

in the short term. In order to achieve the Porter effect from ETS successfully, 

a sound carbon emission trading scheme must be established to ensure 

efficient carbon emission trading market.” Feng Dong, Yuanju Dai, Shengnan 

Zhang, Xiaoyun, Zhang, and Ruyin Long, Science of The Total Environment. 

(Subscription may be required.) 

China’s roadmap to low-carbon electricity and water: Disentangling 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electricity-water nexus via 

renewable wind and solar power generation, and carbon capture 

and storage.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Electricity and water form 

an intricate nexus, in that water is crucial for power generation, and electricity 

(or other primary forms of energy) is the key enabler for water purification 

and waste-water treatment. Nonetheless, both energy conversion and water 

purification result in substantial amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

These negative interactions with potential ‘snowball’ effect, can be decoupled 

via the deployment of renewable power generation, and carbon capture from 

fossil-[fueled] technologies. However, such retrofits pose new challenges as 

wind and solar energy exhibit intermittent generation patterns. In addition, 

integrating thermal power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) 

imposes energy penalties and increases water requirements. In the present 

research, an optimization framework is developed which enables systematic 

decision-making for the retrofit of existing power and water infrastructure 

as well as investment in renewable and green technologies. A key aspect 

of the applied framework is the simultaneous optimization of design and 

operational decisions in the presence of uncertainties in the water demand, 

electricity demand, as well as wind and solar power availability. The proposed 

methodology is demonstrated for the case of the water-electricity nexus in 

China, and provides in-depth insights into regional characteristics of low 

carbon electricity generation, and their implications for water purification and 

wastewater treatment, demonstrating a roadmap towards sustainable energy 

and electricity.” Mahdi Sharifzadeh, Raymond Khoo Teck Hien, and Nilay 

Shah, Applied Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

AUGUST 2019

Modeling of time-lapse seismic monitoring using CO2 leakage 

simulations for a model CO2 storage site with realistic geology: 

Application in assessment of early leak-detection capabilities.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Time-lapse surface 

seismic surveys have been widely used at carbon sequestration sites for site 

characterization, monitoring subsurface CO2 plume migration, and detecting 

potential CO2 leakage from a storage reservoir. Monitoring in the first permeable 

unit directly above the primary seal is important for early detection of CO2

leakage. Forward modeling of time-lapse seismic data can be used to assess 

the utility of the seismic method for CO2 leakage detection. [The authors] 

develop a workflow for forward modeling of time-lapse seismic data, including 

constructing seismic velocity models using flow simulation outputs, modeling 

of pre-stack and post-stack synthetic seismic data following seismic data 

processing sequence and analysis of processed synthetic time-lapse seismic 

data. [The authors] apply the forward modeling and analysis workflow to 

assessing the detectability and the earliest detection time of seismic monitoring 

using the hypothetical CO2 leakage scenarios for a model geologic storage 

site with realistic geology. [The authors] derive the detection thresholds using 

the simulated normalized root-mean-square (NRMS) differences for the noleakage case at a range of signal-to-noise ratios, representing the background 

noise levels in seismic data. [The authors] then compare NRMS differences 

triggered by the CO2 leakage to the detection thresholds at each time step to 

quantify the detectability and the earliest detection time of seismic monitoring. 

[The authors] analyze the effects of the acquisition parameters and elastic 

parameters on the produced synthetic seismic data and earliest detection 

time. [The authors’] modeling results indicate that high signal-to-noise ratio is 

needed to detect the CO2 leakage at the model site. Minimizing the background 

noise in seismic data is crucial for improving the detectability of the seismic 

method. Increasing the shot density or increasing the dominant frequency of 

the source wavelet is likely to increase the possibility of the leakage detection 

and reduce the time needed for the detection. The elastic parameters used 

in the rock physics modeling have significant effects on the resultant seismic 

velocity models and synthetic seismic data, highlighting their critical roles in 

understanding and interpreting time-lapse seismic reflection data associated 

with CO2 monitoring, verification and accounting activities.” Zan Wang, William 

P. Harbert, Robert M. Dilmore, and Lianjie Huang, International Journal of 

Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Boundary Dam or Petra Nova – Which is a better model for CCS 

energy supply?

The following is from the abstract of this article: “SaskPower’s Boundary Dam 

plant (Canada) and NRG’s Petra Nova plant (USA) are the only two commercialscale coal-fired power plants currently operational in the world that use CCS 

technology. While both CCS installations are retrofit projects that employ a 

post-combustion CO2 capture system using advanced amines, the two plants 

differ significantly in their approach to providing the steam and electrical 

energy requirements of the capture system. This paper presents a comparative 

techno-economic evaluation of pulverized coal (PC) power plants equipped 

with the different CCS system configurations used in these two demonstration 

plants, as well as two additional design configurations that may be of interest. 

The results presented in this paper illustrate the conditions which favor one 

approach over the other, and thus provide insights for planning new largescale CCS projects.” Hari C. Mantripragada, Haibo Zhai, and Edward S. 

Rubin, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be 

required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

34

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Efficient pathways to reduce carbon emissions in the electric sector.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “The study develops a 

2-dimensional map of the feasible design space for an electric generation 

system. Cost and CO2 emissions contours are plotted across the map. The 

principles of constrained optimization are used to identify the efficient pathways 

eliminating emissions and the technology drivers that determine them. The CO2

intensity of the baseload is shown to be the primary driver. Further, the need for 

large, seasonal storage depends strongly on the level of baseload deployed.” 

Alan D. Lamont, The Electricity Journal. (Subscription may be required.) 

Impacts of a carbon tax across US household income groups: What are 

the equity-efficiency trade-offs?

The following is from the abstract of this article: “This paper assesses the 

impacts across U.S. household income groups of carbon taxes of various 

designs. [The authors] consider both the source-side impacts (reflecting 

how policies affect wage, capital, and transfer incomes) as well as the useside impacts (reflecting how policies alter the prices of goods and services 

purchased by households). [The authors] apply an integrated general 

equilibrium framework with extended measures of the source- and use-side 

impacts that add up to the overall welfare impact. [The authors’] results indicate 

that the distributional impacts depend importantly on the nature of revenuerecycling and the treatment of transfer income. In the absence of targeted 

compensation to achieve distributional objectives, the use-side impacts tend 

to be regressive while the source-side impacts are progressive, and the 

progressive source-side impacts tend to offset fully the regressive use-side 

impacts. Both impacts are considerably larger when one employs the more 

comprehensive welfare measures introduced in this study. The efficiency costs 

of targeted compensation to achieve distributional objectives depend critically 

on the recycling method and compensation target. These costs are an order of 

magnitude higher when the remaining revenues after compensation are used 

for corporate income tax cuts, compared with costs when remaining revenues 

are used other ways. Efficiency costs also rise dramatically when targeted 

compensation extends beyond the lowest income quintiles.” Lawrence H. 

Goulder, Marc A.C. Hafstead, GyuRim Kim, and Xianling Long, Journal of 

Public Economics. (Subscription may be required.) 

The economic effects of carbon tax on China’s provinces.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “The responsibility for carbon 

emissions tends to be different under different emission accounting principles. 

By applying the latest 2012 Chinese multi-regional input–output table, this 

study evaluated the impacts of carbon tax on tax burdens and sectoral 

competitiveness in Chinese provinces when considering either productionbased or consumption-based emissions. [The authors’] results indicated 

that, in the scenario of cutting production tax for carbon tax, the developed 

provinces, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, who are much 

bigger payers of production tax, are net beneficiaries of carbon tax. In contrast, 

recycling the tax revenues to low-income households makes the less-developed 

provinces in the central and western China become net revenue receivers. 

Furthermore, for competitiveness effects, the emission intensive sectors, such 

as Electricity and hot water production and supply, Petroleum and gas, and 

Metal products, are impacted vitally under both accounting principles in all 

provinces. Nevertheless, compared with the production-based principle, a 

consumption-based carbon tax could reduce the unfavorable competitiveness 

effects of most affected sectors in the less-developed provinces, while slightly 

increasing those effects in the developed provinces. [The authors’] results 

provide new information on the regional impacts of carbon tax based two 

different accounting principles with different tax revenue recycling scenarios.” 

Kun Zhang, Mei-Mei Xue, Kuishuang Feng, and Qiao-Mei Liang, Journal of 

Policy Modeling. (Subscription may be required.)

Recovery in soil carbon stock but reduction in carbon stabilization 

after 56-year forest restoration in degraded tropical lands.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Afforestation is considered as 

an effective method for alleviating the rising of atmospheric CO2 concentration 

through the accumulation and long-term storage of carbon (C) in the 

vegetation and soil. However, it is still unknown whether soil C accumulation 

in the restored forests could eventually recover to the equivalent level of the 

undisturbed forests and much less is known about how afforestation will affect 

C stabilization. Here [the authors] conducted a field study in degraded tropical 

forests of south China. The aim was to evaluate the recovery of soil C stock 

following afforestation by comparing different C fractions in soils (0–10 cm 

and 10–20 cm) in two reforested forests [a restored secondary forest (RSF) 

and a managed Eucalyptus plantation (MEP)] to those in a bare land (BL) and a 

nearby undisturbed forest (UF). Results showed that after 56-year afforestation 

at the bare lands, C stocks in both soil layers were significantly increased with 

an increase greater in the RSF than the MEP, while C recalcitrant indices (RI) 

were reduced. Soil C stock in the RSF recovered to a similar level to the UF, but 

soil RI in the RSF was still lower than the UF particularly in the 10–20 cm layer. 

The calculated capacity of soil C sequestration with the product of soil C stock 

and its RI followed the order of UF > RSF > MEP > BL. [The authors’] results 

demonstrate that afforestation on degraded tropical lands could recover soil 

C stock within a few decades, but C stabilization would be reduced.” Huiling 

Zhang, Qi Deng, Dafeng Hui, Jianping Wu, Xin Xiong, Jianqi Zhao, Mengdi 

Zhao, Guowei Chu, Guoyi Zhou, and Deqiang Zhang, Forest Ecology and 

Management. (Subscription may be required.)

The initial three years of carbon dioxide exchange between the 

atmosphere and a reclaimed oil sand wetland.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Northern peatlands contain up 

to 20% of the ~3000 Pg of global soil organic carbon. Carbon-rich peatlands 

cover upwards of 65% of the landscape in northern Canada where resource 

extraction activities disturb both the carbon pools and the future carbon 

sequestration capacity of the landscape. Previous estimates of the carbon 

losses from this disturbance predict a complete loss of the region’s peatland 

carbon pool. Mining industries operating in these sensitive environments 

have recently begun constructing closure landscapes which are intended to 

develop carbon cycle processes similar to undisturbed northern peatlands. This 

study investigates eddy covariance fluxes of CO2 at one of Canada’s first fully 

constructed boreal plains watersheds, the Sandhill Fen Watershed. During the 

first three years since inception, only the lowland region had an annual net 

ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) indicative of increasing CO2 sink potential. 

The lowland region was characterized by saturated salvaged peat soils, standing 

water, thriving communities of Typha and Carex spp. and was a net CO2 sink 

of 77gCm−2 in the third year. At the same time the upland and the midland 

regions characterized by moist salvaged peat soils and a mix of herbaceous, 

shrub and planted Picea glauca and Pinus banksiana remained net sources 

of CO2. Despite similar rates of gross primary production, ecosystem and 

plot-level respiration rates in the lowland were significantly lower than in the 

midland region, likely due to very low reduction potentials within the lowland’s 

saturated soils. With no other significant outflows of carbon, the lowland of 

the Sandhill Fen Watershed may be in the early stages of organic matter 

accumulation. Due to limited oxidation of the salvaged peat substrate in the 

lowland region, wetland reclamation employing these techniques may reduce 

the disturbance loss of the carbon pool in the boreal plains.” M. Graham Clark, 

Elyn Humphreys, and Sean K. Carey, Ecological Engineering. (Subscription 

may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

35

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Carbon and nitrogen storage of constructed and natural freshwater 

wetlands in Southern California.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Artificial wetlands are often 

constructed to replace degraded natural wetlands; however, it is unclear 

whether constructed wetlands can become functionally equivalent to natural 

wetlands. [The authors] used measurements of soil and plant nitrogen (N) 

and carbon (C) storage as indicators of initial function in an artificial wetland 

in southern California, and compared them to the C and N stocks of local 

naturally occurring wetlands. [The authors] hypothesized that C and N stocks 

would be significantly lower in the constructed wetland. Soil and vegetation 

C and N stocks of the constructed wetland increased rapidly but plateaued 

after 6 years, and soil C and N stocks of the constructed wetland were 

higher than, or comparable to, local natural wetlands. Limited comparisons 

between constructed and natural freshwater wetlands reported in the literature 

illustrated high variability in ecosystem C and N storage, but soil C and N 

stocks in artificial wetlands were significantly lower than in natural wetlands. 

Southern California wetlands had lower soil C and N storage compared to other 

temperate zone wetlands, which may be due to the highly variable rainfall and 

flow regimes of semi-arid wetlands in southern California.” Jacob Maziarz, 

George L Vourlitis, and William Kristan, Ecological Engineering. (Subscription 

may be required.)

Feasibility study for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) in 

the Danish North Sea.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “An innovative addition to the 

conventional oil and gas extraction by introducing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) 

techniques in the Danish North Sea is something which has been sought for long 

time. Combining the offshore EOR technology with the CCS is considered to be 

a possibly attractive solution as the associated benefit is twofold: (1) increased 

oil recovery through miscible displacement via CO2 pushing the hydrocarbons 

out of the reservoir and (2) the disposal of a greenhouse gas such as the CO2. 

A feasibility study for implementing a CCUS project is presented in the scope of 

this study, in a North Sea Chalk Field which is the oldest and one of the largest 

oilfields in the Danish sector, both for the technical and the economic merit, 

by means of using a commercial reservoir simulation package. The capital 

(CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) expenditures associated with such a long term 

development project is estimated. Results suggest that around 100 million 

barrels of additional oil reserves can be unlocked via CO2 injection, while 40 

million [metric tons] of CO2 is being trapped in the reservoir.” Vural Sander 

Suicmez, Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering. (Subscription may 

be required.)

SEPTEMBER 2019

Quest carbon capture and storage offset project: Findings 

and learnings from 1st reporting period.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Quest is a fully integrated CCS 

project that started CO2 injection in August of 2015. The Quest CCS Project 

is located near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. It includes a capture 

facility which uses a Shell amine technology, a pipeline of about 65 km length,

and three injection well pads. Each injection well pad has an injection well, a 

deep monitoring well, and shallow groundwater wells. The storage complex is 

geologically defined by the injection reservoir, a deep saline aquifer called the 

Basal Cambrian Sand (BCS) (about 45 m thick) and several seals, including 

the Middle Cambrian Shale (about 50 m thick) and Lotsberg Salts (about 

120 m thick). As of August 2018, over three million [metric tons] of CO2 have 

been safely injected and permanently stored in the BCS. The Alberta Carbon 

Competitiveness Incentive Regulation (CCIR) requires the use of standard 

methods of quantification for reporting GHG emissions for facilities with 

over 100,000 [metric tons] of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year. An 

emission offset project is required to comply with CCIR, associated standards 

and protocols, to demonstrate a reduction in the specified gas emissions and, 

in the case of Quest, geological sequestration. Quest is the first CCS project to 

implement an offset project in the context of commercial scale on-shore CO2

geological sequestration within a saline aquifer. Quest uses the Quantification 

Protocol for CO2 Capture and Permanent Storage in Deep Saline Aquifers, 

from Alberta Environment and Parks. An offset project must develop an offset 

project plan (OPP) which demonstrates how the project meets the requirement 

of the protocol, describes how GHG emissions reductions are achieved, 

identifies risks associated with the quantification of emission reduction 

benefits, and describes methodologies used to quantify sources and sinks. 

Subsequent to completing the OPP, an offset project will put together offset 

project reports (OPR) to report on the net reductions of GHG emissions for a 

specific period. The intent of this paper is a) to provide an overview of the OPP 

and OPR for the Quest CCS project, and b) to discuss learnings from the initial 

compilation and submission of offset project reports. The key learning at this 

time is associated to the equipment improvements to the injection gas online 

analyzer.” Celina Duong. Charles Bower, Ken Hume, Luc Rock, and Stephen 

Tessarolo, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may 

be required.)

Possibilities of CO2 purification coming from oxy-combustion 

for enhanced oil recovery and storage purposes by adsorption 

method on activated carbon.

The following is the abstract of this article: “The results of laboratory and 

numerical investigations of oxy-combustion flue gas purification for enhanced 

oil recovery (EOR) as well as storage purposes using the adsorption method 

were presented. The experimental investigations provided results of purification 

process and allowed to determine the correction factors for validation 

and calibration of the elaborated numerical model. In turn, the numerical 

simulations were used to extensive research on the purification process at 

different thermodynamic conditions and process configurations, other than 

applied at laboratory tests. Neither experimental research nor numerical 

simulations confirmed the possibility of enrichment the oxy-combustion flue 

gas to meet the conceptual design purity limits of oxygen at the level of 

10ppmv (recommended by NETL) for EOR and storage purposes, but the purity 

of the product was met in the case of higher ones, described in the literature. 

The conducted analysis of the energy demand shows that the one-stage 

vacuum-pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) purification process requires about 

57 kWh/tCO2 at recovery of 73.58% and product purity of 97.78% when the 

product is at the ambient pressure, 128 kWh/tCO2 when the product is at 18 bar 

and 161 kWh/tCO2 at the pressure equals 120 bar. Obtained results were also 

compared with the literature data.” Dariusz Wawrzyńczak, Marcin Panowski, 

and Izabela Majchrzak-Kucęba, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Managing the invasion of guava trees to enhance carbon storage 

in tropical forests.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Tropical forests account for a 

substantial percentage of the world’s carbon stocks, but the consequences 

to carbon storage of the rapid invasiveness of the guava tree in these forests 

is not known. Two different forest management strategies are practiced in 

a tropical forest in western Kenya: (1) a protection strategy where human 

entry is prohibited except for minimalistic human presence (e.g., research 

activities); and (2) a conservation strategy where human access to the forest 

and its resources are permitted. [The authors] assessed the effects of these 

management strategies and different levels of disturbance caused by the legacy 

effects of legal logging activities and the contemporary effects of unauthorized 

harvesting of forest products on the abundance of guava and non-guava 

trees and carbon storage in both plant biomass and soil in this forest. [The 

authors] found that guava trees were less likely to thrive and carbon storage 

in plants and soils was similar in sites with minimal disturbance under both 

the protection and conservation strategies. However, as disturbance increased, 

whether by the historical or contemporary effects of human activities, guava 

trees were more likely to thrive and carbon storage in plants shifted from nonguava trees to guava trees, but without an effect on more stable soil carbon. 

[The authors] conclude that regulations should be strictly enforced to prevent 

all logging activity, but the conservation strategy would provide similar effects 

on both forest plant and soil carbon to the protection strategy, while providing 

benefits to the surrounding community who rely on the forest for cultural and 

spiritual nourishment.” Rael Adhiambo, Francis Muyekho, Irena F. Creed, Eric 

Enanga, William Shivoga, Charles G. Trick, and John Obiri, Forest Ecology 

and Management. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

36

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Soil organic matter priming and carbon balance after straw addition 

is regulated by long-term fertilization.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Straw incorporation is crucial 

to soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration... The fate of straw C and the 

associated net SOC balance remain largely unexplored, particularly in soils 

subjected to long-term mineral and organic fertilization. To address this, soil 

(δ13C: –19‰) that had been continuously cropped with maize for 31 years 

and subjected to five long-term fertilization regimes, including (i) control 

(Unfertilized), (ii) mineral fertilizer (NPK) application, (iii) 200% NPK (2×NPK) 

application, (iv) manure (M) application, and (v) NPK plus manure (NPKM) 

application, was incubated with or without addition of rice straw (δ13C: –29‰) 

for 70 days. Straw addition largely primed SOC mineralization. The priming 

effect (PE) was considerably higher in 2 × NPK (+122% of CO2 from soil 

without straw addition) but lower in M (+43%) relative to the unfertilized soil 

(+82%), highlighting the importance of fertilization in controlling PE intensity. 

Fertilization increased the straw-derived microbial biomass C by 90–577% and 

straw-derived SOC by 34–68% compared to the unfertilized soil, primarily due 

to the increased abundance of Gram-negative bacteria and cellobiohydrolase 

activity. Straw-derived SOC was strongly positively correlated with strawderived microbial biomass C, suggesting that dead microbial biomass 

(necromass) was a dominant precursor of SOC formation. Consequently, 

fertilization facilitated microbial utilization of straw C and its retention in soil, 

particularly in the M and NPKM fertilized soils. The amounts of straw-derived 

SOC overcompensated for the SOC losses by mineralization, resulting in net C 

sequestration which was highest in the NPK fertilized soil. [The authors’] study 

emphasizes that NPK fertilization decreases the intensity of the PE induced by 

straw addition and increases straw C incorporation into SOC, thus facilitating 

C sequestration in agricultural soils.” Lei Wu, Wenju Zhang, Wenjuan Wei, 

Zhilong He, Yakov Kuzyakov, Roland Bol, and Ronggui Hu, Soil Biology and 

Biochemistry. (Subscription may be required.)

Study of convective-diffusive flow during CO2 sequestration 

in fractured heterogeneous saline aquifers.

The following is the abstract of this article: “CO2 sequestration in naturally 

fractured saline aquifers is important to be studied. This paper investigates the 

convective-diffusive flow to study CO2 sequestration by dissolution in single and 

multi-fractured heterogeneous saline aquifers. The effect of fractures density, 

orientation, permeability, aperture and surface roughness on CO2 dissolution 

and propagation of density-driven fingers are investigated. The results indicate 

that a single fracture causes the growing density fingers to deviate towards the 

high permeability path of the fracture. Additionally, the higher vertical fracture 

orientation, aperture and permeability will lead to a higher CO2 storage. In the 

multiple fracture systems, matrix permeability has a dominant and positive 

effect on CO2 storage. Nevertheless, the effect of fractures properties such 

as fracture density, spacing, permeability, aperture and surface roughness 

on the CO2 storage are dependent on the fractures orientation. For instance, 

having fractures with rough surface can cause CO2 dissolution retardation 

in the aquifers with only vertical fractures. This study provides more insights 

into dissolution trapping of CO2 in fractured heterogeneous saline aquifers.” 

Mohamed Gamal Rezk and Jalal Foroozesh, Journal of Natural Gas Science 

and Engineering. (Subscription may be required.)

Incentive model for enterprises based on carbon emission intensity.

The following is the abstract of this article: “A pilot scheme for a carbon 

emissions trading market has been launched in China. Some problems within 

the market include insufficient incentives, inefficient emissions reduction, and 

inequitable distribution. While previous studies adopted a state or provincial 

level perspective to examine such issues, little research has focused on 

enterprises at a business level. This article proposes a new incentive model 

that aims to resolve these problems. This model was developed while 

considering the carbon emission intensity of enterprises and cooperative game 

theory. According to the advanced value and average value of carbon emission 

intensity, the model classifies enterprises into three regions. The quota in 

the second year is related to its own emission intensity and the number of 

enterprises located in the region, which not only stimulates the enthusiasm 

of the enterprise to reduce emissions, but also serves to encourage more 

enterprises to participate in emission reductions. This article presents a study 

of 16 textile enterprises in Shandong Province. Depending on the model’s 

calculation, the quota can be redistributed. Different emission intensity 

brings different emission reduction costs, which can intuitively show different 

responsibilities. The result is fairer and more reasonable than distributions 

that are based on a historical emissions quota.” Kai Wang, Linyu Xu, and 

Johannes Kals, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)

Estimation of CO2 sequestration potential by afforestation in the arid 

rangelands of Western Australia based on long-term empirical data.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “In this study (1999–2015), in 

an arid area near Leonora, Western Australia (annual rainfall: 220 mm year−1; 

pan evaporation: 3400 mm year−1), carbon sequestration was assessed in 

above and below ground biomass in Eucalyptus camaldulensis under ambient 

conditions and with active site amelioration (combination of water harvesting 

with large mounds and hardpan blasting). The carbon sequestration rate was 

estimated at 7.92 Mg-CO2-e ha−1 year−1 for a total carbon sink of 230 MgCO2-e ha−1. Carbon mitigation may thus be a viable option in arid regions, 

not only in Western Australia but globally, and can be enhanced with active 

site engineering.” Hideki Suganuma, Shin-ichi Aikawa, Yuji Sakai, Hiroyuki 

Hamano, Nobuhide Takahashi, Kiyotaka Tahara, Satoko Kawarasaki, Hajime 

Utsugi, Yasuyuki Egashira, Takuya Kawanishi, Richard J. Harper, Hiroyuki 

Tanouchi, Toshinori Kojima, Yukuo Abe, Masahiro Saito, Shigeru Kato, 

John Law, and Koichi Yamada, Ecological Engineering. (Subscription may be 

required.)

Acorn: Developing full-chain industrial carbon capture and storage 

in a resource- and infrastructure-rich hydrocarbon province.

The following is from the abstract of this article: “Through assessment of 

Acorn’s publicly-available outputs, [the authors] identify strategies which 

may help to enhance the viability of early-stage CCS projects. Initial capital 

costs can be minimised by infrastructure re-use, particularly pipelines, and 

by re-use of data describing the subsurface acquired during oil and gas 

exploration activity. Also, development of the project in separate stages of 

activity (e.g. different phases of infrastructure re-use and investment into new 

infrastructure) enables cost reduction for future build-out phases. Additionally, 

engagement of regional-level policy makers may help to build stakeholder 

support by situating CCS within regional decarbonisation narratives. [The 

authors] argue that these insights may be translated to general objectives for 

any CCS project sharing similar characteristics such as legacy infrastructure, 

industrial clusters and an involved stakeholder-base that is engaged with the 

fossil fuel industry.” Juan Alcalde, Niklas Heinemann, Leslie Mabon, Richard 

H. Worden, Heleen de Coninck, Hazel Robertson, Marko Maver, Saeed 

Ghanbari, Floris Swennenhuis, Indira Mann, Tiana Walker, Sam Gomersal, 

Clare E. Bond, Michael J. Allen, R. Stuart Haszeldine, Alan James, Eric J. 

Mackay, Peter A. Brownsort, Daniel R. Faulkner, and Steve Murphy, Journal 

of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.) 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

37

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Carbon policy in developing countries: Giving priority 

to non-price instruments.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Carbon pricing might not be 

appropriate as the main element of the carbon policy package in emerging 

and developing countries (DCs), because the political economy constraints 

are greater than in developed countries. Non-price instruments and policies 

such as efficiency standards, market-oriented regulation, subsidies for clean 

technologies and public programs involving low carbon infrastructure should 

be preferentially developed to deal with market and regulatory failures, which 

are more widespread than in developed countries. These approaches are most 

effective in orientating technology and infrastructure, the principal means to 

achieving the mitigation imperative in DCs. Moreover, even if, in theory, policy 

packages using non-price instruments are less socially efficient than those 

focused on carbon pricing, they allow governments to circumvent political 

economy constraints, because their costs to consumers and citizens are 

not generalized and tend to be much less visible, while their redistributive 

effects are, if appropriately designed, generally not too regressive. In the 

end, developing a carbon policy that emphasizes non-price instruments and 

measures will pave the way to leverage carbon pricing as the main pillar of 

their future carbon policy in long term.” Dominique Finon, Energy Policy. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Carbon tax incidence on household demand: Effects on welfare, 

income inequality and poverty incidence in Thailand.

The following is the abstract of this article: “Studying the impact of a carbon tax 

on household demand can be relevant in terms of securing public acceptance 

of a carbon tax and clarifying the implications for policy design. This paper 

aims to fill a gap in the academic literature by simulating carbon tax scenarios 

and estimating distributional effects of the tax on household welfare, income 

inequality, and poverty rates based on household consumption in Thailand. 

The study employs a microsimulation model incorporating the economy-wide 

effects of the tax on prices and consumers’ behavioral responses to changes 

in prices. The results indicate that a carbon tax is progressive in Thailand 

under revenue-recycling scenarios by expanding social transfer programs. 

When carbon tax revenues are recycled through pensions for elderly people, 

the carbon tax could reduce the poverty rate and improve the welfare of 

households in the lowest quintile. The results imply that the distributional 

impacts of environmental taxes could result in favorable outcomes for income 

inequality and poverty reduction in developing countries.” Supawan Saelim, 

Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

38

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

OCTOBER 2018

ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY: Information on DOE-Provided Funding for 

Research and Development Projects Started from Fiscal Years 2010 

through 2017.

The following is from the highlights of this U.S. Government Accountability 

Office (GAO) document: “DOE provided $2.66 billion in funding, or obligations, 

for 794 R&D projects started from fiscal years 2010 through 2017 to develop 

advanced fossil energy technologies. Such technologies include processes for 

converting coal into synthesis gas composed primarily of carbon monoxide and 

hydrogen, and recovering methane from gas hydrates. Of the $2.66 billion, 

DOE provided $1.12 billion in funding for 9 later-stage, large demonstration 

projects, which were to assess the readiness for commercial viability of CCS 

technologies. CCS involves capturing man-made [CO2] at its source and 

storing it permanently underground. DOE provided the remaining $1.54 billion 

in funding for 785 other projects in amounts that were relatively small—over 

half were for less than $1 million. Six demonstration projects researched CCS 

technologies using coal, while three used other fuels. The nine demonstration 

projects received funding ranging from $13 million to $284 million.”

Estimating Carbon Storage Resources in Offshore Geologic Environments.

The following is the Executive Summary of this NETL document: “Long-term 

carbon storage in geologic reservoirs is a leading technique for removing 

excess CO2 that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere as a result 

of anthropogenic activities. Effective carbon storage requires both safety and 

permanence. One underutilized national storage scenario involves carbon 

storage in offshore geologic formations, similar to those that hold oil, gas, or 

brine. This scenario has been tested in other countries on a small-scale, but 

is yet unproven in the United States. A major advantage of offshore storage is 

that the risk of CO2 leakage into fresh groundwater resources is decreased, 

and the effect of that leakage on human population centers is minimized. 

However, as with onshore storage scenarios, there are many uncertainties 

surrounding offshore storage. These include issues related to both safety 

and permanence. After an extensive literature review of the current storage 

methodologies for onshore carbon storage in saline formations, comparing 

and contrasting the offshore and onshore characteristics of reservoirs, this 

study makes recommendations about future work to support offshore storage 

estimates and research. This report concludes with the suggestion that despite 

important differences between onshore and offshore systems, carbon can be 

stored safely and permanently in offshore saline geologic formations. This 

research proposes using the [DOE/NETL’s] saline storage methodology with an 

integration of spatial-statistical tools to adjust for uncertainties.”

Technology Roadmap – Low-Carbon Transition in the Cement Industry.

The following is a summary of this International Energy Agency (IEA) document: 

“The cement sector is the third-largest industrial energy consumer and the 

second-largest industrial CO2 emitter globally. Rising global population and 

[urbanization] patterns, coupled with infrastructure development needs, drive 

up the demand for cement and concrete and increase pressure to accelerate 

action in reducing the carbon footprint of cement production. Under a scenario 

that considers announced carbon mitigation commitments and energy 

efficiency targets by countries, the cement sector would increase its direct CO2

emissions just 4% globally by 2050, for an expected growth of 12% in cement 

production over the same period. However, more ambitious action would be 

needed to achieve global climate goals. This Technology Roadmap builds 

on the long-standing collaboration of the IEA with the Cement Sustainability 

Initiative (CSI) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development 

(WBCSD). It provides an update of the Cement Technology Roadmap 2009: 

Carbon Emissions Reductions up to 2050, and sets a strategy for the cement 

sector to achieve the decoupling of cement production growth from related 

direct CO2 emissions through improving energy efficiency, switching to fuels 

that are less carbon intensive, reducing the clinker to cement ratio, and 

implementing emerging and innovative technologies such as carbon capture. 

The report therefore outlines a detailed action plan for specific stakeholders to 

2050 as a reference and a source of inspiration for international and national 

policy makers to support evidence-based decisions and regulations.”

NOVEMBER 2018

A Multisensor Plume Monitoring Schema for Carbon Sequestration Sites in 

Subsurface Engineered-Natural Systems.

The following is from the Introduction of this NETL document: “The National 

Carbon Sequestration (NATCARB) Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting 

(MVA) program is tasked with monitoring CO2 storage sites for compliance 

with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Underground Injection 

Control (UIC) Program to ensure that potable groundwater sources and 

sensitive ecosystems are protected. The major monitoring technology areas 

are atmospheric, remote sensing and near surface, subsurface, and intelligent 

monitoring networks and protocols. The primary objective of the NETL-led 

National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) is to develop simulation-based 

risk assessment tools needed for safe, permanent geologic CO2 storage, 

as well as monitoring and mitigation protocols to reduce uncertainty in the 

predicted long-term behavior of a storage site. This multi-sensor monitoring 

assessment project addresses three technology focus areas within the 

NATCARB MVA program: [1]. Remote sensing and near surface - (surface 

deformation, near surface electric resistivity structure) using ground and 

satellite interferometric radar, airborne transient electromagnetic (TEM), 

ground-based audiofrequency/radiofrequency natural and controlled source 

audio magnetotelluric/radiofrequency magnetotelluric(CSAMT/RFMT) methods 

[2] Subsurface - (surface deformation, electrical resistivity structure from 100–

15,000 ft below ground level) using ground and satellite interferometric radar, 

audiofrequency magnetotelluric (AMT) and controlled source electromagnetic 

(CSEM) methods [3] Intelligent monitoring networks and protocols - (the 

optimized multi-sensor deployment and data acquisition schema), as well as 

the monitoring protocols focus area of the NRAP program ”

Reducing UK emissions: 2018 Progress Report to Parliament.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this UK Committee on Climate 

Change document: “This is the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) tenth 

statutory Progress Report to Parliament – an important moment to reflect on 

the UK’s achievements in tackling climate change to date. 2018 also marks 

the tenth year since the Climate Change Act came into force and, with it, the 

creation of the CCC as an independent statutory adviser. [Decarbonizing] 

electricity generation is the clear achievement of the last decade - a notable 

success, in line with the Committee’s early recommendations, which will 

underpin a strategy of shifting progressively from fossil fuels to low-carbon 

electricity. But progress in the power sector masks a marked failure to 

[decarbonize] other sectors. In the last five years, this failure has become 

more acute, as emissions reductions in these sectors have stalled. Offshore 

wind deployment exemplifies how clear goals, an ambitious strategy and 

well-designed mechanisms, can encourage and enable the market to reduce 

cost and help to build wider economic co-benefits. These lessons should be 

applied more broadly - to meet the challenges [the authors] highlight in this 

report in transport, industry, buildings and agriculture. It is in the consumer 

interest to act early and avoid the need for more costly interventions later. 

There is also potential for economic advantage, in line with the Government’s 

aim to develop industrial and commercial advantage from emissions reduction. 

[The UK] now [enters] a new decade of action to address climate change. 

So far, the governance framework under the Climate Change Act has worked 

to deliver overall UK emissions reduction, but a much tougher challenge is 

presented by the fourth and fifth carbon budgets. The formal request from the 

UK Government to provide advice on the implications of the Paris Agreement 

on the UK’s long-term emissions targets, announced for later this year, will 

mark the next phase of the UK’s climate leadership.”
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

39

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

DECEMBER 2018

Delivering Clean Growth: CCUS Cost Challenge Taskforce Report.

The following is the Executive Summary of this independent report to the 

UK government: “The Clean Growth Strategy reaffirms the UK Government’s 

commitment to lead the way to a low carbon future and underlines the 

enormous opportunity for the UK that is emerging from the global transition to 

a low carbon economy. The Clean Growth Strategy sets out the Government’s 

new approach to carbon capture usage and storage (‘CCUS’), and [recognizes] 

the potential importance of CCUS to support the [decarbonization] of the UK’s 

economy. The CCUS Cost Challenge Taskforce was established in January 2018 

with the remit of informing and proposing a strategic plan to Government for 

supporting the development of CCUS in the UK, in order to meet Government’s 

stated ambition of ‘having the option to deploy CCUS at scale during the 

2030s, subject to costs coming down sufficiently.’ In this report, the Taskforce 

proposes a range of measures and actions to inform a new approach to CCUS 

deployment that will enable cost reductions to be secured. By demonstrating 

that CCUS can deliver [decarbonization] across industry, power, and provide 

solutions for heat and transport, the report focuses on building a long term, 

commercially sustainable and cost-effective [decarbonization] service industry 

for the UK. This, in turn, can bring new industrial opportunities, secure longterm jobs, deliver new economic development across industrial heartlands and 

secure international competitiveness through new [decarbonized] products 

and services. [The authors] have identified viable business models, funding 

mechanisms, and an innovation pathway, as well as suggesting options to 

support the lowest cost delivery of a potentially transformative technology, 

underpinned by a series of short, medium and longer term recommendations.”

The Carbon Capture and Storage Readiness Index 2018: Is the world really 

ready for carbon capture and storage?

The following is from this Global CCS Institute document: “The 2018 edition of 

the Global CCS Institute’s (the Institute) CCS Readiness Index (CCS-RI) identifies 

those nations which are leaders in the creation of an enabling environment 

for the commercial deployment of CCS. However, no nation, including the 

leaders, have yet established the conditions necessary to drive deployment 

at the rate required to meet ambition climate targets. It is clear that more 

must be done. The Institute actively monitors the progress of CCS deployment, 

through a series of targeted ‘indicators’, which consider a country’s: Inherent 

CCS interest; Policy developments; Legal and regulatory frameworks; [and] 

Geological CO2 storage development. Collectively, these indicators establish 

the CCS-RI. The 2018 CCS-RI examines over 50 countries using 70 discrete 

criteria and enables a comparative assessment of countries globally.” 

JANUARY 2019

Experimental and Numerical Modeling Approach to Elucidating Damage 

Mechanisms in Cement-Well Casing-Host Rock Settings for Underground 

Storage of CO2.

The following is from the abstract of this NETL document: “This research 

project was completed during an ambitious 12-month period encompassing 

both experimental and modeling efforts to elucidate the potential for damage 

mechanisms in Class H Portland cement exposed to high temperature, pressure 

and supercritical CO2 or carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle (CO2-O2). One key goal 

of this work was to decouple the effects of these three influences to determine 

which, if any, had the most profound impact on integrity of Class H cement. 

Experimental work was completed at both Oregon State University (OSU) and 

NETL-Albany. Modeling work was done at OSU. The results of the experimental 

work showed that mechanical properties, specifically compressive strength 

and modulus of rupture were most affected (decreased over the control) at 

high temperatures (85°C), high pressure (4,200 psi) and in the presence 

of supercritical CO2 or CO2-O2. The influence of low (23°C) or intermediate 

temperature (50°C) as well as exposure to a synthetic brine or saturated 

limewater had negligible effects on mechanical properties. Cement exposed 

to supercritical CO2 and CO2-O2 were shown to alter the cement specimens 

from the exterior of paste samples inward as the carbonation front lead to 

distinct zones of amorphous silica, calcite deposited, calcium depleted, and 

finally the unaltered cement closer inward toward the center of the sample. 

While total alteration depths were similar between both sets of exposed 

samples (CO2 or CO2-O2) the amount of alteration within the altered zone 

varied between the different exposures, qualitatively. Pore solution analysis 

reflected the alteration process showing that the concentrations of alkalis 

(from the Portland cement) reduced over time as the concentration of calcium 

increased. Inversely, aqueous calcium decreased in the bulk solution. It was 

also found that sulfate was drawn preferentially at high temperature (85°C). 

Perhaps the most important finding was verification that the introduction of 

O2 into the gas stream resulted in rapid corrosion of the Alloy-20 metal on 

the interior of the autoclaves used for high pressure, temperature and gas 

exposure experiments. This represents a significant concern for the longterm sequestration of co-sequestration of CO2 once oxygen is introduced into 

the system. The wellbore casing, being made of stainless steel, is subject to 

deterioration and this could represent a potential leakage pathway. A reactivetransport finite element model was developed for the numerical investigation 

of the deterioration of Class H cement that was exposed to brines with different 

compositions and sequestration scenarios (e.g. CO2 and CO2-O2 exposures) 

at wellbore temperatures and pressures. The modeling study also included 

the simulation of the hydration processes of cement. The high temperature/

pressure conditions required the modeling of a two-phase flow problem due 

to the presence of supercritical CO2. The modeling framework involved the 

integration of reactive-transport processes (modeled using a commercial 

finite element modeling software) with thermodynamic processes of species 

in cement and brine (modeled using a geochemical modeling open source 

software).”

Estimating Carbon Storage Resources in Offshore Geologic Environments.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this NETL document: “Longterm carbon storage in geologic reservoirs is a leading technique for removing 

excess CO2 that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere as a result 

of anthropogenic activities. Effective carbon storage requires both safety and 

permanence. One underutilized national storage scenario involves carbon 

storage in offshore geologic formations, similar to those that hold oil, gas, or 

brine. This scenario has been tested in other countries on a small-scale, but is 

yet unproven in the United States. A major advantage of offshore storage is that 

the risk of CO2 leakage into fresh groundwater resources is decreased, and 

the effect of that leakage on human population centers is minimized. However, 

as with onshore storage scenarios, there are many uncertainties surrounding 

offshore storage. These include issues related to both safety and permanence. 

After an extensive literature review of the current storage methodologies for 

onshore carbon storage in saline formations, comparing and contrasting 

the offshore and onshore characteristics of reservoirs, this study makes 

recommendations about future work to support offshore storage estimates 

and research. This report concludes with the suggestion that despite important 

differences between onshore and offshore systems, carbon can be stored 

safely and permanently in offshore saline geologic formations. This research 

proposes using DOE, NETL saline storage methodology with an integration of 

spatial-statistical tools to adjust for uncertainties.”

FEBRUARY 2019

History, Sampling, Porosity and Permeability Testing of Salem Limestone, 

Oriskany Sandstone and Marcellus Shale.

The following is the abstract of this NETL document: “This report describes 

measurements of the fluid storage and transmission properties of Salem 

Limestone, Oriskany Sandstone, and Marcellus Shale. Test results are assessed 

in the context of confining stress applied to the sample and sample preparation 

procedures. For perspective, a general geologic description is provided for 

each rock type. The current regional stress state was also considered in terms 

of the test specimens’ propensity for preferential fracturing. As part of the test 

program, two different methods for sample testing were used depending on 

rock type. Combined permeability and porosity tests were performed on small, 

cylindrical plug samples one inch (2.54 cm) in diameter by at least two inches 

(5 cm) in length. Helium gas was used in testing for both the Salem Limestone 

and Oriskany Sandstone, whereas nitrogen gas was used for Marcellus 

Shale. Porosity to gas and high-pressure, pulse-decay gas permeability were 

evaluated on all samples at four net confining pressure steps: 500 psi (3.4 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

40

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

MPa), 1,000 psi (6.9 MPa), 1,500 psi (10.3 MPa), and 2,000 psi (13.8 MPa). 

Test results for each rock type were generally uniform. Under conditions of 

increasing net confining pressure, the average matrix porosity of the Salem 

Limestone ranges from 7.62% to 7.83%, and matrix permeability ranges from 

1.81 to 1.87 mD. The Oriskany Sandstone’s average matrix porosity ranges 

from 6.05% to 6.43% and matrix permeability ranges from 4.8 to 9.1 �D. The 

Marcellus Shale plug samples were cut in two different directions; in one group 

the cylinder axis was cut perpendicular to the bedding plane and the other 

group was cut parallel to the bedding plane. Porosity measured in the group of 

perpendicular samples ranges from 4.34% to 7.72% and permeability ranges 

from null to 0.5 �D. Porosity of the parallel sample group ranges from 0.54% 

to 1.32% and permeability readings from 0.02 to 1.12 �D. Interpretation of 

the results concluded that porosity and permeability are relatively insensitive 

to the sample preparation methods used in this study, and the recorded values 

are reasonable when compared with published data or other representative 

samples.”

Industrial Carbon Capture Business Models.

The following is the Executive Summary of this UK Department of Business, 

Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) document: “Deep [decarbonization] of 

all sectors of energy use is required to meet the UK’s long-term emissions 

reductions goals. Whilst progress has been made in the power sector, energy 

intensive industry (EII) presents a particular challenge, both technically due to 

lack of alternative processes, and economically, due to the internationally traded 

nature of many products. Carbon Capture [Utilization] and Storage (CCUS) has 

been [recognized], both internationally and in the UK, as a key technology in 

reducing CO2 emissions in industry. In the last 15 years, the annual global CO2

storage rate doubled to a 2017 value of around 37 MtCO2/year, with most 

operational projects being industrial CCUS. Importantly, [Industrial carbon 

capture (ICC)] presents many opportunities for the UK, including protecting 

existing industry from exposure to climate regulations (e.g. CO2 pricing), 

attracting foreign direct investment in UK manufacturing and supporting 

[decarbonization] of the heat sector. The International Energy Agency estimates 

there will be a global CCUS market worth over £100 bn, and even a modest 

share of this could increase UK [gross value added (GVA)] by between £5 bn 

and £9 bn per year by 2030. To unlock the potential for CCUS deployment at 

scale in the UK during the 2030s, BEIS committed in the Clean Growth Strategy 

(CGS) to review viable delivery and investment models. As the previous fullchain CCS projects in the UK involved complex risk sharing arrangements, 

it is important to explore whether ‘part chain’ business models for ICC are 

more investable. Element Energy and its partners were commissioned by 

BEIS to identify the range of business models that could [incentivize] costeffective deployment and operation of ICC technology in the UK. Consideration 

is given to the key barriers currently hindering the deployment of ICC as well 

as business models used in other sectors and countries that have potential to 

address these challenges and drive cost reductions.”

MARCH 2019

DOE/NETL Capture Program R&D: Compendium of Carbon Capture 

Technology.

The following is from the Overview of this DOE/NETL document: “The DOE 

Fossil Energy Program has adopted a comprehensive, multi-pronged 

approach to the research and development (R&D) of advanced CO2 capture 

technologies for today’s coal power platforms as well as for future platforms. 

NETL is implementing the Carbon Capture R&D program to develop the next 

generation of advanced CO2 capture concepts. The success of this research 

will enable cost-effective implementation of CCS technologies throughout 

the power generation sector and ensure the United States will continue to 

have access to safe, reliable, and affordable energy from fossil fuels. DOE’s 

CCS R&D effort is conducted as part of the CCS and Power Systems program 

under the overarching Clean Coal and Carbon Management Research Program 

(CCCMRP). The CCCMRP is implemented by NETL through contracted 

research activities and on-site research at NETL. Research projects are 

carried out under various award mechanisms — including partnerships, 

cooperative agreements, and financial assistance grants — with corporations, 

small businesses, universities, nonprofit organizations, and other national 

laboratories and government agencies. The Carbon Capture program consists 

of two core research areas, Post-Combustion Capture and Pre-Combustion 

Capture, composed of projects with technology readiness levels (TRL) ranging 

from conceptual engineering and materials design (i.e., TRL 2) to 25 MWelectrical (MWe) equivalent pilot testing (i.e., TRL 5-7). These two core areas 

are focused on creating technological improvements providing a step-change 

in both cost and performance as compared to current state-of-the-art solventbased capture systems. Post-combustion systems separate CO2 from the flue 

gas stream produced by conventional pulverized coal power plants after fuel 

combustion in air. In this approach, CO2 is separated from nitrogen (N2), the 

primary constituent of the flue gas. Pre-combustion systems are designed 

to separate CO2 and hydrogen (H2) from the syngas stream produced by the 

gasifier in integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants. In 

both cases, R&D is underway to develop solvent-, sorbent-, and membranebased capture technologies, as well as novel technologies. This Technology 

Compendium provides a technical summary of DOE/NETL’s Carbon Capture 

program, assembling CO2 capture technology R&D descriptions for 91 projects 

in a single document. As of September 1, 2017, there were 47 active projects 

and 44 completed projects.”

Computed Tomography Scanning and Geophysical Measurements of the 

Salina Formation from the #36 Brine Well.

The following is the abstract of this DOE/NETL document: “The computed 

tomography (CT) facilities and the Multi-Sensor Core Logger (MSCL) at NETL 

in Morgantown, West Virginia were used to characterize core of the Salina 

Formation from a vertical well (Brine Well #36) from Marshall County, West 

Virginia at a depth of 6,555.6 to 6,719.5 ft. The primary impetus of this work 

is a collaboration between West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey 

(WVGES) and NETL to characterize core from multiple wells to better understand 

the key formations in West Virginia. As part of this effort, bulk scans of core 

were obtained from the Brine Well #36, provided by the WVGES. This report, 

and the associated scans generated, provide detailed datasets not typically 

available for researchers to analyze. The resultant datasets are presented in 

this report, and can be accessed from NETL’s Energy Data eXchange (EDX) 

online system using the following link: https://edx.netl.doe.gov/dataset/salinawell. All equipment and techniques used were non-destructive, enabling future 

examinations and analyses to be performed on the cores. Low-resolution CT 

images with the NETL medical CT scanner were obtained for the entire core 

and high-resolution CT images with the NETL industrial CT scanner were 

obtained for sections of the core. Qualitative analysis of the medical CT images 

coupled with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) measurements from the MSCL were 

useful in identifying zones of interest for more detailed analysis. The ability to 

quickly identify key areas for more detailed study with higher resolution will 

save time and resources in future studies. The combination of methods used 

provides a multi-scale analysis of this core and descriptions of the core that 

are relevant for many subsurface examinations that have traditionally been 

performed at NETL.” 

The Shand CCS Feasibility Study: Public Report.

The following is from this International CCS Knowledge Centre document: “The 

Canadian province of Saskatchewan is a world-leader in CCS. Saskatchewan 

and its provincial utility, SaskPower, pioneered the way for full-scale carbon 

capture facilities around the world with their fully-integrated [CCS] demonstration 

project on Unit 3 of the Boundary Dam coal-fired power plant (BD3). Operations 

at BD3 have steadily improved since initial startup. The facility has addressed 

safety issues and has recently started to demonstrate a level of reliability that is 

consistent with a thermal-generating facility, although still at below design CO2

production levels. Once stable operation of the facility is achieved, it will allow 

the plant operations and support staff to focus on improving the efficiency 

and cost effectiveness of the operation. As with any world-first project, many 

lessons were learned through the design, construction and operations of the 

facility. These lessons have resulted in novel optimizations, operating methods 

and overall learnings for the facility and its role as a power generator in the 

power utility. While ongoing improvements are anticipated, second-generation 

CCS will undoubtedly realize many improvements over the first generation – 

which this report will highlight...” 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

41

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

APRIL 2019

Dynamic reduced order modelling (ROM) of chemical and mechanical 

processes in CO2-cement systems.

The following is from the abstract of this National Risk Assessment Partnership 

(NRAP) Technical Report: “Damaged wells pose a significant risk of leakage 

of reservoir fluids stored in a geological CO2 storage site. The leaking CO2

can react with well cement and alter its chemical, mechanical, and hydraulic 

properties. Recently, [the authors] have developed an experimentally-calibrated 

model that couples two-phase flow, reactive transport of brine, cement 

geochemistry, and geomechanics to predict the leakage of reservoir fluids 

through a fractured pathway in a cemented well (Iyer, et al. 2018, Iyer, et al. 

2017, Walsh, et al. 2013, Walsh, et al. 2014, Walsh, et al. 2014). [The authors] 

are developing a reduced order model (ROM) to rapidly assess the evolution 

of leakage flux from a well for a wide range of CO2 storage sites scenarios, 

because the coupled numerical model is computationally very expensive. The 

coupled numerical model was used to run simulations needed to train the 

ROM by applying quasi-Monte Carlo sampling of seven inputs parameters, 

with some physical restrictions, to ensure efficient and additive sampling. The 

ROM uses the reservoir overpressure and saturation, the fracture aperture, 

length, and width, the normal stress acting on the fracture, and the reservoir 

depth as inputs. To ensure a sensitive response the input variables and the 

output leakage rate were post-processed using a logarithmic transformation 

followed by normalization. The coupled model solves several partial differential 

equations that describe the spatial and temporal evolution of pressure, velocity, 

concentrations, and extent of reaction. As a result, the solution at any time 

depends on the solution at previous times. To preserve this notion of memory 

the ROM was developed such that the leakage rate at any given time depends 

not only on the input parameters like pressure, saturation, etc., but also on 

the predicted leakage rate in the previous time steps. This process was found 

to perform significantly better than any approach that ignored this notion of 

memory...” 

MAY 2019

Carbon Capture & Storage in The United States Power Sector: The Impact 

of 45Q Federal Tax Credits.

The following is from the summary of this Clean Air Task Force (CATF) 

document: “In February 2018, the United States (U.S.) Congress passed the 

Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, expanding the corporate income tax credit for 

carbon capture and storage (CCS). This tax credit, known as 45Q, was adopted 

to enable additional deployment of CCS projects in the U.S. – both to achieve 

economic goals such as meeting energy needs and supporting jobs as well 

as carbon emission reductions. CCS is an essential technology in the climate 

solution toolbox but has not yet been deployed widely enough to meet its full 

potential. CATF advocated for the expansion of 45Q for several years as a way to 

provide a performance-based financial incentive to increase deployment of the 

technology. In June 2018, after the adoption of the expanded 45Q tax credits, 

CATF retained Charles River Associates (CRA) to perform a modeling analysis, 

based on assumptions developed in conjunction with CATF, that estimates the 

impact of this new incentive on CCS deployment in the U.S. power sector by 

2030. The modeling results show that 45Q leads to significant deployment 

of CCS, capturing and storing approximately 49 million [metric tons] of CO2

annually in 2030. The estimated CO2 that will be captured and stored is 

equivalent to removing roughly 7 million cars from U.S. roads. For perspective, 

this is greater than the number of new cars sold in the U.S. in all of 2017. 

Importantly, the modeling results show that the power sector carbon reductions 

due to 45Q-induced deployment of CCS are additive to those achieved through 

renewable sources of electricity generation. That is, the modeling shows that 

carbon capture-controlled electricity generation replaces uncontrolled fossilfired power, not new or existing renewable energy. Electricity generation and 

corresponding emission reductions from renewables remain unaffected by the 

availability of 45Q.” 

JUNE 2019

The LCFS and CCS Protocol: An Overview for Policymakers and Project 

Developers.

The following is from the Introduction of this Global CCS Institute document: 

“This report provides a summary of the CCS Protocol of the California Low 

Carbon Fuel Standard (‘LCFS’) and how it compares to other significant 

regulations and policies in the US associated with the injection and geologic 

sequestration of CO2. The other regulations and policies covered include 

the Underground Injection Control (‘UIC’) Program, GHG Reporting Program 

and 45Q tax credits...The report was written to inform policymakers and 

CCS project developers interested in understanding the main elements of 

the regulations and the requirements a CCS project would need to fulfill to 

generate LCFS credits. The report necessarily simplifies the regulatory text and 

interested readers are encouraged to read the LCFS Regulation Order and CCS 

Protocol in full to get a better understanding of the detailed requirements of 

the regulations.”

Building a low carbon economy: A roadmap for a sustainable Ireland in 

2050.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this Irish Business and 

Employers Confederation (Ibec) document: “...This report sets out an Ibec 

vision for a competitive low carbon economy in the year 2050 and a roadmap 

for Ireland to achieve this ambition that safeguards [the country’s] energy 

security and competitiveness. The report has been developed in consultation 

with Ibec member companies and with guidance from the SFI MaREI Centre’s 

Energy Policy and Modelling team at UCC. Ibec has also considered the findings 

and recommendations of the 2019 International Energy Agency’s (IEA) review 

of Irish energy policy and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action’s 

2019 report ‘Climate Change: A Cross-Party Consensus for Action.’” 

JULY 2019

The Potential for CCS and CCU in Europe.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this International Association of 

Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) document: “...Estimates have shown that the sum 

of European jobs linked directly and indirectly to the emergence of a market 

for CCS may approach 150,000 in 2050. There are 18 commercial projects 

in operation globally today with a total capture capacity of some 40 Mtpa 

CO2. In Europe, CCS technologies and projects are currently more advanced 

than CCU projects, with Norway in particular having deployed CCS at Sleipner 

since 1996 and at Snøhvit since 2007. CCU covers a range of technologies at 

differing levels of maturity, cost and market size. Ultimately CCS and CCU are 

mutually supportive solutions, since both require access to capture facilities 

and to gas infrastructure and transportation services. They should both be 

seen as technology options to cost-effectively meet the EU’s climate targets for 

2030 and 2050. Europe is well placed to benefit from CCS and CCU due to its 

extensive pipeline infrastructure which can be used to transport CO2, hydrogen 

and synthetic methane, and other renewable and decarbonised gases. Europe 

also has extensive geological CO2 storage capacity and subsea expertise, with 

countries such as Norway and the UK willing to enable shared access to their 

offshore storage facilities for CO2 from EU industry. Today, the largest CCS 

facilities are in the United States where Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) has been 

an important economic driver. In Europe, EOR applications are more limited and 

the current ETS price does not sufficiently support the CCS or CCU business 

case. Appropriate and timely policies coupled with regulatory and financial 

support are needed for CCS and CCU, as in many cases infrastructure must 

be put in place in advance of a mature market for decarbonised products 

and services. Support for CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure will 

in particular be important, to help de-risk the early development of the CCS 

and CCU value chains. Large source emission clusters in Europe provide 

good opportunities to create economies of scale, by establishing shared CO2

transportation infrastructure with third party access and efficient use of this 

infrastructure by multiple parties. Existing EU and national funding schemes 

should continue to apply to CCS and CCU, and these technologies should be 

recognised in the national energy and climate plans...”
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

42

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

Global Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Market Size, Status and 

Forecast 2019-2025.

The following is from a description of this document: “Carbon capture and 

storage (CCS) (or carbon capture and sequestration or carbon control and 

sequestration) is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from 

large point sources, such as fossil fuel power plants, transporting it to a storage 

site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally an 

underground geological formation. The aim is to prevent the release of large 

quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere (from fossil fuel use in power generation 

and other industries)... Although CO2 has been injected into geological 

formations for several decades for various purposes, including enhanced 

oil recovery, the long term storage of CO2 is a relatively new concept. In the 

coming years there is an increasing demand for [CCS] in the regions of United 

States and Europe that is expected to drive the market for more advanced 

Carbon Capture and Storage. Growth in government budgets in the principal 

countries, increasing of power generation fields expenditures, more-intense 

competition, launches in introducing new products, retrofitting and renovation 

of old technology, increasing adoption of [CCS] will drive growth in United 

States and Europe markets. In 2018, the global [CCS] market size was [$3,300 

million] and it is expected to reach [$4,980 million] by the end of 2025, with 

a [compound annual growth rate (CAGR)] of 6.1% during 2019-2025. This 

report focuses on the global [CCS] status, future forecast, growth opportunity, 

key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the [CCS] 

development in United States, Europe and China.” 

AUGUST 2019

Computed Tomography Scanning and Geophysical Measurements of the 

FutureGen FGA-1 Core.

The following is from the abstract of this DOE/NETL document: “The computed 

tomography (CT) facilities at the NETL Morgantown, West Virginia site were 

used to characterize multiple cores collected during the FutureGen project. 

The core from the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, Inc., Battelle, FGA-1 well was 

drilled through 4,813 ft (1,467 m) of the Eau Claire (Lombard and Elmhurst 

members), the Mount Simon (Upper and Lower), and the basement. Core 

from the FGA-1 was collected in four sections to obtain samples from these 

formations: Eau Claire (3,772 to 3,919.5 ft), Eau Claire to Mount Simon 

transition (3,924 to 3,954 ft), lower Mount Simon (4,400 to 4,426 ft), and 

the basement (4,434 to 4,442 ft). The primary impetus of this work is to 

further characterize the FutureGen 2.0 core currently stored in the NETL core 

repository. As part of this effort, bulk scans of core were obtained from the 

FGA-1 well. This report, and the associated scans, provide detailed datasets 

not typically available for analysis. The resultant datasets are presented in 

this report and can be accessed from NETL’s Energy Data eXchange (EDX) 

online system. All equipment and techniques used were non-destructive, 

enabling future examinations to be performed on these cores. Low resolution 

CT imagery with the NETL medical CT scanner was performed on the entire 

core. Qualitative analysis of the medical CT images, coupled with dual energy 

density scans and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) were useful in identifying zones of 

interest for more detailed analysis. The ability to quickly identify key areas for 

more detailed study at higher resolution will save time and resources in future 

studies. The combination of methods used provided a multi-scale analysis 

of this core and provides both a macro and micro description of the core 

that is relevant for many subsurface energy-related examinations that have 

traditionally been performed at NETL.”

Foamed Cement: Correlation of Foam Quality with Mechanical and 

Physical Properties.

The following is from the abstract of this DOE/NETL document: “The primary 

functions of oil well cement include providing casing support and zonal 

isolation for the life of a well. Foam cement systems are often used to achieve 

these objectives. Industry standards and practices require careful assessment 

of various cement properties to ensure the integrity of the primary cement 

job. This report presents a series of studies focused on the mechanical 

(compressive strength, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio) and physical 

(density, permeability, and porosity) properties of foamed cement typically used 

for cementing deep offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Cements with various 

amounts of entrained air were prepared in the lab according to American 

Petroleum Institute, API RP 10B- 4 using Class H cement and industry 

standard foaming agents. Permeability, porosity, compressive strength, Young’s 

modulus, and Poisson’s ratio were measured across a range of foam qualities 

and compared to ‘baseline’ or ‘control sample’ of a neat cement system. 

Additional studies include cement evolution with curing time and the effect 

of temperature variations on this evolution. Bubble sizes and interconnection 

in the foamed cement systems were also briefly discussed. All the cements 

investigated in this study were produced at atmospheric pressure, which is 

the current industry practice for testing foam cement systems. Nevertheless, 

there is some caution to the end users, as the curing pressures in this 

document differ from the ‘bottomhole’ conditions. The data obtained in this 

study are useful for comparative purposes and may serve as a baseline for 

future evaluation of foam cement systems under representative ‘bottomhole’ 

conditions. These data are also complementary to the CT image analysis of 

foamed cements performed at NETL.”

Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilization to the Rescue of Coal? Global 

Perspectives and Focus on China and the United States.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this document: “...There is 

increasing policy support for CCS projects around the world. This renewed 

interest comes with different focuses than policies at the beginning of the 

2000s, which had coal power plants as a focal point. Today, there is a growing 

focus on CCS in industrial and manufacturing applications. There is also a 

growing interest in hydrogen production combined with CCS in several 

countries. The focus is not only on capture and storage but also on utilization 

of the carbon (CCUS) for applications like increasing output from oil wells 

(enhanced oil recovery or EOR) or as an input for creating useful products. 

However, outside EOR, the uses of CO2 are limited... Currently, there are 23 

large-scale CCS/CCUS [projects] in operation and construction in the world, 

with a capture capacity of 40 million tons per annum (Mtpa) of CO2. Most of 

these projects come from processes with highly concentrated CO2 streams, 

such as natural gas processing and chemical production facilities, and 70% 

of the capture capacity is in North America. Only two coal power units in the 

world have been retrofitted with carbon capture, one in Canada and one in the 

United States (US). In addition, among the 20 projects under development in 

the world, six projects (4 in China and 2 in South Korea) involve coal power 

plants. There is also one project under feasibility study in Canada. Altogether, 

CCS/CCUS projects based on coal power plants have a CO2 capture capacity 

of 12.4 Mtpa and involve some 4 GW of coal capacity. The challenge to scale 

up the technology is enormous...” 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

43

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

SEPTEMBER 2019

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage: Using Natural Resources for 

Sustainable Development.

The following is from a description of this book: “Bioenergy with Carbon Capture 

and Storage: Using Natural Resources for Sustainable Development presents 

the technologies associated with bioenergy and CCS and its applicability as an 

emissions reduction tool... Sections offer an overview of several routes to use 

biomass and produce bioenergy through processes with low or even negative 

CO2 emissions. Associated technology and the results of recent research 

studies to improve the sustainability of the processes are described, pointing 

out future trends and needs. This book can be used by bioenergy engineering 

researchers in industry and academia and by professionals and researchers in 

carbon capture and storage.”

Policy Priorities to [Incentivize] Large Scale Deployment of CCS.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this Global CCS Institute 

document: “CCS prevents CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. 

The technology involves capturing CO2 produced by large industrial plants, 

compressing it for transportation and then injecting it deep into a rock formation 

at a carefully selected and safe site, where it is permanently stored... It is 

the only feasible technology that can deliver deep emissions reductions in 

many industrial processes that are vital to the global economy, such as steel, 

cement and chemicals production. In combination with bioenergy used for 

power generation or biofuel production, it provides one of the few technologies 

that can deliver negative emissions at scale; unambiguously required to limit 

temperature rises to no more than 2°C. CCS can also be applied to coal and gas 

fired power plants, providing dispatchable generation capacity to complement 

the increased deployment of intermittent renewables, and in the production of 

low emissions hydrogen for heat and transport. While the critical role of CCS has 

been demonstrated in many reports, the policies in place today are insufficient 

to ensure CCS deployment scales up at the rate required. This paper seeks 

to address the current policy gap by describing priorities for policymakers to 

support the transition from current to future rates of deployment of CCS. It 

starts by reviewing the barriers to investment in CCS and how these have been 

overcome for the eighteen large scale facilities currently in operation and five 

under construction. It then develops a framework to support the scaling up 

of CCS deployment. It concludes with recommendations for policymakers...” 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

44

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

OCTOBER 2018

NETL Issues RFI.

DOE’s FE issued a Request for Information (RFI) on the development of 

transformational sensing capabilities for monitoring parameters associated 

with subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. The objective of the RFI is to 

assess relevant state-of-the-art sensor technologies and determine future 

needs associated with CO2 injection. Stakeholder responses to the 16-question 

RFI may help DOE develop technical objectives for future FOAs. Responses 

are due to the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) by December 

3, 2018.

DOE/NETL Conference Proceedings Available Online.

Proceedings from the “2018 Mastering the Subsurface Through Technology 

Innovation, Partnerships, and Collaboration: Carbon Storage and Oil and 

Natural Gas Technologies Review Meeting,” held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 

(USA), on August 13-16, 2018, are available online. Included are posters and 

presentations from the meeting.

FY 2018 Carbon Storage Newsletter Annual Index Available.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Carbon Storage Newsletter Annual Index is available 

online. The document is a compilation of NETL’s Carbon Storage Newsletters 

published over the October 2017 through September 2018 timeframe, 

organized by section. Outdated information (e.g., conference dates, paper 

submittals, expired FOAs) have been removed.

DOE Announces FOA for Transformational 

Carbon Capture Technologies.

DOE has made available up to $30 million in federal funding for cost-shared 

R&D under the second closing of FE’s “Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture 

Transformational Technologies” FOA. Selected projects must address one area 

of interest, “Development of Novel Transformational Materials and Processes.” 

The R&D requested in this FOA aligns with the scientific challenges and 

knowledge gaps identified in the DOE ministerial-level Mission Innovation 

report, titled “Accelerating Breakthrough Innovation in Carbon Capture, 

Utilization, and Storage.” NETL will manage the projects. 

NETL Presents at USAEE Conference.

NETL gave four presentations at a recent conference, including one titled 

“Assessing Key Drivers Impacting the Cost to Deploy Integrated CO2 Capture, 

Utilization, Transportation, and Storage (CCUS).” Held in September 2018, 

the “36th U.S. Association for Energy Economics/International Association for 

Energy Economics (USAEE/IAEE) North American Conference: Evolving Energy 

Realities: Adapting to What’s Next” highlighted contemporary energy themes at 

the intersection of economics, public policy, and politics.

Report Addresses Role of CCS in Energy Transition.

A report by the CO2 Capture Project provides projections for the role of carbon 

capture and storage (CCS) in the energy sector. The “Role of CCS in the Energy 

Transition” report (subscription may be required) reviewed five leading energy 

transition scenarios with CCS, estimating the technologies contribution to 

achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-reduction goals.

Report Outlines GHG Removal and 

Storage Methods.

In partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society (an 

independent academy of the United Kingdom [U.K.] and the Commonwealth) 

produced a report and associated summary outlining methods of GHG removal, 

their storage, and how their deployment may be affected. The report also 

discusses how these methods may be utilized to meet potential goals.

RGGI Compliance Webinar Available.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) made 

available a webinar on guiding CO2 budget sources through the interim control 

compliance process. The 2018 interim control period began on January 1, 

2018, and extends through December 31, 2018.

CCS Facility Back Online.

The CCS facility at Unit 3 at the Boundary Dam Power Station (located near 

Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada) started operating again after being offline 

for nearly three months due to a severe thunderstorm. Start-up of the CO2

compressor began in September 2018 and the CO2 is now being delivered to 

Whitecap Resources in western Canada for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

NOVEMBER 2018

Director Appointed to DOE’s NETL.

Steven Winberg, DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, appointed Brian 

J. Anderson, Ph.D. as the new director of DOE’s NETL. Dr. Anderson previously 

served as director of West Virginia University’s (WVU) Energy Institute. As part 

of the move, NETL’s Acting Director, Sean Plasynski, Ph.D., will transition into 

his new role as NETL’s Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer. 

DOE Announces Intent to Fund R&D 

to Advance Coal Technologies.

DOE’s FE announced its intent to fund competitive research and development 

(R&D) that will advance first-of-a-kind coal generation technologies. The 

effort, referred to as the Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small, 

Transformative) Initiative, will look to develop the coal plant of the future while 

also reducing emissions.

DOE Invests to Develop Products from CO2.

DOE’s FE selected 17 projects to receive federal funding for cost-shared R&D 

to develop technologies to generate novel, marketable products using CO2 or 

coal as a feedstock. The projects are supported through DE-FOA-0001849, 

titled “Novel Methods for Making Products from Carbon Dioxide or Coal.”

US Cities Awarded Resources, Technical Support 

to Reduce Carbon Emissions.

Four U.S. cities (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, D.C.) were 

selected to receive resources and technical support from The Bloomberg 

American Cities Climate Challenge. Under the program, which is part of 

Bloomberg’s American Cities Initiative, the four cities will be accepted into a 

two-year acceleration program that will provide them with resources to help 

meet or beat their near-term carbon-reduction goals. A total of 20 U.S. cities 

will be awarded under the program.

IPCC Releases Report.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special 

report and Summary for Policy Makers on the impacts of potential climate 

change. A total of 91 authors and editors from 40 countries prepared the 

report, which was developed in response to an invitation from the United 

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

New Report on CO2 Utilization Technologies.

A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 

Medicine identifies R&D to improve the commercial viability of carbon 

utilization technologies. The report offers an agenda for research to advance 

these technologies, including R&D to improve utilization methods. The report, 

titled “Gaseous Carbon Waste Streams Utilization,” was sponsored by DOE. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

45

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 ANNOUNCEMENTS

DECEMBER 2018

DOE Issues NOI for Carbon Storage FOA.

DOE issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to provide federal funding for innovative 

research and development (R&D) projects that develop transformational 

sensing capabilities to reduce uncertainty and enable real-time decisionmaking for subsurface carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. The Funding Opportunity 

Announcement (FOA), “Transformational Sensing Capabilities for Monitoring 

the Subsurface,” will be issued in the second quarter of fiscal year 2019.

Conference Discusses Reducing CO2 Emissions.

An international group of researchers and policymakers met in Australia to 

discuss global CO2 emissions. Topics discussed included boosting the carbon 

stores of soils, carbon storage in coastal wetlands, and the potential of 

bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

European Commission Strategy Paper on CCS.

The European Commission released a strategy paper detailing the role of 

carbon capture and storage (CCS) in emissions reduction. According to the 

Commission, CCS will be needed for the European Union (EU) to achieve its 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goal by 2050.

ADNOC to Expand its CCUS for EOR.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced plans to expand 

carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) operations and boost enhanced 

oil recovery (EOR) from reservoirs. The CO2 will be captured from either the 

Habshan-Bab gas processing facilities or the Shah gas plant (both located in 

the United Arab Emirates [UAE]).

Large-Scale CCS Facilities Added to Database.

New large-scale CCS facilities have been added to the Global CCS Institute’s 

CCS database. According to the database, there are now 18 large-scale CCS 

facilities in operation, as well as 5 under construction globally. Combined, 

these facilities have the potential to remove 40 million metric tons of CO2 per 

year from the atmosphere.

RGGI Releases Secondary Market Report.

The independent market monitor for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative 

(RGGI) released a report containing information on the secondary market for 

RGGI CO2 allowances, including future prices, market activity, and allowance 

holdings. Potomac Economics’ “Report on the Secondary Market for RGGI 

CO2 Allowances: Third Quarter 2018” addresses the period from July through 

September 2018. 

JANUARY 2019

DOE Issues NOI for Crosscutting Technologies.

NETL issued an NOI for an FOA for cost-shared R&D projects to enhance the 

performance and economics of the existing and future coal fleet. The objective 

of the FOA is to competitively solicit and award R&D projects to develop 

innovative technologies that can improve operational performance, reduce 

costs at existing coal power plants, and enhance future facilities. “Crosscutting 

Research for Coal-Fueled Power Plants” is expected to be available in FY 2019.

NARUC Publishes Study of CCUS Technology and Policy.

NETL contributed to a report from the National Association of Regulatory Utility 

Commissioners (NARUC) that examines the state of national carbon issues. The 

report, titled “Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage: Technology and Policy 

Status and Opportunities,” assists state regulators in their understanding of 

current carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) policy and technology. 

Developed by NARUC’s Center for Partnerships and Innovation, the report is 

part of the NARUC/DOE Carbon Capture, Storage, and Utilization Partnership.

NASA Instrument Maps Carbon Storage in 3D.

Led by the University of Maryland in collaboration with the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration’s (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center, the Global 

Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) telescope will provide a threedimensional map of forest canopies and carbon storage. The instrument is 

capable of revealing the makeup of remote forest ecosystems around the 

world.

Award Launched for Best CO2 Utilization.

Innovative technologies and products in the carbon capture and utilization area 

will be eligible to win a new award for “Best CO2 Utilization.” The award will 

allow innovators to market their CO2 capture or conversion technology, CO2-

based material, or a corresponding product launched to the market in 2018 or 

2019. The award will be presented at the “7th Conference on Carbon Dioxide 

as Feedstock for Fuels, Chemistry, and Polymers,” which will take place March 

20-21, 2019, in Cologne, Germany.

Report on CCS Released.

The Global CCS Institute released a report, titled “Global Status of CCS: 2018,” 

at the United Nation’s (UN) 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) in Katowice, 

Poland. The report depicts the importance of deploying carbon capture and 

storage (CCS) technologies. 

CCUS Lessons-Learned Workshop Held.

Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) held a CCUS lessons-learned workshop 

in Calgary, Canada. Technology developers, industry insiders, investors, 

government employees, and regulatory officials attended the workshop, at 

which topics covered included the business case for carbon capture and use, 

the market potential of current and future technologies, knowledge sharing of 

the operation of commercial facilities, and implementing CCUS projects.

FEBRUARY 2019

DOE Issues Notice of Intent.

DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) issued an NOI for an FOA with the objective 

of competitively soliciting and awarding R&D projects for front-end engineering 

and design (FEED) studies to retrofit a domestic coal-fired power plant and for 

a coal or natural gas plant that generates CO2 suitable for utilization or storage. 

The FOA, titled “Front-End Engineering and Design Studies for Carbon Capture 

Systems on Coal and Natural Gas Power Plants,” will support FE’s Carbon 

Capture Program. 

DOE Announces Federal Funding.

DOE’s FE announced federal funding for cost-shared R&D under an FOA, titled 

“Maximizing the Coal Value Chain,” to develop innovative uses of domestic coal 

to create new market opportunities. These projects will support FE’s Advanced 

Energy System Program. DOE also made available federal funding for costshared R&D projects, under the FOA “Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and 

Flexibility of Existing Coal-Based Power Plants,” that will enhance technologies 

that improve overall performance, reliability, and flexibility of the nation’s 

existing coal-fired power plant. Projects will support DOE’s Transformative 

Power Generation Program and Crosscutting Research Program.

Nordic Countries Commit to Further Develop CCS.

Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland signed a declaration 

committing to work towards carbon neutrality, including further developing and 

deploying carbon capture and storage (CCS) and bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) 

technologies. In the “Declaration on Nordic Carbon Neutrality,” the countries 

also agreed to enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), 

which represent a country’s efforts to reduce national emissions.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

46

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 ANNOUNCEMENTS

“Ideal” CCS Transport Site Named.

A report has named Peterhead Port as the “ideal” hub across the United 

Kingdom (UK) to facilitate CCS in the north of Scotland. The Acorn CCS 

project study highlighted 16 UK plots deemed “suitable” for CCS, singling out 

Peterhead’s deepwater water port as the key location for the transfer of 15 

million metric tons of CO2 due to its proximity to existing North Sea pipelines 

and infrastructure.

Company Commits to Reduce CO2 Emissions, Achieve Net Zero by 

2050.

Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE), announced its commitment to reduce its 

CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions by 2030, achieving net-zero CO2e emissions 

by 2050. BHGE also launched a Carbon Management Practice that offers 

quantitative assessment of carbon intensity, evaluation of carbon solutions, 

and the accreditation of emission reductions.

MARCH 2019

NETL Director Delivers Lecture.

NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., gave an in-depth description of NETL’s 

fossil energy research priorities, activities, and capabilities at the 2019 

Carnegie Mellon University Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation 

Distinguished Lecture Series in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). Highlighted 

NETL fossil energy priorities included reducing the cost of carbon capture, 

utilization, and storage (CCUS).

DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program 

Accepting Applications.

DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program is 

now accepting applications for the 2019 Solicitation. The SCSGR Program 

provides supplemental awards to U.S. graduate students to pursue part of 

their graduate thesis research at a DOE laboratory/facility. Priority Research 

Areas for 2019 Solicitation 1 include Biological and Environmental Research 

(BER), which contains improving carbon storage capabilities. Applications are 

due May 9, 2019.

CO2 Storage ISO Standard Published.

The first edition of an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 

standard that applies to quantifying and documenting the total carbon 

dioxide (CO2) stored in association with CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) was 

published. Members of NETL’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership 

Initiative participated in the ISO working group that drafted ISO-27916, which 

is titled “Carbon dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage – 

Carbon dioxide storage using enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR).” 

RGGI States Submit Comments on Re-Proposed Virginia Regulation.

The U.S. states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) 

submitted comments to Virginia regarding the state’s re-proposed regulation 

with the existing RGGI 2017 Model Rule. 

RGGI Releases Two Reports.

The independent market monitor for RGGI released a report containing 

information on the secondary market for RGGI CO2 allowances, including future 

prices, market activity, and allowance holdings. Potomac Economics’ “Report 

on the Secondary Market for RGGI CO2 Allowances: Fourth Quarter 2018” 

addresses the period from October through December 2018. In addition, RGGI 

also made available the “2018 Interim Compliance Summary Report,” which 

contains data regarding CO2 allowances provided by CO2 budget sources to 

meet their 2018 interim control period compliance obligation. RGGI’s fourth 

three-year control period took effect on January 1, 2018, and extends through 

December 31, 2020.

Advisory Council Updates Analysis on CCS Policy.

The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council released a statement

updating their previous analysis on the role of bioenergy with carbon capture 

and storage (BECCS). The new analysis factors in recent peer-reviewed papers 

and international reviews.

APRIL 2019

DOE/NETL Announces Funding Opportunity.

DOE/NETL announced a funding opportunity to develop and validate innovative 

transformational sensor systems. Research and Design will need to improve 

the ability to characterize and predict movement of fluids in the subsurface, 

and will include field-laboratory validation of the proposed component sensor 

system. Concept Papers for FOA 1998 are due on May 8, 2019, and full 

applications are due on June 21, 2019 (Concept Paper submission is required 

for applicants to be permitted to submit a full application).

DOE/NETL Studies Focus on Geologic Storage of CO2. 

DOE/NETL developed three studies that evaluated industrial analogs to CO2

geologic storage. The three analogs studied (underground natural gas storage, 

deep well waste disposal, and CO2 enhanced oil recovery [EOR]) were selected 

because of their commonalities with CO2 geologic storage. The studies aim 

to draw insights and lessons learned from the history of other commercially 

prominent analogous industries and to help address technical and policyrelated questions concerning captured CO2 geologic storage moving forward.

DOE Issues Request for Information.

DOE’s FE and NETL issued a Request for Information (RFI) for strategies 

for improving or creating emission-reduction or utilization technologies for 

hazardous substances resulting from coal combustion. FE funds research, 

development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects to reduce the risk and cost of 

advanced carbon technologies and further the sustainable use of the nation’s 

fossil resources. 

USGS Conducts Review of Carbon Mineralization.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published a review of potential carbon 

storage in igneous and metamorphic rocks through carbon mineralization. The 

report, titled “Carbon Dioxide Mineralization Feasibility in the United States,” 

explores the feasibility of CO2 storage through carbon mineralization, which is 

the process by which CO2 becomes a solid mineral.

Grants Awarded to Enhance Carbon Storage.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (USA) announced 

grants to 16 projects that promote healthy forests to help enhance carbon 

storage. 

Workshop Explores Potential for Carbon Storage Economy.

Cornell University’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (USA) hosted a 

workshop to outline a research agenda to support a carbon storage economy. 

The workshop, which drew participants from academia, non-governmental 

organizations, businesses, and government, emphasized the human and 

societal dimensions of CO2 removal.

CCUS Investments Day.

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) is holding a CCUS investment day in 

Chicago, Illinois (USA), in September 2019. OGCI member companies, selected 

financial firms, business partners, and policy makers will be in attendance to 

hear presentations seeking investment for commercial projects that result in 

the utilization or storage of CO2, or technologies that can lower the cost of CO2

capture or create products that utilize CO2. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

47

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 ANNOUNCEMENTS

CCUS Advisory Group Launched.

A government- and industry-backed CCUS advisory group was launched in the 

United Kingdom (U.K.). In addition to providing advice on potential incentives 

and regulations for the CCUS market in Britain, the group will also advise on 

potential challenges of the technology and support the review of delivery and 

investment framework.

MAY 2019

DOE/NETL’s Carbon Capture, Utilization, Storage, and Oil and Natural 

Gas Programs Annual Meeting.

Registration is currently open for DOE/NETL’s “Addressing the Nation’s Energy 

Needs Through Technology Innovation – 2019 Carbon Capture, Utilization, 

Storage, and Oil and Gas Technologies Integrated Review Meeting,” to be 

held August 26–30, 2019, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

DOE Announces Funding to Accelerate CCUS.

DOE announced federal funding for cooperative agreements that will help 

accelerate the deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). 

Through this FOA, DOE will seek to award cooperative agreements to R&D 

projects that will help identify and address regional storage and transport 

challenges. Specifically, this FOA will seek to preserve, share, and advance 

existing R&D by addressing key technical challenges; facilitating data 

collection, sharing, and analysis; evaluating regional infrastructure; and 

promoting regional technology transfer. The selected projects will support FE’s 

Carbon Storage Program. 

DOE Selects Carbon Storage Project for Funding.

The associated geologic storage project was selected under the FOA 

“Developing Technologies for Advancement of Associated Geologic Storage for 

Basinal Geo-Laboratories.” Supported by the FE Carbon Storage Program and 

managed by NETL, the University of Wyoming project aims to establish the 

technical and economic viability of associated CO2 storage and oil recovery 

in the greenfield residual oil zones of the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and 

Montana (USA). 

DOE Announces Investments in Coal FIRST.

DOE announced investments to help develop coal plants of the future that 

will provide secure, stable, and reliable power with near-zero emissions. DOE 

FE issued a Notice of Intent for an FOA, titled “Critical Components for Coal 

FIRST Power Plants of the Future,” that will make federal funding available for 

cost-shared R&D projects that focus on developing components required by 

Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small, and Transformative) systems. 

RGGI Releases Notice and Materials for Auction 44.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) 

released the Auction Notice and application materials for the 44th quarterly 

CO2 allowance auction scheduled for June 5, 2019. The Auction Notice for CO2

Allowance Auction 44 provides the information needed to submit a Qualification 

Application for Auction 44 in which the RGGI states will offer 13,221,453 CO2

allowances for sale at a minimum reserve price of $2.26. A 10 million CO2

allowance cost containment reserve (CCR) will also be made available. (The 

CCR will be accessed if the interim clearing price exceeds the CCR trigger 

price of $10.51.) 

2018 RGGI Market Monitoring Report Available.

Potomac Economics, the independent market monitor for the RGGI CO2

allowance market, released the Annual Report on the Market for RGGI 

CO2 Allowances: 2018. The report evaluates market activity for RGGI CO2

allowances, focusing on allowance prices, trading and acquisition of allowances 

in the auctions and secondary market, participation in the market by individual 

firms, and market monitoring. 

Status Report on Role of CCS Technologies.

The International Energy Agency released the 2018 “Global Energy & CO2

Status Report.” The second annual online report provides an overview of recent 

global trends and developments in energy and CO2 emissions in 2018.

New Zealand Releases GHG Inventory Report.

New Zealand’s GHG Inventory report represents an annual estimate of 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals that occurred in New Zealand 

from 1990 through 2017. The inventory also contains emissions trends and 

methodologies used for estimating emissions and removals.

Europe Relaunches CCUS Knowledge Exchange Network.

The European Commission announced funding for a knowledge-sharing 

network to develop CCUS projects throughout Europe. The European CCUS 

Projects Network will connect industry partners involved in current CCUS 

projects and provide them with opportunities for knowledge sharing, best 

practices, and guidance on increasing public awareness and acceptance of 

CCUS technologies. 

JUNE 2019

EU Plans Satellite Fleet to Monitor CO2.

The European Space Agency announced plans to launch a fleet of satellites to 

create a global observation system capable of monitoring carbon dioxide (CO2) 

emissions. The fleet is expected to launch in 2025, and the data will be used to 

inform the United Nation’s global stocktake of GHGs three years later.

New International System for Classifying CO2 Storage Resources.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers adopted and approved the CO2 Storage 

Resources Management System (SRMS), which uses common terminology, 

instinctive criteria, and clear definitions to classify storage resources. The full 

guidelines of the CO2 SRMS are scheduled for publication later this year. 

Energy Companies Sign MOU to Explore CCUS.

Drax Group, Equinor, and National Grid Ventures signed a Memorandum of 

Understanding (MOU) that includes collaboration on the potential construction 

of a large-scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) network in 

the United Kingdom (U.K.) Humber region in the mid-2020s. In addition, work 

under the MOU will explore the opportunity to scale-up the bioenergy CCS 

pilot project at the Drax Power Station. 

CCS Facility Back Online After Scheduled Maintenance.

Unit 3 of the CCS facility at the Boundary Dam Power Station (located near 

Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada) is back online after a scheduled two-month 

shutdown. In addition to calibration testing of the sensors, the boilers were 

inspected and work on auxiliary equipment was performed. 

Report Studies Role of CCUS in California.

The Energy Futures Initiative published the findings of a study that assessed 

the impact of CCUS on California’s (USA) economy. The study, titled “Optionality, 

Flexibility, & Innovation: Pathways for Deep Decarbonization in California,” 

identified policies and technologies that currently contribute to the state’s 

ability to meet its low-carbon energy goals. 

JULY 2019

NETL Participates in Conference on Coal Technologies.

NETL participated in the 2019 Clearwater Clean Energy Conference, which 

provided an overview of emerging, evolving, innovative technologies, fuels, 

and/or equipment in the power generation industry. The agenda included an 

NETL-led technical session focused on carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, storage, 

and reuse.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

48

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 ANNOUNCEMENTS

NETL Infographics Highlight Carbon Capture Work.

NETL is releasing a series of eight infographics that explain the structure of its 

Carbon Capture Program, illustrating its impact and highlighting achievements 

and notable projects. Infographics that have been released to date are currently 

available online, with the rest scheduled for release at a later date. 

World Bank Releases Report on Carbon Pricing.

The World Bank released the annual “State and Trends of Carbon Pricing” 

report, which presents the latest worldwide developments regarding carbon 

pricing. According to the report, 57 carbon pricing initiatives have been 

implemented or are scheduled for implementation globally (up from 51 in April 

2018).

EERC Established as Energy Research Center of North Dakota.

The North Dakota State House of Representatives approved a bill to establish 

the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota 

(EERC) as the state’s energy research center. The Energy Research Center of 

North Dakota will focus on areas related to the state’s energy industry as well 

as pipeline safety and increasing oil recovery.

Personal CO2 Subscription Service Launched.

Climeworks launched a new program allowing individuals to purchase a CO2

removal service to offset their emissions. Once captured, the CO2 is stored 

underground in Iceland via Climeworks’ CarbFix process. 

Workshop Discusses CCS.

Representatives from industry, government, academia, and the private sector 

convened at the Global CCS Institute’s workshop at the Innovate4Climate 

Conference to discuss CCS technologies. Held in Singapore in June 2019, 

the workshop covered topics such as the significance of CCS as an emissions 

reduction technology; the cost of CCS technology; and opportunities for carbon 

capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies present for the South East 

Asia region.

Study Launched on Decarbonizing Europe.

Industry, regional experts, academics, and European Union (EU) officials held 

a public meeting of the research study group “Infrastructure needs of an 

EU industrial transformation towards deep decarbonization.” The workshop 

highlighted the potential of individual regions specializing more in CCS.

AUGUST 2019

DOE Director Testifies Before US Senate Energy and Natural Resources 

Committee.

NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., appeared before the U.S. Senate 

Energy and Natural Resources Committee to discuss how NETL effectively 

develops innovative energy technologies that promote economic growth and 

competitiveness. To highlight the technology advances, the Director submitted 

NETL’s 2018 Science and Technology Accomplishments publication for the 

hearing record. An archived webcast of the hearing is available online.

Report Summarizes Subsurface Workshop.

A team led by NETL and Carnegie Mellon University’s Wilton E. Scott Institute 

for Energy Innovation released a report summarizing the “Real-Time DecisionMaking for the Subsurface” workshop held in July 2018 in Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania, USA. The two-day workshop was attended by technical experts 

from DOE, industry, universities, and national laboratories discussing the 

current state of technology capable of enabling autonomous monitoring and 

subsurface control for unconventional oil and gas recovery and carbon storage.

Paper Looks to Inspire Strategies for Early-Stage CCS.

Pale Blue Dot Energy released a paper outlining research findings of its ACT 

Acorn carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in northeast Scotland. The 

paper, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, follows recent funding 

from the United Kingdom government’s carbon capture, utilization, and storage 

(CCUS) Innovation fund to carry out a detailed design and move the project 

closer to realization by 2023. The paper assesses Acorn’s publicly available 

outputs to identify strategies that could enhance the viability of early-stage 

CCS projects.

Partnership to Develop Business Case for CCUS.

Dutch energy transition firm DAREL and Carbon Clean Solutions are partnering 

to enable development of a value chain for cost-effective carbon management 

for large industrial emitters. The partnership will seek to develop a business 

case for CCUS for large-scale decarbonization.

UCSB Grant Program Funds Carbon Storage Study.

A program at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) awarded a grant for 

a carbon storage study project at its North Campus Open Space. The project 

will assess the potential of carbon storage and provide hands-on research 

experience in “carbon farming.”

Conference Notes Importance of CCS.

The Westminster Energy, Environment, and Transport Forum held a policy 

conference titled “The UK Gas Network: Infrastructure, Decarbonization and 

Energy Security.” During the event, leaders stated that large-scale CCS would 

be needed to reach net-zero goals.

Database to Monitor CO2 Emissions.

The World Input-Output Database, launched by the Joint Research Center, will 

monitor the industrial and energy use of residents in more than 40 countries, 

as well as their corresponding CO2 emissions, from 2000 through 2016. 

Primarily targeting policy makers and researchers, the database covers global 

energy consumption, efficiency, energy splits and trends, and CO2 emissions 

generated. 

SEPTEMBER 2019

DOE Invests in Large-Scale Fossil Fuel Pilot Projects.

DOE’s FE selected six projects to receive federal funding to support future 

design and construction of the next generation of coal-fired power plants that 

are flexible, resilient, economical, and emit near-zero emissions, including 

carbon dioxide (CO2). The projects were selected under Phase II of the “Fossil 

Fuel Large-Scale Pilots” Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), which was 

issued in August 2017 and includes three phases, with competitive downselections made between each phase. All of the selected projects will be 

managed by NETL. 

NETL Releases Additional Infographics Highlighting 

Carbon Capture Work.

NETL is releasing a series of eight infographics that explain the structure of its 

Carbon Capture Program, illustrating its impact and highlighting achievements 

and notable research and development (R&D) projects that are reducing 

costs to ensure the availability of clean, reliable, and affordable energy from 

America’s abundant domestic resources. Infographics that have been released 

to date are available on the NETL website. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

49

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2018 – September 2019 ANNOUNCEMENTS

DOE’s NCCC Welcomes New Member.

The French energy company Total has joined DOE’s National Carbon Capture 

Center (NCCC), becoming the second oil and gas producer to sponsor NCCC. 

According to NCCC, the addition of Total reflects the center’s focus on carbon 

capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) solutions for natural gas-based power 

generation. NCCC serves as a research facility to advance technologies that 

reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil-based power plants. 

Agreement Reached to Explore CCS.

ExxonMobil announced it would explore carbon capture and storage (CCS) for 

industrial uses at scale through an agreement with chemical and engineering 

firm Mosaic Materials. This announcement follows ExxonMobil announcing an 

agreement with DOE’s NETL and National Renewable Energy Laboratory to 

research and develop advanced lower-emissions technologies. 

Event Highlights Potential for Hydrogen Production with CCS.

An event at Federation University Australia, Gippsland Campus, highlighted the 

potential for hydrogen production with CCS in Australia’s Gippsland region. 

Hydrogen Forum: A pathway to environmental & regional prosperity – Where to 

for Gippsland? covered the pathways to hydrogen production, including those 

from fossil fuels with CCS.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2019

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

ABOUT DOE’S CARBON STORAGE 

PROGRAM

The Carbon Storage Program at the National Energy Technology Laboratory 

(NETL) is focused on developing and advancing technologies to enable safe, 

cost-effective, permanent geologic storage of CO2, both onshore and offshore, 

in different depositional environments. The technologies being developed will 

benefit both industrial and power sector facilities that will need to mitigate 

future CO2 emissions. The program also serves to increase the understanding 

of the effectiveness of advanced technologies in different geologic reservoirs 

appropriate for CO2 storage—including saline formations, oil reservoirs, 

natural gas reservoirs, unmineable coal, basalt formations, and organic-rich 

shale basins—and to improve the understanding of how CO2 behaves in the 

subsurface. These objectives are key to increasing confidence in safe, effective, 

and permanent geologic CO2 storage.

The Carbon Storage Program Overview webpage provides detailed information 

of the program’s structure, as well as links to the webpages that summarize 

the program’s key elements.

Carbon Storage Program Resources

Newsletters, program fact sheets, best practices manuals, roadmaps, 

educational resources, presentations, and more information related to 

the Carbon Storage Program is available on DOE’s Energy Data eXchange 

(EDX) website.

ABOUT NETL’S CARBON 

STORAGE NEWSLETTER

Compiled by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, this newsletter is 

a monthly summary of public and private sector carbon storage news from 

around the world. The article titles are links to the full text for those who would 

like to read more (note that all links were active at the time of publication).

Click here to manage your Carbon Storage Newsletter subscription options 

or to unsubscribe.

If you have questions, feedback, or suggestions for NETL’s Carbon Storage 

Newsletter, please contact Carbon Storage Newsletter Support.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), part of DOE’s national 

laboratory system, is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Energy 

(DOE). NETL supports DOE’s mission to advance the national, economic, and 

energy security of the United States. 

1450 Queen Avenue SW

Albany, OR 97321-2198

541-967-5892

3610 Collins Ferry Road

P.O. Box 880

Morgantown, WV 26507-0880

304-285-4764

626 Cochrans Mill Road

P.O. Box 10940

Pittsburgh, PA 15236-0940

412-386-4687

Program staff are also located in 

Houston, Texas and Anchorage, Alaska.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: 1-800-553-7681

www.netl.doe.gov

Contact

Traci Rodosta

304-285-1345

traci.rodosta@netl.doe.gov

Disclaimer

This Newsletter was prepared under contract for the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. 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 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 reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

Get Social with Us

There are several ways to join the conversation 

and connect with NETL’s Carbon Storage Program:

Parallel, vertical, orthogonal natural fracture faces (joint sets) 

in an outcrop of organic-rich Millboro Shale (Marcellus equivalent), 

Clover Creek, VA. Photo by Dan Soeder, 2014.