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

NETL’S CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL INDEX

FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2018

October 2017 – September 2018
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

NETL’S CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

This Annual Index is a compilation of the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) monthly Carbon Storage Newsletters (CSN) published from October 2017 to September 2018. 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 Outdated information (e.g., conference dates, paper submittals, etc.)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

CLIMATE and SCIENCE NEWS..........................................................................................15

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

REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS ..........................................................................................39

ANNOUNCEMENTS..........................................................................................................45
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

3

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

October 2017 – September 2018 DOE/NETL HIGHLIGHTS

DOE/NETL HIGHLIGHTS

OCTOBER 2017

NRAP Commences Phase II Research Program.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Risk Assessment Partnership 

(NRAP) has entered Phase II of its research, in which researchers will consider how potential geologic carbon storage risks can be mitigated and how 

uncertainties in site performance can be reduced using strategic monitoring. 

Initiated in 2011, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)-led NRAP 

quantifies environmental risks at geologic carbon storage sites. Phase I resulted in accomplishments such as the first quantitative risk profiles for a full 

geologic carbon storage system, identification of key geologic storage reservoir 

risk relationships, and development of the NRAP Toolset. Phase II objectives include the development of advanced predictive models of geologic carbon storage system containment effectiveness/leakage response; development of a 

second-generation, open-source integrated assessment framework to quantify 

containment effectiveness/leakage response; development of improved tools 

and protocols to support advanced seismic hazard analysis and forecasting; 

development of tools to model monitoring and optimize design of monitoring networks for leak detection; and testing and validation of NRAP tools and 

methods using field data sets. From energy.gov on September 25, 2017.

NETL-Developed Software Toolset Recognized.

NETL’s NRAP Toolset has been selected as a finalist for R&D Magazine’s annual 

R&D 100 Awards, which recognize the top 100 technologies and services of the 

year. The Toolset software package includes 10 science-based computational 

tools that predict environmental risk performance of geologic carbon dioxide 

(CO2) storage sites. The Toolset supports industry and regulatory stakeholders 

in the design and implementation of safe and effective large-volume geologic 

CO2 storage sites, providing users with credible, science-based resources for 

evaluating, developing, and managing the geologic storage of CO2. In addition, 

the Toolset expedites selection and characterization of candidate storage sites, 

builds public and industry stakeholder confidence in predictive data regarding 

storage site performance, aids in the preparation and evaluation of permits, 

and helps decision makers address large-scale implementation of geologic 

carbon storage projects. From energy.gov on October 6, 2017.

NOVEMBER 2017

DOE/FE Selects Projects for Offshore Carbon Storage Resources 

and Technology Development.

Two projects have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 

Office of Fossil Energy (FE) to receive Federal funding to assess offshore geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) and technology development in the Gulf of 

Mexico. Selected as part of FE’s Carbon Storage Program, the National Energy 

Technology Laboratory (NETL)-managed projects will focus on assembling the 

knowledge base required for secure, long-term, large-scale CO2 storage and 

assessing technology-development needs, such as infrastructure, operational, 

and monitoring (the technology-development needs of offshore storage differ 

from those of onshore storage). From energy.gov on November 7, 2017. 

DOE Selects Two Projects to Ensure Safe Storage of CO2 

in Geologic Formations.

DOE/FE selected two projects to receive Federal funding for cost-shared research and development (R&D) for the safe storage of CO2 in geologic formations. The two projects are supported through Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001725, “Technology Development to Ensure 

Environmentally Sustainable CO2 Injection Operations,” which focuses on developing modeling and monitoring methods, technologies, and tools that help 

assess the position of CO2 plume over time within various geologic formations 

and sedimentary environments. The NETL-managed projects will support the 

Carbon Storage Program. More information on the selected projects is available on the FE website. From energy.gov on October 26, 2017.

DOE-Supported CCS Project Reaches Milestone.

An FE/NETL-supported large-scale CO2 capture and storage (CCS) system 

reached a milestone by capturing and transporting 4 million metric tons of 

CO2. Air Products and Chemicals designed, built, and is currently operating 

the CCS system at their hydrogen-production facility located at the Valero Port 

Arthur Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, USA. Utilizing a gas-separation technology 

called vacuum swing adsorption, the project captures more than 90 percent 

of the CO2 from the product streams of two commercial-scale steam methane 

reformers. In addition, the project is also helping to verify the effectiveness 

of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) for permanently storing CO2 by injecting it at 

the West Hastings Unit oil field in southwest Texas, USA. From energy.gov on 

October 11, 2017.

DECEMBER 2017

ASFE Leads Policy Group During CSLF Meeting.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy 

(ASFE) led the Policy Group meeting at the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Carbon 

Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 

(UAE), on December 5, 2017. The CSLF is an international initiative focused 

on the development of cost-effective carbon capture, utilization, and storage 

(CCUS) technologies. The CSLF, which holds a ministerial-level conference every two years, fosters international collaboration to address key challenges 

to CCUS technology development and deployment. The Policy Group, chaired 

by the United States, is responsible for addressing the legal, regulatory, and 

financial issues associated with CCUS technologies. More information on the 

Ministerial Meeting, as well as Policy Group documents, is available on the 

CSLF website. From energy.gov on December 6, 2017.

NETL Software Developers Win Award.

The National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) Toolset, developed by the 

Office of Fossil Energy’s (FE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) 

and in collaboration with other national laboratories, was recognized by R&D 

Magazine as one of the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace in the past year. The NRAP Toolset software package includes 10 science-based computational tools that predict environmental 

risk performance of geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage sites. Led by NETL, 

NRAP also includes expertise from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

(LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National 

Laboratory (LANL), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The 

computational tools in the NRAP Toolset support industry and provide technical 

insight to regulatory projects to store large volumes of CO2. A full list of the 

2017 award winners is available on the R&D 100 Conference website. From 

energy.gov on November 20, 2017.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 DOE/NETL HIGHLIGHTS

JANUARY 2018

DOE Swears in New Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy.

The new Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of 

Fossil Energy (FE) was officially sworn in by the Energy Secretary. The Assistant 

Secretary for Fossil Energy (ASFE) will oversee FE’s research and development 

(R&D) program; serve as a primary policy advisor for the Energy Secretary and 

DOE on issues involving U.S. fossil fuels; and supervise the more than 1,000 

scientists, engineers, technicians, and administrative members of the FE staff 

across the Nation. From NETL News Release on December 14, 2017.

APRIL 2018

NETL-Managed Project Stores One Million Tons of CO2.

The NETL-managed Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership 

(MRCSP) has safely and permanently stored one million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). MRCSP stored the CO2 into a series of depleted oil fields 

in northern Michigan, USA, for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations. The 

project developed novel approaches for monitoring CO2 in fields that were in 

different stages of their production life cycles. Techniques were then tested to 

track the CO2 and quantify the amount that is retained after the oil is removed. 

The data can be used to further optimize CO2 storage and energy production 

in other areas, and the work furthers the understanding of the subsurface by 

assessing potential storage capacity and validating computer models of the 

subsurface geology. From energy.gov on March 12, 2018.

JUNE 2018

DOE Launches CCUS Initiative.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) launched the Carbon Capture, Utilization, 

and Storage (CCUS) Initiative, which will focus on strengthening the framework 

for building collaborative partnerships on CCUS between the public and private 

sectors. The initiative will complement existing CCUS efforts led by the Carbon 

Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF), the International Energy Agency (IEA), 

the IEA’s Greenhouse Gas Research and Development (R&D) Programme (IEAGHG), Mission Innovation, and the Global CCS Institute. The announcement 

was made at the 9th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM9) in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

From energy.gov on May 24, 2018. 

DOE Releases CCUS Experts’ Workshop Report.

DOE’s FE and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) released a report of the 

Mission Innovation CCUS Experts’ Workshop, which discussed basic R&D 

needs in CO2 capture, CO2 utilization, geologic storage, and crosscutting CCUS 

topics. Hosted by the United States in conjunction with Saudi Arabia, the workshop brought together worldwide CCUS experts from academia and industry. 

The report, titled “Accelerating Breakthrough Innovation in Carbon Capture, 

Utilization, and Storage,” was released at the Mission Innovation CCUS Roundtable in Malmo, Sweden, where DOE officials took part in discussing the role 

of CCUS technologies in global decarbonization efforts. From energy.gov on 

May 23, 2018.

JULY 2018

DOE Selects Carbon Storage Projects to Receive Federal Funding.

Three projects have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 

Office of Fossil Energy (FE) to receive funding for cost-shared research and 

development (R&D) under Phase II of Funding Opportunity Announcement 

(FOA) DE-FOA-0001450, Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE): Storage Complex Feasibility. Projects selected under this FOA will 

determine the feasibility for commercial-scale storage complexes that can hold 

50+ million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide (CO2). The projects, to be 

managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), were selected 

as part of the Carbon Storage Program and will help inform the characterization and permitting of a commercial-scale complex with at least one storage 

site, ultimately demonstrating the potential for safe and secure storage in time 

for the anticipated deployment of transformative carbon capture technologies 

in the 2025 timeframe. From energy.gov on May 24, 2018.

AUGUST 2018

DOE Invests in Technologies that Assess Subsurface Stress for Carbon 

Storage.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has selected five projects to receive Federal funding for cost-shared research and 

development (R&D) through FE’s Carbon Storage Program. The projects, supported through Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001826 

“Developing Technologies to Advance the Understanding of State of Stress and 

Geomechanical Impacts within the Subsurface,” will provide tools for measuring, estimating, and understanding underground stress impacts that may 

occur in carbon storage activities. The National Energy Technology Laboratory 

(NETL)-managed projects were selected under two Areas of Interest (AOI): AOI 

1 – Tools and Methods for Determining Maximum Principal Stress in the Deep 

Subsurface, and AOI 2 – Methods for Understanding Impact of Vertical Pressure Migration Due to Injection on State of Subsurface Stress. From energy.

gov on July 25, 2018.

SEPTEMBER 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.

NETL Explores Subsurface Data to Ensure Safe Carbon Storage.

Researchers at DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are exploring rock pores to better understand the interaction between liquids and 

gas. The measurements collected are being used to expand scientific knowledge of the subsurface environment to ensure safe and effective carbon storage and enhanced resource recovery. NETL’s Reservoir Engineering Team is 

using SyGlass – imaging technology that enables 3D visualization and analysis 

of volumetric data at the submillimeter scale – to investigate how carbon dioxide (CO2) physically reacts with water within rock pores. From DOE/NETL News 

Release on August 15, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

OCTOBER 2017

CO2 Storage Partnership Signed.

A CO2 storage partnership has been signed to mature the development of 

carbon storage on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). Part of Norwegian 

efforts to develop full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Norway, the 

Statoil-led partnership involves partners Norske Shell and Total E&P Norge. 

The project will store CO2 captured from industrial facilities in Eastern Norway, 

transporting it by ship from the capture facilities to a receiving terminal located 

onshore on the west coast of Norway, where it will be transferred to storage 

tanks prior to being sent through pipeline for injection east of the Troll field on 

the NCS. The project’s objective is to stimulate development of CCS so the 

long-term targets in Norway and the European Union (EU) can be reached. 

From equinor.com on October 2, 2017.

Safe CO2 Storage Test Aids Top Research Project.

A new method that monitors the safe storage of industrial GHGs will be used 

at a Carbon Management Canada-operated CCS test site in Alberta, Canada. 

Developed by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, the method shows 

that the chemical fingerprint of CO2 captured from power plants remains 

recognizable after underground injection, enabling stored industrial CO2 to be 

distinguished from other sources of CO2 (e.g., groundwater, natural emissions 

from plants, bacteria). The method was verified by studying experimental storage sites in Australia and Canada in which the gas was sampled before and 

after injection, leading to researchers finding that the fingerprints remained 

identifiable. From The University of Edinburgh on September 20, 2017. 

EOR Research Partnership Formed.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and the Center of Integrated 

Petroleum Research (CIPR) at Bergen University, Norway, have agreed to a 

partnership to conduct applied research into enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. Under the agreement, Adnoc and CIPR will collaborate on research 

into a range of EOR applications while looking to reduce the risk of the different technologies and prepare for future full field expansion of the solutions 

that demonstrate the best deployment value. From Trade Arabia on October 

2, 2017.

Canadian Investment in Carbon Capture and Conversion.

The Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia have invested in a carbon capture and conversion testing facility. The new BC Research (BCRI) Technology Commercialization and Innovation Centre is home to 

the Carbon Capture and Conversion Institute (CCCI); together, BCRI and CCCI 

offer experts, pilot plant, and laboratory space for the development of technologies to reduce industrial GHGs. The funding is expected to help CCCI develop 

and scale-up CO2 capture and conversion technologies. From Carbon Capture 

and Conversion Institute (CCCI) on September 14, 2017. 

NOVEMBER 2017

Battelle Completes CO2 Storage Project.

A 15-year DOE/NETL-funded research project that tested geologic CO2 storage 

at a commercial-scale, coal-fired power plant has concluded. Battelle started 

the CCS research project at American Electric Power’s (AEP) Mountaineer Plant 

in New Haven, West Virginia, USA, in 2002. AEP decided in 2007 to proceed 

with a 20-MW pilot-test facility with onsite CO2 capture, compression, transport, and injection. From 2009 through 2011, CO2 was injected into two injection zones; this was followed by a post-injection monitoring and site-closeout 

phase, which ended in 2017. The project helped establish the technical viability of CCS to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from coal-fired power 

plants and to store CO2 in geologic layers with limited prior data. The collaboration has led to geologic, engineering, field implementation, and regulatory lessons learned, with regional and global impact for CCS technology development 

and new knowledge for DOE’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships 

(RCSPs). From Battelle News Release on October 26, 2017. 

Montana Pipeline Proposed to Transport CO2 for EOR.

Denbury Resources, Inc. is seeking to build a pipeline in eastern Montana, 

USA, that would transport CO2 for use in oil production along the North Dakota 

border. The proposed pipeline would begin near the Wyoming border and extend 110 miles to the Cedar Creek Anticline, an aging oil field with potential 

reserves of 260 to 290 million barrels of oil, according to Denbury officials. 

From Casper Star Tribune on October 9, 2017.

Partnership to Combine Carbon Capture, Storage in Pilot Plant.

In partnership with Reykjavik Energy, the Swiss company Climeworks will 

demonstrate a safe, economically viable, and highly scalable carbon removal 

technology. Part of the CarbFix2 project, which stores air-captured CO2 safely 

and permanently in basalt, the pilot plant centers around a geothermal power 

plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland, where CO2 is currently being injected and mineralized at an industrial scale. Climeworks has initiated the testing phase, during 

which the CO2 is captured from ambient air, bound to water, and sent underground where it reacts with the basalt to form solid minerals, creating a permanent storage solution. From Climeworks Press Release on October 12, 2017.

EOR Project in UK North Sea.

Chevron North Sea (CNSL) will proceed with Phase I of its Captain EOR project 

located in the UK North Sea. The first stage of the project involves the use 

of polymer technology to increase the overall recovery rate from the Captain 

heavy oil field, located on the edge of the outer Moray Firth. From Energy Business Review on October 23, 2017.

Underground CO2 Storage Test Facility Opens.

A new facility that will develop and demonstrate technologies for the safe underground storage of CO2 was officially opened in Alberta, Canada. Built by 

CMC Research Institute and operated by its Containment and Monitoring Institute, the Field Research Station (FRS) was developed with an investment by 

the Canadian government’s Western Economic Diversification Program and is 

supported by the University of Calgary. Monitoring technologies developed at 

the site will provide results that demonstrate methods for tracking the movement of CO2 underground and verifying safe and secure storage. From CMC 

Research Institutes News Release on October 24, 2017.

DECEMBER 2017

DOE Issues Grant for CO2 Storage.

DOE issued a grant to the University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic 

Geology to lead a regional partnership to explore the safe storage of CO2 in 

geologic formations under the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Coast Carbon Center 

(GCCC) will lead the partnership, whose mission is to develop a large storage 

capability and support economic growth. In addition, the program will focus on 

offshore storage resources geologic characterization; risk assessment, simulation, and modeling; monitoring, verification, and accounting; infrastructure, 

operations, and permitting assessment; and knowledge dissemination. From 

The University of Texas at Austin on December 4, 2017.

DOE-Funded Study to Determine Feasibility of Underground CO2

Storage.

Two exploratory wells are being drilled in central North Dakota, USA, to help 

researchers determine the feasibility of safely storing CO2 deep underground. 

The drilling is part of the DOE-funded CarbonSAFE project, led by the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center (UNDEERC). 

Researchers will investigate the geology more than one mile underground to 

determine its suitability for CO2 storage captured from coal-based energy facilities. The study will provide researchers with information to use in computer 

modeling. The DOE study is looking to determine the feasibility of injecting 2 

million tons of CO2 per year for 25 years. From WDAZ on December 1, 2017.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Contract for Onshore CO2 Storage Terminal.

KBR Inc. will perform the front-end engineering and design (FEED) on Statoil’s 

onshore CO2 storage terminal, called Northern Lights, in Norway. The project 

is a key component of the CCS demonstration project being undertaken by 

Gassnova, with Statoil, in partnership with Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA, 

responsible for transport and storage. In Phase I of the project, as much as 1.5 

million metric tons of CO2 will be captured per year from onshore industrial 

plants in eastern Norway, eventually transported to the onshore storage terminal. From Oil and Gas Journal on November 30, 2017.

States, Canadian Province Sign MOU on CCUS.

The states of Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota signed a Memorandum 

of Understanding (MOU) with the Canadian province of Saskatchewan to collaborate on CCUS research. According to a press release, the MOU calls for 

engagement of other related research groups within the states/province, prioritizes joint cooperative projects, and ensures a formal evaluation process of 

activities and accomplishments. From Gillette News Record on December 3, 

2017.

JANUARY 2018

CCS Project Begins Feasibility Study.

The Acorn CCS Project in North East Scotland has begun a feasibility study. The 

project will transport captured CO2 offshore, storing it underground in a deep 

saline formation. While the initial phase will focus on CO2 captured from the 

St. Fergus gas-processing unit, later phases will store CO2 from other sources. 

The feasibility study will demonstrate the commercial and regulatory aspects of 

CCS project development in the United Kingdom (UK). Researchers will develop 

a full-chain business case and economic model, as well as locate a North Sea 

geologic CO2 storage site for the project. From Carbon Capture Journal on 

December 7, 2017.

MHI to License Capture Technology Capable of CCS.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has agreed to license its flue gas carbon capture technology to a Swiss engineering company, Casale SA, which in turn will 

sublicense the technology license to a methanol producer, Metafrax. Casale SA 

will undertake the engineering, procurement, and construction management 

(EPCm) for Metafrax’s facility, which has the potential to recover 1,200 metric 

tons of CO2 per day. While Metafrax will use the CO2 to produce ammonia, urea, 

and melamine, MHI’s technology can also be used for CCS generated by thermal power plants and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). From Power Engineering 

International on December 27, 2017. 

MOU to Include CCUS Research.

Khalifa University of Science and Technology, located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab 

Emirates (UAE), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Tsinghua 

University in Beijing, China, to collaborate on a program to support transformative scientific research. As part of the agreement, the two universities will form 

a collaborative program that will include research in engineering fields, such 

as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The collaboration covers the 

exchange of materials in education, research, publications, and academic information, as well as visitation and exchange of faculty members, researchers, 

and students. From Masdar Institute News on December 18, 2017.

FEBRUARY 2018

UAE Company to Expand CCUS Technology.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced plans to expand its 

use of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology. The United 

Arab Emirates (UAE) company said it is expanding its use of the technology in 

order to meet an increase in CO2 utilization for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) 

over the next 10 years. Starting in 2021, ADNOC will increase CO2 utilization, 

expecting to reach 250 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) by 2027 

by capturing additional CO2 from its gas processing plants and injecting it into 

different onshore oil fields. To date, ADNOC has stored approximately 240,000 

metric tons of CO2. From Thomson Reuters Zawya on January 17, 2018.

Carbon Capture Testing at Facility for Advancement 

of CCS Technologies.

Cansolv Technologies will use SaskPower’s carbon capture test facility to explore new and existing capture technologies, from which the research gained 

will be used to inform future projects and the next generation of CCS technologies. Testing on new CCS technologies was completed at SaskPower’s carbon 

capture test facility in 2017; with SaskPower’s “plug-and-play” system, the 

tested technology has been removed and new equipment and chemistry will be 

added for testing. From Carbon Capture Journal on January 22, 2018. 

Carbon Fund Invests in Carbon Project.

Climate Trust Capital, a U.S.-based private investment fund, has invested in a 

carbon project in the biogas sector. Climate Trust Capital will invest more than 

$1 million in a covered lagoon digester that will, among other effects, produce 

carbon offsets under California’s (USA) cap-and-trade system. The investment 

comes from Climate Trust Capital’s Fund I, which focuses on investing in U.S.-

based carbon offset projects. From The Climate Trust Media Release (via PRWeb) on January 23, 2018.

MARCH 2018

Climeworks Establishes New Market Mechanism with Carbon Storage.

Climeworks has signed several contracts for its new Carbon Dioxide Removal 

solution. Using direct air capture (DAC), Climeworks can remove CO2 emissions 

from the atmosphere and store them underground via the CarbFix process in 

Iceland. Climeworks opened a commercial DAC plant in Hinwil, Switzerland, in 

May 2017, and, in October 2017, began participating in the CarbFix project 

in Iceland, where its DAC technology is capturing CO2 to be mineralized and 

stored underground. From Gasworld on February 15, 2018.

Latrobe Valley Plants Looking at CCS.

CO2CRC is conducting a pre-feasibility study with Latrobe Valley power generators (located in Victoria, Australia) to explore retrofitting CCS technology. 

According to officials from CO2CRC, CCS technology has the potential to prolong the life of Latrobe Valley coal-fired generators, create jobs, and reduce the 

region’s CO2 emissions. Current CO2CRC research is being used to inform the 

CarbonNet project at Golden Beach (Victoria, Australia), where seismic seabed 

testing is being conducted to determine potential commercial-scale storage 

sites. From Latrobe Valley Express on February 12, 2018.

APRIL 2018

DOE Funds Monitoring of Underground Carbon Storage.

DOE is funding a carbon storage monitoring project that will use a novel, real-time monitoring system to track the spread of CO2 underground. Researchers from Penn State University (PSU), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

(LBNL), and the University of Texas at Austin are partnering on the project, 

which will investigate underground storage in a reservoir, such as a saltwater 

aquifer or a mineral deposit, using real-time monitoring equipment that is installed during the construction of an injection well. From Penn State University 

on March 14, 2018.

Carbon Capture Utilization Demonstration Plant Opens in UK.

Econic Technologies has opened a carbon capture utilization plant in the United 

Kingdom (UK) to demonstrate the conversion of CO2 into plastics. The new 

demonstration plant, located in the North of England, will be able to produce 

samples of CO2-based polyols at lower, industrially relevant temperatures and 

pressures (previously, the creation of polyols from CO2 had been performed 

in plants at high pressures and temperatures). Econic Technologies’ catalysts 

allow manufacturers to reuse waste CO2 by incorporating it as a feedstock. 

From Carbon Capture Journal on March 1, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Organizations Collaborate to Advance CCUS.

Two Canadian and Chinese organizations have agreed to collaborate on the 

development of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies to 

reduce GHG emissions. CMC Research Institutes (CMCRI) and the Guangdong 

CCUS Centre in China will promote joint R&D, advance the commercialization 

of CCUS, support training and education through workshops and conferences, 

and encourage the development of joint projects at the Guangdong CCUS Centre and MCMRI’s Carbon Capture and Conversion Institute in Richmond, British 

Columbia, Canada. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed at 

the 2nd Canada-China CCUS Forum held by Natural Resources Canada. From 

JWN Energy on March 15, 2018.

CCS Study Initiated at Refinery.

Preem, a Swedish fuel company, has initiated a CCS study at their refinery in 

Lysekil, Sweden. The study is expected to be conducted in spring 2018 and 

will examine the possibility of building a demonstration plant that will capture 

CO2 at Preem’s refinery. The west coast geographical location of the refinery 

exhibits a connection to the Norwegian full-scale CCS project. The overall goal, 

according to Preem officials, is a full-scale CCS capture plant at the refinery, 

and then transport of the liquified CO2 by boat to the planned CCS hub on the 

Norwegian west coast for permanent storage in a formation below the seabed. 

From Carbon Capture Journal on March 1, 2018.

Australian Government Awards CO2 Storage Contract.

The Government of Victoria in Australia awarded a contract to AGR Australia to 

manage its CarbonNet Offshore Appraisal Well Drilling Program. In addition to 

being responsible for the well engineering, design, supervision, and execution, 

AGR Australia will also manage the health, safety, and regulatory aspects of 

the project. The CarbonNet project is investigating the potential for establishing a large-scale CCS network that would unite multiple CO2 projects in the 

Australian state’s Latrobe Valley, transporting the CO2, via pipeline, for injection 

into underground offshore storage sites in Gippsland (Victoria, Australia). From 

Offshore Technology on March 5, 2018.

MAY 2018

CCS Centerpiece for New Hydrogen Supply Chain.

According to the Global CCS Institute, CCS will be at the center of a new Australian-Japanese hydrogen supply chain. The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain 

(HESP) Project, a joint venture between Australian and Japanese industries and 

governments, will build a pilot plant to produce hydrogen from Latrobe Valley 

brown coal for export to Japan. If successful, the pilot plant is expected to lead 

to a commercial-size plant that will incorporate CCS. From Global CCS Institute 

Media Release on April 12, 2018.

CO2-EOR Project Commences.

Elk Petroleum Limited announced that its Grieve CO2-enhanced oil recovery 

(EOR) project has commenced oil production within start-up deadlines. According to independent engineers and reserve auditors, initial gross oil production is expected to be in the range of 1,100 to 1,200 barrels of oil per day 

(BOPD), with a projection to increase to approximately 2,100 BOPD, and the 

potential to achieve a peak gross production rate of more than 3,400 BOPD. 

From Elk Petroleum Limited Media Release on April 18, 2018. 

Japan CCS Site Shows Promise.

According to project developers, a CCS test site in Japan has the potential 

for reducing CO2 emissions from industries such as gas processing and cement and chemical production. The Tomakomai CCS test site, which stores 

the captured CO2 below the seabed off Hokkaido island, focuses on industrial applications. The site’s injection project, with a target of 300,000 metric tons of injected CO2, is scheduled to run until 2020. According to the 

site’s developers, 150,000 metric tons of CO2 have been injected to date. 

From Reuters on April 19, 2018.

CCS Plan for Vacated Gas Field.

The Kinsale gas fields located off the Cork coast in Ireland may be used as 

a site to store carbon, according to officials. In production since 1978, the 

gas reserves at the Kinsale gas fields are expected to deplete by 2020 or 

2021; Kinsale Energy is preparing a decommissioning plan for the fields for 

the Department of Communications, Climate Action, and Environment. State 

officials claim the empty gas fields have the potential to store CO2 released 

from existing natural gas-fired power stations in East Cork, southwest Ireland. 

From The Irish Examiner on April 19, 2018.

JUNE 2018

Norway Government Supports CO2 Capture, Transport, and Storage 

Demonstrations.

The Norwegian government announced funding for demonstration studies on 

how to capture, transport, and store CO2 from a cement factory in Brevik, 

Norway. The announcement was made with the publishing of the government’s 

assessment of plans for a full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project that would eventually result in CO2 captured at industrial sites 

in Norway and transported for storage under the North Sea. In addition to the 

CO2 transport and storage studies, the Norwegian government funding will also 

support engineering and design studies and up to two capture facilities. From 

Business Green on May 15, 2018. 

Drax Power Station to Lead BECCS Trial.

The Drax Group will lead a bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) trial at its north Yorkshire power station. Drax will store the carbon in a 

compressed form onsite, where it has the potential to be sold for industrial 

processes. From The Guardian on May 21, 2018.

Power Plant Reaches CCS Milestone.

NET Power, LLC, announced it has achieved a milestone in the large-scale development and deployment of CCS technologies at its supercritical CO2 (sCO2) 

demonstration power plant and test facility located in La Porte, Texas, USA. 

The milestone validates the fundamental operability and technical foundation 

of NET Power’s power system, and involves the integrated operation of the 

full NET Power process. In addition, the achievement confirms the operation 

at commercial-scale of Toshiba’s 50-MWth combustor. Following testing, the 

combustor will be integrated with the turbine and power will be generated. 

NET Power produces pipeline-ready CO2. From Global CCS Institute on May 

31, 2018. 

JULY 2018

Demonstration of Geologic Carbon Storage Verified.

A DOE-funded project successfully verified geologic CO2 storage, according 

to a joint announcement by WellDog, Virginia Tech, and Carbon GeoCycle. The 

test involves injecting more than 13,000 tons of CO2 into stacked unmineable 

coal seems for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in Buchanan County, Virginia, USA. 

The verification revealed that CO2, injected over the last two years, successfully 

flowed into all of the targeted coal seams. From Oil & Gas 360 on June 27, 

2018.

CO2-EOR Project Approved.

Denbury Resources announced the approval of a CO2-EOR project at Cedar 

Creek Anticline (CCA), a geologic feature that covers parts of Montana, North 

Dakota, and South Dakota (USA). The 125-mile-long CAA is estimated to hold 

up to 5 billion barrels of original oil in place. The project has the potential to 

recover more than 400 million barrels, with initial tertiary production expected 

by late 2021 or early 2022. Phase I of the project targets 30 million barrels 

of estimated recoverable oil in the Red River formation at East Lookout Butte 

and Cedar Hills South fields, and Phase II will target approximately 100 million 

barrels of recoverable oil in the Interlake, Stony Mountain, and Red River formations at Cabin Creek field. Future phases will be developed based on CO2

availability and other factors. From Denbury Press Release on June 18, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 PROJECT and BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Feasibility of CCUS Project to Be Studied. 

Occidental Petroleum Corporation and White Energy have agreed to evaluate 

the economic feasibility of a CCUS project that would capture CO2 at White 

Energy’s ethanol facilities in Hereford and Plainview, Texas, USA. The CO2 captured would then be transported to the Permian Basin, where Occidental Petroleum would use it for EOR operations. The engineering study is expected to 

last six months and will examine the costs of building a carbon capture facility. 

If deemed economically feasible, operations could begin as soon as 2021. The 

project would be designed to be eligible for 45Q tax credits and California’s 

(USA) Low-Carbon Fuel Standard CCS protocol. From Occidental Petroleum 

News Release on June 19, 2018.

Chevron’s CCS Project to Begin in 2018.

Chevron is expected to start a CCS project at the Gorgon liquified natural gas 

(LNG) facility in Australia in 2018. Australia approved the project on the condition that Chevron committed to storing 80 percent of the CO2 emitted from 

Gorgon over a five-year period. The LNG facility is located off the coast of 

Western Australia. From The Chemical Engineer on July 2, 2018.

AUGUST 2018

DOE and NPPD to Study Carbon Storage.

The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) has agreed to be part of a DOE 

Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) study that will look 

to safely, permanently, and economically store commercial-scale quantities of 

CO2. NPPD is currently working to complete a final report on a pre-feasibility 

study for a commercial-scale CO2 geologic storage complex, and on the integrated CO2 capture facility design for Gentleman Station Unit 2 (the design 

work is expected to be completed in 2019). DOE’s CarbonSAFE Initiative projects focus on the development of geologic storage sites for the storage of CO2

from industrial sources. From The News Tribune on July 20, 2018.

MOU to Develop Bio-Energy Combined with CCS.

Researchers, scientists, and experts from Indonesia and Austria signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a joint research project that will 

focus on bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Under the MOU, 

the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) will also develop scientific publications and provide academic staff for research participation in seminars and conferences. In 

addition, the MOU allows for the possibility of graduate student exchanges and 

sharing access to relevant databases. From OpenGovAsia on July 30, 2018.

New Oil and Gas Program to Seek Safe CO2 Storage Technologies.

The Oil & Gas Technology Centre announced the launch of the TechX Ventures Program, which combines science with engineering to create start-up 

companies with technologies that lead to a sustainable future in a low-carbon 

economy. A partnership with Deep Science Ventures, the program will seek to 

create new technologies that will allow the safe storage and conversion of CO2

to useful products. From The Oil & Gas Technology Centre on July 30, 2018.

SEPTEMBER 2018

DOE, India Partner on CCS.

DOE has partnered with an Indian firm to advance the adoption, use, and research of commercial-scale coal gasification and to develop carbon capture, 

utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies in India. As part of the agreement, 

DOE’s National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) will provide knowledge-sharing 

relevant to private and state enterprises in India. From India Post on September 

1, 2018.

DOE-Funded Project to Use Microbes to Convert CO2 to Natural Gas.

A DOE-funded, power-to-gas project is using microbes to convert CO2 directly 

into renewable natural gas. The research, which is being conducted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in collaboration with Southern 

California Gas Co. and Stanford University, will leverage previous research conducted by Stanford’s Spormann Laboratory, as well as advances in 3D printer 

carbon aerogel electrode materials made by LLNL. From Lawrence Livermore 

National Laboratory on August 6, 2018.

Agreement Reached on Alberta Carbon Trunk Line.

Enhance Energy and Wolf Carbon Solutions, Inc., announced a project development and coordination agreement related to the construction and operation of the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL). The ACTL pipeline will collect 

CO2 from industry and transport it to aging reservoirs throughout central 

and southern Alberta, Canada, for secure storage and enhanced oil recovery 

(EOR) projects. Under the agreement, Wolf Carbon Solutions will construct, 

own, and operate the CO2 capture and pipeline transportation assets, while 

Enhance will be the owner and operator of the CO2 utilization and storage 

portion of the ACTL project through its EOR operations. Initial CO2 flow rates 

are expected to start at 800 metric tons per day in the fourth quarter of 

2019 and increase to 4,400 metric tons of CO2 per day by the end of 2019. 

From Wolf Midstream News on August 2, 2018.

China Establishes Large-Scale CCS Facility.

China’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility in Jilin has been established 

as the 18th large-scale CCS facility in the world, reaching a storage capacity of 0.6 million metric tons of CO2 per year. Located in northeastern China, Jilin CCUS is capturing CO2 from a natural gas processing plant at the 

Changling gas field and transporting it by pipeline to onshore injection sites. 

From Gas World on August 13, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 LEGISLATION and POLICY

LEGISLATION and POLICY

OCTOBER 2017

EU Roadmap to Be Updated.

The European Commission is preparing an update of its low-carbon economy 

roadmap for 2050. According to officials, the European Commission will launch 

a public consultation with a view to updating its low-carbon economy roadmap 

in 2018. The 2050 low-carbon economy roadmap was originally published in 

2011 and laid the foundation for the EU’s energy policy, with the goal of at least 

80 percent reduction in the bloc’s emissions by mid-century. From EURACTIV.

com on September 21, 2017.

Research on Benefits of CCS in UK.

According to new research conducted by the Global CCS Institute, the deployment of CCS technology could have potential benefits to the East Coast of the 

United Kingdom. In addition to creating sustainable jobs, the study, titled “Clean 

Air – Clean Industry – Clean Growth: How carbon capture will boost the UK 

economy,” also finds that CCS technology deployed in the region could lead to 

the capture and storage of 1,500 million metric tons of CO2. From Global CCS 

Institute on October 5, 2017.

NOVEMBER 2017

New Standards for the Transport and Storage of CO2 Announced.

In cooperation with Standards Norway and Gassnova, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announced the launch of two international standards for the 

transport and storage of CO2. The transport standard stipulates the requirements related to the design, construction, and operation of pipelines; the storage standard contains requirements related to storage site selection, operation, and shutdown. The two CCS standards were researched and developed 

in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). From World Oil on 

November 1, 2017.

Singapore Government Seeks Public Consultation on Carbon Bill.

The Singapore government is conducting a second round of public consultation on a carbon tax as it releases a draft carbon pricing bill that sets out the 

overall carbon tax framework and obligations for GHG emitters. The tax would 

be a credits-based mechanism in which facilities buy carbon credits that correspond to their GHG emissions, surrendering the credits to the National Environment Agency (NEA). The consultation for the draft bill, which was launched 

online on October 31, 2017, will last until December 8, 2017. The proposed 

tax would be applied to companies that emit more than 25,000 metric tons 

of CO2-equivalent GHGs a year. From The Strait Times on October 31, 2017.

Canadian Province Announces Low-Carbon Tax Policy.

The Canadian province of Manitoba will introduce a carbon tax in 2018, government officials announced. The carbon tax of $19 per metric ton is half the 

amount mandated by the Canadian government, which agreed to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change in 2016. Under the 

framework, Canadian federal carbon levy rates will initially be set for the period 

of 2018 through 2022; the Manitoban rate of $19 per metric ton will rise after 

2018, and a full review of the carbon pricing plan will take place in 2022. From 

Tax-News on November 1, 2017.

DECEMBER 2017

U.S., Saudi Arabia Sign Carbon Management MOU.

Officials from DOE and Saudi Arabia signed an MOU to establish a framework 

for mutually beneficial cooperation in the area of clean fossil fuels and carbon 

management. Under the MOU, the United States and Saudi Arabia will exchange experts, engineers, and scientists; facilitate the transfer of technology; 

and encourage the organization of joint seminars and workshops, as well as 

visits by experts to facilities (e.g., research labs, institutes, industrial sites). 

Technical fields covered under the MOU include supercritical carbon dioxide 

(sCO2) and CCUS. From energy.gov on December 4, 2017.

Brazilian Low-Carbon Emissions Program Bill Passed.

The lower house of Brazil’s National Congress passed a bill to create a nationwide carbon credits program to drive the use of renewable fuels. Referred 

to as RenovaBio, the bill will create a carbon credit scheme to increase the 

value of biofuels. The bill, which is estimated to become law in 2018 according 

to the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), establishes goals for 

lowering carbon emissions by distributors and the use of carbon credits. From 

Platts on November 29, 2017.

JANUARY 2018

Virginia Carbon Emission Legislation Considered.

As part of a proposed legislative agenda, Virginia may place a cap on carbon 

emissions by joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The Virginia 

State Air Pollution Control Board had previously approved draft regulations in 

November 2017 to reduce carbon emissions from power plants and link the 

state to RGGI. The new legislation would enable the state to auction the allowances and invest the revenues in public-benefiting programs. From Utility Dive 

on January 10, 2018.

Washington State Proposes Carbon Tax.

In a “State of the State” address, Washington’s Governor detailed a proposal to 

reduce the state’s carbon footprint by implementing a carbon tax plan. Under 

the proposed plan, a tax starting at $20/ton of CO2 emissions (with adjustments 

for inflation) would be put in place in July 2019, generating approximately $1.5 

billion every two years. The revenue generated would be reinvested in a series 

of initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions and providing exemptions 

and credits for some businesses, agricultural operations, and low-income residents. From The Spokesman-Review on January 9, 2018.

European Parliament, Council Agree on Forestry GHG Reduction Law.

The European Parliament and Council informally agreed on plans to reduce 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase carbon absorption from forests 

as a way to offset potential climate change. Under the proposed law, European 

Union (EU) countries would have to ensure their CO2 emissions are offset by 

the CO2 absorption of forests, croplands, and grasslands. If the countries absorb more CO2 than they emit in the first five-year period (2021 to 2025), the 

credit can be used to help achieve goals for the second five-year period (2026 

to 2030). From European Parliament Press Release on December 14, 2017.

New Zealand Forms Zero Carbon Climate Act.

The government of New Zealand will start public consultation in May 2018 

to lay groundwork for a “Zero Carbon Act” and to establish an independent 

commission. In addition, an Interim Committee will be established while the 

commission is set up. New Zealand government officials anticipate the framework for a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 to be in place by the end of 

the New Zealand parliamentary term. From New Zealand Herald on December 

18, 2017.

FEBRUARY 2018

Oregon Unveils Carbon Legislation.

Oregon lawmakers are offering public review of a pair of bills designed to 

reduce GHG emissions. Currently labeled as Legislative Concept 44 (Senate 

version) and Legislative Concept 176 (House version), the “cap and invest” 

bills would establish limits on GHG emissions in Oregon, USA, requiring the 

purchase of allowances to cover output above the limit. The cap and available 

allowances would gradually be reduced in order to meet Oregon’s GHG emissions goals of 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2035, and 80 percent below 

1990 levels by 2050. From Oregon Live on January 9, 2017. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 LEGISLATION and POLICY

DNV GL Launches Certification Framework and Recommended 

Practice for CCS.

DNV GL has launched a framework for certifying geologic storage of CO2, as 

well as a recommended practice for the design and operation of CO2 pipelines. The certification framework, which enables verification and conformity 

with the new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard “ISO 

27914:2017 Carbon dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage – 

Geological storage,” represents international consensus on the requirements 

for the safe and effective storage of CO2 in geologic formations. The recommended practice provides guidance on safe and reliable design, construction, 

and operation of pipelines intended for large-scale transportation of CO2, 

and enables compliance with the requirements of the new ISO standard “ISO 

27913:2017 Carbon dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage 

— Pipeline transportation systems.” From DNV GL Press Release on January 

17, 2018.

Washington State House Committee Approves Low-Carbon 

Standards Bill.

A Washington state House committee approved a bill requiring fuel producers 

and importers to reduce GHG emissions. House Bill 2338, which will look to 

reduce CO2 emissions from the transportation sector, will now head to a fiscal 

committee. If passed, the bill would direct the state’s Department of Ecology 

to adopt a clean fuels program requiring fuel producers to reduce their carbon 

emissions 10 percent below 2017 levels by 2028. The program would begin in 

2020. From AP News on January 24, 2018.

State Lawmakers Form Alliance on Carbon Pricing.

State legislators from nine U.S. states announced the formation of a coalition 

focused on, among other areas, reducing CO2 emissions, ensuring policy proposals, and developing market-based solutions. The Carbon Costs Coalition, 

in which lawmakers from Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington have been 

meeting informally for two years, has been working with business leaders on 

implementing a carbon price. From National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL) Press Release on January 31, 2018.

CCS Bill Revived.

Legislation to boost CCS projects through the tax code has been introduced 

into the U.S. House of Representatives. According to the bill’s sponsors, H.R. 

4857 (“The CO2 Regulatory Certainty Act”) aligns with tax guidelines and U.S. 

regulations related to CCS. From E&E News on January 23, 2018.

MARCH 2018

Carbon Capture Bill Signed in to Law.

A bill to encourage technological innovation in carbon capture, utilization, and 

storage (CCUS), while also reducing CO2 emissions, has passed U.S. Congress 

and was signed in to law. The FUTURE Act, first introduced in July 2017, supports maintaining a place for existing resources, such as coal, in the Nation’s 

energy mix by encouraging the development and use of CCUS technologies 

and processes, while simultaneously spurring the adoption of low-carbon technologies to transform carbon emissions into useable products. In addition, the 

FUTURE Act extends and expands the 45Q tax credit to provide certainty to 

utilities and other industrial sources, and incentivizes the build-out of industrial 

carbon capture products that use CO2 and carbon monoxide (CO) for enhanced 

oil recovery (EOR) and carbon utilization. The bill also supports carbon capture 

technologies by increasing the “commence construction” window for carbon 

capture projects from five to seven years and the number of years to claim the 

credits from 10 to 12 years. From U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp Press Release

on February 9, 2018.

APRIL 2018

Bill Supporting CCUS Introduced.

Legislation to promote carbon utilization and direct air capture R&D has been 

introduced in Congress. The “Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative 

Technologies Act” (USE IT Act) supports Federal, state, and non-governmental 

collaboration in the development and construction of CCUS facilities and CO2

pipelines. The legislation would support carbon utilization and direct air capture research, clarify that CCUS projects and CO2 pipelines are eligible for the 

permitting review process, direct the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 

to establish guidance at CCUS facilities and CO2 pipelines, and establish task 

forces to update and improve guidance over time. From Daily Energy Insider 

on March 26, 2018. 

North Dakota Approved as Carbon Storage State.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted North Dakota (USA) 

primacy over Class VI injection of CO2 for long-term storage, making it the 

first state in the Nation to receive final EPA approval to regulate the geologic 

storage of CO2. North Dakota initiated preparations for primacy after the North 

Dakota legislature gave the Industrial Commission’s Oil and Gas Division regulatory authority over geologic carbon storage in 2009. Geologic storage of CO2

is regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Underground Injection Control 

Program and is classified as Class VI injection (also known as CCS). From 

Bakken.com on April 10, 2018.

MAY 2018

New Jersey Legislature Approves Zero-Emissions Credit Program.

New Jersey (USA) lawmakers approved two sets of companion bills, one of 

which creates a zero-emissions credit program. S2313 and A3724 would provide plants with financial credit for producing carbon-free electricity. Both the 

zero-emissions credit program bills and the clean energy set of bills (A3723 

and S2314) will advance to the New Jersey governor. From Daily Energy Insider 

on April 16, 2018.

California to Extend Low-Carbon Fuel Standard.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is looking to extend the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Program through 2030 and to reduce the carbon 

intensity of fuels sold within California (USA) by 20 percent. In addition, CARB 

is planning to add new methodology to encourage companies to deploy CCS 

technologies. From Scientific American on April 30, 2018.

Carbon Pricing Proposal Released.

The New York (USA) Independent Systems Operator (NYISO) released a 

Carbon Pricing Straw Proposal focused on aligning wholesale energy markets 

to reflect New York’s carbon-reduction goals. New York is looking to reduce CO2

emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The NYISO is the organization responsible 

for managing New York’s electric grid and its competitive wholesale electric 

marketplace. From Utility Dive on May 1, 2018.

JUNE 2018

CCUS Legislation Advanced by Senate Committee.

Legislation that will promote coordination among Federal, state, and private entities on CCUS facilities and CO2 pipelines was approved by the U.S. 

Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee. Under the Utilizing 

Signification Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USE IT) Act, the Clean 

Air Act would be amended to allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) to support carbon utilization. In addition, the measure would clarify that 

CCUS facilities and CO2 pipelines are eligible for expedited permitting review. 

From Daily Energy Insider on May 25, 2018. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

11

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

October 2017 – September 2018 LEGISLATION and POLICY

UK Commits Funding for CCS.

The United Kingdom (UK) government pledged funding for innovative CCUS 

technologies as part of an international challenge to invest in new ways of 

reducing the cost to make the technology commercially viable at scale. As part 

of the funding, a call for CCUS innovation will offer funding for projects up to 28 

months, and further funding will be provided under an R&D program made up 

of 10 European nations. From Energy Live News on May 23, 2018.

Committee to Examine CCUS.

A UK parliamentary committee will examine the government’s plans to reduce CO2 emissions and meet goals with CCUS technologies. The Business, 

Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee in the House of Commons will observe the UK government’s support for CCUS, inviting industry 

and other stakeholders to submit written opinions. CCUS was identified in 

the UK government’s “Clean Growth Strategy,” published in October 2017. 

From Out-Law on May 31, 2018.

JULY 2018

Massachusetts Senate Authorizes Carbon Pricing.

The Massachusetts State Senate (USA) passed a bill authorizing a carbon pricing program that approves revenue-neutral fees as a carbon pricing option. 

The bill will next be debated in the Massachusetts House and, if signed into 

law, would have a deadline for carbon pricing in the transportation sector by 

2020, commercial and industrial building and processes by the end of 2021, 

and residential buildings by the end of 2022. From U.S. State Senator Mike 

Barrett Press Release on June 14, 2018.

Netherlands Proposes Emissions Cut.

A draft law proposed in the Netherlands would set a 49 percent greenhouse 

gas (GHG) emission reduction target by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, and a 

95 percent reduction by 2050. Other features of the proposal include a carbon 

neutral electricity system, as well as the establishment of an annual day in 

which the Dutch Ministry of Energy and Climate will give a progress update on 

achieving targets. In addition, beginning in 2019, future Dutch governments 

would be required to present updated plans every five years. From Climate 

Change News on June 27, 2018. 

Zimbabwe Releases Climate Policies.

Zimbabwe released three policies designed to help meet its pledges to reduce 

CO2 emissions. The “Child Friendly Climate Policy” will educate the youth, and 

the “Climate Smart Agriculture Policy” will promote farming practices. In addition, the country’s first “National Climate Policy” will create legal structures to 

help businesses meet Zimbabwe’s emission-reduction targets. From Economic 

Times on June 26, 2018.

AUGUST 2018

Carbon Tax Bill Introduced.

A bill introduced by a member of the U.S. House of Representatives would 

create a tax on CO2 emissions while also limiting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate GHG emissions from stationary 

sources under the Clean Air Act. The legislation, referred to as the “MARKET 

CHOICE Act,” would establish a $24/metric ton tax on CO2-equivalent emissions beginning in 2020. The tax would rise at an annual rate of two percent 

above inflation or more if specific emissions reduction targets are not achieved. 

From S&P Global Platts on July 23, 2018.

UK to Require Companies to Report CO2 Emissions.

The British government announced plans to require companies to report energy use, CO2 emissions, and energy efficiency measures in their annual reports. 

The new framework will streamline reporting requirements while looking to 

improve energy efficiency by at least 20 percent by 2030. From Reuters on 

July 18, 2018.

Liverpool Bids to Become “Climate-Positive City.”

Liverpool Council (England, UK) announced a partnership with a blockchain 

non-profit to make Liverpool a “climate-positive city” by the end of 2020. As 

part of the deal, Poseidon Foundation will integrate its blockchain-powered 

platform into Liverpool city council’s day-to-day operations in an effort to help 

further reduce emissions impacts through offsetting. Liverpool city council is 

currently committed to cut its overall CO2 emissions by 40 percent by 2030 

against 1990 levels. From Business Green on July 20, 2018. 

SEPTEMBER 2018

Bill Promotes CCUS Technology.

A bill that promotes biogas and CCUS technologies to increase biogas production has been introduced into Congress. The Carbon Utilization Act of 2018

incentivizes the use of CCUS technologies for farmers, ranchers, biotech, and 

small businesses by broadening U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan 

guarantees, rural development loans, and research programs to include CCUS 

technologies. In addition, the bill promotes collaboration between government 

agencies and creates education programs that highlight carbon capture technology. From Biomass Magazine on August 6, 2018.

Scottish Government Sets 2050 Carbon Target.

The Scottish government unveiled a new proposal to reduce emissions by at 

least 90 percent by 2050. The Zero Greenhouse Gas Plan is a 10 percent increase over current legislation; while it matches the Government’s first interim 

target of a 56 percent reduction by 2020, the interim goal of 77 percent by 

2030 differs from the government’s 66 percent reduction target. From The 

Daily Record on August 13, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

12

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

October 2017 – September 2018 EMISSIONS TRADING

EMISSIONS TRADING

OCTOBER 2017

California and Québec Joint Cap-and-Trade Auction Notice.

The California and Québec governments released the Auction Notice for their 

13th joint auction of GHG allowances, to be held in November 2017. The November 2017 Joint Auction #13 will make 79,548,286 CO2 allowances available for sale in the Current Auction, which is the auction of allowances from 

the current and previous budget years. In addition, 9,723,500 CO2 allowances 

will be made available for sale in the Advance Auction, which is the auction of 

future vintage allowances. From The Ministry of Sustainable Development, the 

Environment, and the Fight Against Climate Change Auction Notice on September 15, 2017.

France and Germany Seek Agreement on EU Carbon Market Reform.

The French and German governments will work together to reinforce carbon 

pricing in the European electricity sector, France’s ecology ministry announced. 

In addition, the governments will seek an agreement on the EU’s Emissions 

Trading System (ETS) carbon market by November 2017. From Reuters on 

September 4, 2017. 

RGGI Report: Investments Generating Consumer Benefits.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) released a report that tracks the investment of proceeds generated in 2015 by 

RGGI’s regional CO2 allowance auctions. According to the report, which provides state-specific highlights, in 2015 more than $410 million in RGGI proceeds were invested in programs such as energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy, GHG abatement, and direct bill assistance. For more information 

on both 2015 and cumulative investments and benefits, refer to the report, 

titled “The Investment of RGGI Proceeds in 2015.” From RGGI News Release 

on October 3, 2017.

NOVEMBER 2017

RGGI to Hold 38th Quarterly CO2 Allowance Auction.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) released the Auction Notice and application materials for their 38th quarterly 

CO2 allowance auction, to be held on December 6, 2017. As indicated in the 

Auction Notice, the states will offer 14,687,989 CO2 allowances for sale with 

a minimum reserve price of $2.15. In addition, there is also a 10 million CO2

allowance cost containment reserve (CCR) available, which will be accessed 

if the interim clearing price exceeds the CCR trigger price of $10.00. Auction 

38 will be the final quarterly auction in which states will offer CO2 allowances 

for purchase to meet CO2 compliance obligations for the third control period, 

which began on January 1, 2015. From RGGI News Release on October 10, 

2017.

DECEMBER 2017

Virginia Approves Carbon Cap-and-Trade Program.

Virginia state regulators granted preliminary approval to regulate carbon emissions from power plants through a state-wide carbon cap-and-trade program. 

Approved by the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board, the proposal would cap 

emissions from most power plants beginning in 2020, then require a 30 percent reduction over a decade. In addition, eligible carbon emitters would have 

to participate in the RGGI cap-and-trade program. From AP News on November 

17, 2017.

California and Québec Release Results of Cap-and-Trade Auction.

Officials from California, USA, and Québec, Canada, released the results of 

their 13th joint cap-and-trade auction of carbon allowances. According to the 

California Air Resources Board (CARB), all of the 79,548,286 allowances for 

current vintages (2016 and 2017) were sold at a settlement price of $15.06, 

and all of the 9,723,500 allowances for 2020 vintages were sold at a settlement price of $14.76. More detailed results of the auction, as well as maximum and minimum bids placed, are available on the CARB website. From 

California Air Resources Board on November 21, 2017.

JANUARY 2018

RGGI Releases Updated Model Rule.

The states participating in RGGI released an updated model rule, concluding 

the regional process of the RGGI Program review; these changes will next be 

brought into effect with state-specific processes. The RGGI states will propose 

statutory and/or regulatory revisions to their CO2 Budget Trading Programs 

consistent with the updated 2017 Model Rule, which also includes an additional 30 percent regional cap reduction between 2020 and 2030 (summarized 

in the Summary of Model Rule Updates). In addition, the RGGI states agreed 

to Principles to Accompany Model Rule Amendments that will guide the proposing of these revisions. From RGGI News Release on December 19, 2017.

China Outlines Details of Emissions Trading Scheme.

The Chinese government announced the details of its nationwide carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS). According to the Chinese State Council and the 

National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), trading will be based 

in Shanghai, China, and involve 1,700 power companies and more than 3 

billion metric tons of CO2 annually. Nine regions and cities (pilot schemes have 

taken place in seven of them) will coordinate to establish the market-oriented 

ETS system, which will help companies reduce emissions and carbon-intensified assets through the controlled allocation and trading of carbon emission 

allowances. From Reuters on December 19, 2017. 

FEBRUARY 2018

New Jersey Re-Joins RGGI..

The New Jersey Governor initiated the process of rejoining RGGI after the state 

had previously withdrawn from the cap-and-trade program in 2011. The next 

step is for the state’s legislature to pass legislation to implement the Governor’s 

order and devise a spending plan for the funds generated in RGGI’s trading 

auctions, which, to date, have generated $2.8 billion in proceeds to finance 

clean energy and energy efficiency projects. From Reuters on January 29, 

2018.

Mexico Launches Updated Carbon Market.

Mexico will launch a national carbon emissions trading system (ETS) in 2018 

in order to fund projects that help reduce emissions. According to Mexico’s 

Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, approximately 100 Mexican 

companies are currently participating in the California ETS to determine how 

carbon market prices would be set in Mexico. Once it becomes operational, the 

Mexican government will plan to link it with the markets in California, USA, and 

Québec, Canada. From Diálogo Chino on January 8, 2017.

UAE Proposes Emissions Trading.

The UAE’s Security and Commodities Authority (SCA) announced an initiative 

to launch CO2-focused emissions trading within the region. The initiative is part 

of an SCA-deliberated roadmap to ensure sustainable financial markets and 

comply with world standards. From Al Bawaba on January 29, 2018.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2017 – September 2018 EMISSIONS TRADING

MARCH 2018

Three-Way Joint Cap-and-Trade Auction Results Released.

California (USA), Québec, and Ontario (Canada) released the results of the first 

joint cap-and-trade auction of carbon allowances involving three jurisdictions. 

All of the 98,215,920 current (2016 and 2018) vintage CO2 allowances sold 

at a settlement price of $14.61, while 8,576,000 of the 12,427,950 advance 

(2021) vintage allowances sold at a settlement price of $14.53. More information on the auction is available online. From California Air Resources Board on 

February 28, 2018.

New Timeline Proposed for Oregon’s Cap-and-Trade Bill.

Oregon (USA) government officials proposed an amendment to a cap-andtrade bill. The Clean Energy Jobs Bill would cap Oregon’s greenhouse gas 

(GHG) emissions in 2021 and launch a trading system for emissions permits. 

The amendment would allow lawmakers to vote on the “cap” for GHG emissions this session, while moving a vote on the “trade” portion of the bill to 

2019. According to the amendment, if lawmakers do not approve a cap-andtrade program by the end of next year’s legislative session, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission will adopt one instead. From OPB News on 

February 20, 2018.

European Council Approves Carbon Market Reform.

Reforms to the cap-and-trade system with the European Union’s (EU) carbon 

market received final approval from the EU Council. The changes to the EU’s 

Emissions Trading System (ETS), which involve reducing the number of permits 

in circulation, seek to encourage industries to emit less carbon. The reform will 

strengthen prices by doubling the rate at which the scheme’s Market Stability 

Reserve (MSR) soaks up excess allowances in the short-term; a new mechanism to limit the validity of allowances in the MSR will be put in place in 2023. 

In addition, the overall cap on the total volume of emissions will be reduced 2.2 

percent each year. From Reuters on February 27, 2018.

APRIL 2018

RGGI States Announce Results of 39th Auction.

The RGGI-participating states released the results of their 39th auction of CO2

allowances, in which 13,553,767 CO2 allowances were sold at a clearing price 

of $3.79. Bids ranged from $2.20 to $5.80 per allowance at the auction. 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 39, the first 

auction of the fourth control period, generated $51.4 million for reinvestment 

in strategic programs, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and GHG 

abatement programs. To date, proceeds from all RGGI CO2 allowance auctions 

have generated $2.89 billion. From RGGI News Release on March 16, 2018.

Britain Announces ETS Plans.

According to Britain’s Energy Minister, the country intends to remain in Europe’s emission trading system (ETS) until at least the end of Phase III, which 

runs from 2013 through 2020. Britain has a legally binding target to reduce 

GHG emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. From Reuters on 

March 21, 2018.

China’s Carbon Trading Pilot Boosts Emissions Control.

China’s carbon trading system has helped the country reach its 2020 carbon 

emissions target in 2017, according to officials. China committed to reducing 

its CO2 emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020; however, this 

target was reached early, as China reduced CO2 emissions by 46 percent from 

2005 levels by the end of 2017. China’s carbon emissions trading system was 

initiated in 2011, and transactions totaling 200 million metric tons of carbon 

emissions quotas were completed via the platform by 2017. According to its 

next commitment, China will have to reduce CO2 emissions by 60 to 65 percent 

from 2005 levels by 2030. From Xinhua on March 27, 2018.

MAY 2018

RGGI States Release Auction Notice and Electricity Monitoring Report.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) released the Auction Notice and application materials for their 40th quarterly CO2

allowance auction, to be held June 30, 2018. As indicated in the Auction Notice, the states will offer 13,771,025 CO2 allowances for sale with a minimum 

reserve price of $2.20. In addition, there is also a 10 million CO2 allowance 

cost containment reserve (CCR) available, which will be accessed if the interim 

clearing price exceeds the CCR trigger price of $10.25. The RGGI states also 

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

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: 2015 Monitoring Report.” The seventh in a 

series of annual monitoring reports, this report summarized data for electricity 

generation, electricity imports, and related CO2 emissions for the RGGI states. 

From RGGI News Releases on April 17, 2018, and April 27, 2018.

Carbon Credit Program Approved.

The West Springfield Town Council (Massachusetts, USA) approved joining an 

intermunicipal carbon storage program known as the Tri-City Carbon Project. 

The approved deal authorizes the town to execute a contract with Bluesource, 

a global vendor of carbon credits, as well as an interim municipal agreement with Holyoke and Westfield (Massachusetts, USA). From MassLive on 

April 24, 2018.

JUNE 2018

Joint Cap-and-Trade Auction Results Released.

California (USA), Québec, and Ontario (Canada) released the results of the second joint cap-and-trade auction of carbon allowances involving three jurisdictions. All of the 90,587,738 current (2016 and 2018) vintage CO2 allowances 

sold at a settlement price of $14.65, while 6,057,000 of the 12,427,950 

advance (2021) vintage allowances sold at a settlement price of $14.53. More 

information on the auction is available online. From California Air Resources 

Board on May 23, 2018.

RGGI Releases Two Reports. 

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) released two reports. Prepared by independent market monitor Potomac Economics, the “Annual Report on the Market for RGGI CO2 Allowances: 2017” 

evaluates 2017 activity in the RGGI CO2 allowance market, focusing on allowance prices, trading and acquisition of allowances in the auctions and the 

secondary market, participation in the market by individual firms, and market 

monitoring. The RGGI states also released the “Compliance Summary Report” 

for its third three-year control period, finding that, at the time of the report 

being published, 161 of the 163 power plants subjected to RGGI requirements 

met their compliance obligations. From RGGI News Release on May 24 and 

June 4, 2018.

Lawmakers Begin Cap-and-Trade Talk.

An Oregon (USA) joint legislative committee began to develop policy for a statewide cap-and-trade program. The Joint Committee on Carbon Pricing initiated 

its work by holding discussions with experts on state and national environmental policies. Oregon state legislative leaders have committed to recommending 

a carbon-pricing policy during next year’s legislative session. The Oregon legislature set a goal of reducing carbon emissions to 10 percent less than 1990 

levels by 2020. From The Dalles Chronicle on May 23, 2018. 

UN Issues Carbon Credits.

The United Nations (UN) issued carbon credits to SABIC, a Saudi Arabian petrochemicals manufacturer, for a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project. 

Under the CDM, emission-reduction projects in developing countries can earn 

certified emission-reduction credits, which can be used to meet targets. From 

SABIC News Release on May 23, 2018.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2017 – September 2018 EMISSIONS TRADING

JULY 2018

RGGI States Announce Results of 40th Auction.

The RGGI-participating states released the results of their 40th auction of CO2

allowances, in which 13,771,025 CO2 allowances were sold at a clearing price 

of $4.02. Bids ranged from $2.20 to $6.00 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 40, the second auction of the fourth control period, generated $55.4 million for reinvestment in 

strategic programs, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and GHG 

abatement programs. To date, proceeds from all RGGI CO2 allowance auctions 

have generated $2.94 billion. From RGGI News Release on June 15, 2018.

AUGUST 2018

RGGI Initiates Auction Process.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) released the Auction Notice and application materials for their 41st quarterly auction of CO2 allowances, to be held September 5, 2018. The “Auction Notice 

for CO2 Allowance Auction 41” provides the information needed for potential 

participants to indicate their intent to bid on the 13,590,107 CO2 allowances 

offered for sale at a minimum reserve price of $2.20. In addition, the RGGI 

states will also make available a 10 million CO2 allowance cost containment 

reserve (CCR), which will be accessed if the interim clearing price exceeds 

the CCR trigger price of $10.25. From RGGI News Release on July 10, 2018.

Partnership to Launch Transparent Carbon Credit Trading Market.

Xarbon Sustainability Limited and the United Nations Office for Project Service (UNOPS) have entered into a strategic partnership to support low-carbon 

economy development. Xarbon, a Hong Kong-based sustainability technology 

company, uses blockchain technology to improve carbon credit trading market 

transparency. UNOPS focuses on supporting low-carbon economy development by establishing digitalized carbon, aiming to improve education, awareness-raising, and social impact. From Asia One on July 18, 2018.

Carbon Tax Plan Unveiled.

The Canadian province of Manitoba unveiled details of its “Made-in-Manitoba” plan, which includes a cap-and-trade style carbon tax for certain industries. Most companies in the province will pay a $25/metric ton tax, but larger 

industrial emitters will be exempt up to a certain benchmark, which will be 

individually established by Manitoba’s Climate and Energy Branch. When a 

company exceeds their benchmark, they can either pay the $25/metric ton 

tax or purchase carbon credits from other companies; those who do not reach 

their benchmark can accumulate carbon credits, which can be sold on an open 

market or used to offset future taxes. Only companies that release more than 

50,000 metric tons of CO2 annually will qualify for the output-based pricing 

system framework. From CBC News on July 30, 2018.

SEPTEMBER 2018

Québec-California Carbon Market Joint Auction Held.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Québec’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, and the Fight Against Climate Change (MDDELCC) held a joint auction of greenhouse gas (GHG) allowances on August 

14, 2018. The auction included a Current Auction of 2016 and 2018 vintage 

allowances and an Advanced Auction of 2021 vintage allowances. From Québec’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, and the Fight Against 

Climate Change on August 14, 2018.

Singapore To Use Study on Carbon Pricing for Future Tax.

Singapore’s National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) commissioned a 

study on carbon pricing in other countries that will be used to help shape any 

potential carbon taxes in Singapore. The study will quantify the effectiveness 

of various measures in reducing carbon emissions across different jurisdictions and will also look at direct costs from carbon taxes or emissions trading 

schemes and indirect costs from compliance. Beginning in 2019, Singapore 

will begin pricing carbon at $5/metric ton of emissions through 2023, at which 

point the rate will be reviewed with the intention of raising it to $10 to $15/

metric ton by 2030. From The Straits Times on August 13, 2018. 

Countries Plan Carbon Trading.

Six countries are preparing the first carbon trades under the 2015 United Nations (UN) pact. According to the World Bank Group, the nations are assessing 

projects to reduce GHGs in exchange for emission credits that can be used to 

comply with set goals. From Financial Post on August 16, 2018.

RGGI States Announce Results of 41st Auction.

The RGGI-participating states released the results of their 41st auction of CO2

allowances, in which 13,590,107 CO2 allowances were sold at a clearing price 

of $4.50. Bids ranged from $2.20 to $6.20 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 41 generated $61.2 

million for reinvestment in strategic programs, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and GHG abatement programs. To date, proceeds from all 

RGGI CO2 allowance auctions have generated $3 billion. From RGGI News Release on September 7, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 CLIMATE and SCIENCE NEWS

CLIMATE and SCIENCE NEWS

OCTOBER 2017

Collaboration Studies Carbon Storage in Organic Soils.

A collaboration between the National Soil Project at Northeastern University 

and The Organic Center led to a study that found soils from organic farms store 

more CO2, and for longer periods of time, than soil from conventional farms. 

Conducted by Northeastern University researchers, the study compared more 

than 1,000 soils from organic and conventional farms across the United States 

to understand how different agriculture management practices influence components of soil organic carbon (SOC). The findings showed that soils from organic farms have 13 percent more SOC and store 25 percent more CO2. From 

The Organic Center on September 11, 2017. 

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Patent Contributes to CO2 Removal.

A recently awarded patent to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has the 

potential to aid in the removal of approximately five tons of CO2 per year. NRL’s 

electrolytic-cation exchange module (E-CEM) design provides the capability to 

produce the raw materials necessary to develop synthetic fuel stock. E-CEM is 

capable of producing hydrogen (H2) while simultaneously removing CO2 from 

seawater. From U.S. Naval Research Laboratory News Release on October 3, 

2017.

NOVEMBER 2017

Project to Study Economic Models for CCS.

Three universities are receiving funding as part of a National Science Foundation project to determine if changes in commodity production and capturing 

CO2 are sustainable in the Upper Missouri River Basin. The University of Wyoming will develop the economic models; Montana State University will study 

agriculture and biofertilizers, food security, clean energy, and water supply and 

quality; and the University of South Dakota will focus on land use, biodiversity, 

and ecosystem services assessment. Together, the project will look to decrease 

atmospheric CO2 through alternative agricultural and energy approaches, such 

as biofuels and carbon storage. More information on the project is available 

online. From Carbon Capture Journal on October 10, 2017.

Potential Climate Change Could Alter Microbial Interactions.

According to a study conducted by scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, rising levels of oceanic CO2 may influence the activity of two marine 

organisms essential to ocean health. By potentially altering the relationship 

between the two ocean-dwelling microbes, Prochlorococcus and Alteromonas, 

the overall structure and function of an ecosystem can be impacted, the study 

claims. The new study builds on previous research conducted in 2015, which 

concluded that “vast swaths of the ocean where Prochlorococcus now dominates” may change due to potentially high CO2 levels and ocean acidification. 

From phys.org on November 1, 2017.

DECEMBER 2017

Modified Plant Capable of Storing CO2.

A team of biologists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at the Howard 

Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) created a plant capable of storing CO2. The 

research team created new plant varieties that can capture and store atmospheric CO2 with the infusion of suberin, a naturally produced material that 

can last a few thousand years when infused with CO2. According to the study, 

the plant has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 percent by using 5 

percent of Earth’s cultivatable ground. From International Business Times on 

December 5, 2017.

Researchers Study Geologic Storage of CO2.

Researchers from Stanford University are using computed tomography (CT) 

scanners to help understand the behavior of CO2 in geologic subsurface storage projects. The experiments are intended to recreate, at small-scale, the 

movement of various substances through vast rock formations and to provide 

real-world validation of computer simulations of the same processes. From 

Carbon Capture Journal on November 10, 2017.

Monitoring Offshore CO2 Storage Using Chemical Tracers.

Scientists from the Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) partnership 

conducted a study focusing on the use of chemical tracers in CO2 leakage 

monitoring for offshore CCS projects. Following consultation from the CCS 

community, the scientists identified the measuring of CO2 leakage to the seabed as an area requiring further research. The research team then identified 

key challenges to using tracers for offshore monitoring. The work was published by the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control in a paper, titled 

“Geochemical tracers for monitoring offshore CO2 stores.” From SCCS News 

on November 16, 2017.

JANUARY 2018

Report Highlights Whales’ Carbon Storage Potential.

A new report documents the role of whales in the storage of atmospheric CO2. 

The report, titled “The Role of Cetaceans in Ecosystem Functioning: Defining 

Conservation Policies in the 21st Century,” is a product of a workshop conducted at the July 2017 International Congress for Conservation Biology. The report 

found that whales can trigger phytoplankton blooms that increase the productivity of the entire marine food web and store thousands of tons of atmospheric 

CO2. From Animal Welfare Institute Press Release on December 19, 2017.

Wetland Erosion from Rising Lake Levels Could Create New Source of 

Carbon Emissions.

Fast-growing wetland plants use photosynthesis to absorb CO2, storing it underground in their soil. The Illinois State Geological Survey launched a study 

to determine if wetlands are now releasing more CO2 than they are storing as 

increased erosion releases CO2. By studying Illinois Beach (USA), which has 

eroded approximately 21 feet within the past six months, researchers will be 

able to study how rising lake levels may affect the 500,000 acres of coastal 

wetlands across the Great Lakes basin. The research is expected to show how 

much carbon is at risk of being released once the wetland soil erodes. From 

Chicago Tribune on January 1, 2018.

Study Shows Bacteria’s CO2 Storage Potential.

According to scientists from the University of Dundee’s School of Life Sciences, 

E. coli bacteria may lead to a method of capturing and storing CO2. By developing a process that enables the E. coli bacterium to act as an efficient carbon 

capture device, scientists also claim that the E. coli solution could convert the 

CO2 into a liquid that is “stable and comparatively easily stored.” The results 

of the research have been published in the journal Current Biology, in a study 

titled “Efficient Hydrogen-Dependent Carbon Dioxide Reduction by Escherichia 

coli.” From Carbon Capture Journal on January 8, 2018.

FEBRUARY 2018

Researchers Discover Catalyst for Converting CO2.

Scientists from the University of Toronto; the University of California, Berkeley; and the Canadian Light Source (CLS) have developed a method for the 

efficient conversion of CO2 into plastic. The researchers were able to do so by 

designing a catalyst and identifying the conditions that maximize ethylene production during reaction, while also minimizing methane and carbon monoxide 

production. The research paper, titled “Catalyst electro-redeposition controls 

morphology and oxidation state for selective carbon dioxide reduction,” was 

published in the online journal Nature Catalysis. From The Independent on 

January 16, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 CLIMATE and SCIENCE NEWS

Coastal Water Absorbing More CO2.

According to researchers, the water over the continental shelf is storing more 

atmospheric CO2, which increases the acidity of seawater and has the potential 

to affect the health of marine organisms and the ocean ecosystem. By using 

recently available and historical data from the previous 35 years to calculate 

global trends of CO2 concentration increases in the coastal ocean, scientists 

found that while the amount of CO2 in the open ocean is increasing at the 

same rate as in the atmosphere, these same CO2 concentrations are increasing slower in the coastal ocean. According to the research team, the study’s 

findings suggest that the continental shelves are becoming a crucial element in 

the global carbon cycle. From Chemeurope on February 2, 2018.

MARCH 2018

Study Observes CO2 Exposure in Marine Ecosystem.

A study conducted by a team of marine scientists showed that CO2 from industry and land run-off may affect the marine ecosystem. During an experiment at Loch Sween on Scotland’s west coast, researchers from Heriot-Watt 

University and Edinburgh and Glasgow University discovered that acute levels 

of CO2 cause starfish to dissolve. While previous studies focused on the effect 

high levels of CO2 had on individual plants or animals, this study, published in 

the Marine Progress Ecology Series, observed how whole marine ecosystems 

respond to short-term CO2 exposure. From BBC News on February 19, 2018. 

Ocean Warming May Lead to “Disappearance” of King Penguin.

Due to potentially warming oceans, up to 70 percent of the king penguin population may be forced to relocate or “disappear” from their breeding grounds 

in Antarctica, according to research published in Nature Climate Change. Scientists have found that future ocean warming could drive the Antarctic Polar 

Front, where king penguins typically hunt for food, further away from penguin 

breeding sites, causing the animals to find other suitable breeding locations. 

By using a set of global models to simulate future sea temperatures, the researchers determined that the maximum distance the penguins could travel to 

hunt fish was 700 kilometers. Their current typical journey from their breeding 

ground to the Antarctic Polar Front is in the range of 300 to 500 kilometers. 

From Carbon Brief on February 26, 2018.

Pulverized Volcanic Rock Could Potentially Store CO2.

According to a study published in the journal Nature Plants, spreading pulverized volcanic rock on farm soils could absorb significant amounts of CO2 from 

the atmosphere. Led by the University of Sheffield (UK), an international team 

of researchers studied the effect of “enhanced rock weathering” – using pulverized silicate rocks to speed the ability of minerals to store carbon in soil – on 

portions of the world’s cropland. The researchers’ preliminary estimates found 

that if farmers add enough pulverized rock per acre on a majority of the world’s 

cropland, up to 4 billion metric tons of CO2 could be removed from the atmosphere per year by 2100. From Inside Climate News on February 20, 2018.

APRIL 2018

Hunting Squid Slowed by Rising CO2 Levels.

Australian scientists have found that potentially higher levels of oceanic CO2

may impact the hunting patterns of cephalopods, a group of highly active invertebrates that includes squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses. Led by the James 

Cook University (JCU) ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, the 

investigative group tested the effects of elevated CO2 on the hunting behaviors 

of pygmy squid and bigfin reef squid, finding a decrease in the pigmy squids’ 

attacking of prey. When either species of squid did attack, they did so from 

a further distance and at a slower speed. In addition, both species displayed 

“more conspicuous body patterns” and increased activity when they were not 

hunting, which scientists believe could be a result of elevated CO2 levels altering their “energy budgets.” From Phys.Org on March 21, 2018. 

Study Links Policy, Carbon Emissions from Permafrost.

According to researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology, controlling GHG emissions 

through policy could reduce potential consequences of carbon releases from 

thawing permafrost during the next 300 years. Scientists used simulations to 

study changes in permafrost and carbon storage in the northern permafrost 

region from 2010 to 2299 using two separate potential scenarios – one with 

low CO2 emissions and one with high CO2 emissions. The results led scientists 

to believe that GHG controls could lessen the effects on the release of carbon 

from soils. The study, titled “Dependence of the evolution of carbon dynamics 

in the northern permafrost region on the trajectory of climate change,” was 

published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

From Eurasia Review on March 27, 2018.

New Research Studies Underground CO2 Abatement.

New research has provided a quantifiable look at carbon trapping rates in basalt, providing a baseline to scale-up. Working in collaboration with Pacific 

Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), researchers from Washington University 

in St. Louis collected samples of the rock from Washington state, where a thousand tons of CO2 gas was previously injected into an underground basalt flow. 

The rocks were then placed in small reactors to simulate underground conditions and injected with CO2 to test the variables involved in the carbonization 

process. Using 3-D imaging, the scientists watched the CO2 precipitate into the 

mineral and studied the voids within the basalt it filled, as well as the spots in 

the rock where the carbonization process began. Once the data were collected 

and analyzed, scientists predicted 47 kilograms of CO2 can be converted into 

mineral inside one cubic meter of basalt. From Phys.Org on April 5, 2018.

MAY 2018

Researchers Study Potential of BECCS to Reduce CO2 Emissions. 

DOE-funded research is using algae, eucalyptus, and bioenergy with carbon 

capture and storage (BECCS) to power and provide food to large regions of 

the world while simultaneously removing CO2 emissions from the atmosphere. 

Scientists from Cornell, Duke University, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo 

combined two technologies (BECCS and microalgae production) to form a 

new, integrated algae bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (ABECCS) 

system, which can act as a CO2 “sink” while generating food and electricity. 

The research appears in a paper, titled “Integrating Algae with Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (ABECCS) Increases Sustainability,” which was published by the American Geophysical Union. From Carbon Capture Journal on 

April 13, 2018.

Afforestation Increases Carbon Stock in Soil: Research.

According to research by scientists from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and 

Geography (China), afforestation can increase soil organic carbon (SOC) and 

nitrogen stocks in arid and semi-arid regions. The research, which was published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, evaluated the influences 

of afforestation on SOC and nitrogen stocks in topsoil in arid and semi-arid 

regions around the world. The data showed that afforestation increased SOC 

stock by 131 percent, providing a scientific basis for the restoration and improvement of soil fertility in arid and semi-arid regions as well a reference for 

carbon storage and emission reduction. From Xinhua on April 25, 2018.

Technology Demonstrates Simplified Conversion of CO2 into 

Storable Renewable Energy.

Researchers from Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and Opus 12, 

a clean-energy startup, demonstrated a new process of converting CO2 in raw 

biogas to methane, simplifying the process of storing surplus renewable electricity as renewable natural gas. Opus 12 used a new electrolyzer technology to 

show the CO2 can be converted to methane using renewable electricity. The research is part of SoCalGas’ development of power-to-gas (P2G) technologies, a 

method of storing excess renewable energy using existing infrastructure. From 

SoCalGas News Release on April 19, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 CLIMATE and SCIENCE NEWS

Study Focuses on Land Use, Agricultural Practices Impact 

on CO2 Storage.

According to research conducted by scientists from Iowa State University, 

changes in land use and agricultural practices may impact the amount of CO2

stored in midwestern soils. Published in the journal Global Change Biology, 

the study models how changes in midwestern land use since 1850 have impacted CO2 storage. Specifically, the study focuses on the storage of CO2 from 

terrestrial sources (e.g., soil, plants) during crop production. According to the 

data compiled, land use changes from 1850 to 2015 reduced billions of tons 

of CO2 storage capacity in plants and soil. From Iowa State University News on 

May 1, 2018. 

JUNE 2018

Science Advisors Examine CCUS.

The European Union (EU) published the fourth scientific opinion of the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, examining the potential 

and possible implementation of CCUS technologies. The published opinions 

and recommendations draws on the best available scientific and technical evidence across Europe, as well as a comprehensive review of scientific literature. 

From Carbon Capture Journal on May 24, 2018.

Atmospheric CO2 May Make Food Less Nutritious.

According to a new study co-authored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA), potentially rising atmospheric CO2 levels may be making food less 

nutritious by altering their chemical makeup and diluting vitamins and minerals. Specifically, the study, published in Scientific Advances, found that rice 

exposed to elevated levels of CO2 contains lower amounts of several important 

nutrients. The USDA researchers exposed experimental rice fields in China and 

Japan to anticipated future levels of CO2, finding that most of the 18 varieties 

tested contained less protein, iron, and zinc than rice grown today. From The 

New York Times on May 23, 2018. 

Volcanic Study Finds Coral Changes in High CO2.

A large-scale experiment conducted off Papua New Guinea has found that 

potentially high levels of CO2 could have an impact on coral reefs. In a paper 

published in the journal Plos One, researchers from the Australian Institute 

for Marine Science (AIMS) and the University of Otago (New Zealand) studied 90 small coral communities, half of which were positioned close to two 

shallow-water volcanic CO2 seeps (the other half – the control sites – were 

positioned a short distance away), for 13 months. The researchers found that 

the coral communities near the volcanic vents considerably changed. From 

Cosmos Magazine on May 31, 2018. 

JULY 2018

Researchers Study Safety of CO2 Storage.

A new study shows that captured CO2 can be safely stored underground 

through injection into the microscopic pore spaces of common rocks. Researchers from the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh used computer 

simulations to model the storage of CO2 for 10,000 years into the future, combining information from natural CO2 and methane accumulations and hydrocarbon industry experience (e.g., engineered gas storage, decades of borehole 

injection, and laboratory experiments). The results of the study were published 

in the journal Nature Communications. From SCCS News on June 12, 2018.

Victoria’s Inland Wetlands CO2 Storage Potential.

Victoria’s inland wetlands have the potential to store approximately 3 million 

tons of CO2 a year, according to research conducted by the Deakin School of 

Life and Environmental Sciences’ Blue Carbon Lab. Funded by Victoria, Australia’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the study analyzed 

soil samples from more than 100 different wetlands across Victoria. The results, published in the journal Global Change Biology, estimated that Victoria’s 

inland wetlands had a soil carbon stock of 68 million tons. From Blue Carbon 

Lab on June 25, 2018.

Catalyst Improves CO2-to-Methanol Process.

Researchers from Penn State University claim to have made improvements 

to the process of converting CO2 to methanol, according to a study published 

in the journal ACS Catalysis. Integrated experimental and computational research showed the benefit of a new catalyst that uses a specific formulation 

of palladium and copper. Researchers found that combining the metals in the 

new formulations increased the rate of methanol formation by three times over 

palladium alone and by four times over copper alone, representing an improvement over previous methods. From Penn State University on June 28, 2018.

AUGUST 2018

Acidic Oceans May Cause Fish to Lose Their Sense of Smell.

A new study shows evidence that fish’s ability to smell may be affected by 

potentially elevated levels of CO2 in the ocean. When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, the water becomes more acidic, which affects the ability of fish to detect 

odors. Fish would become vulnerable, as they use their sense of smell to find 

food, safe habitats, avoid predators, and find suitable spawning grounds. The 

study, titled “Near-future CO2 levels impair the olfactory system of a marine 

fish,” appeared in the journal Nature Climate Change and was led by the University of Exeter (England, UK). From Phys.Org on July 23, 2018. 

Report Shows Missouri Farms Carbon Storage Potential.

A research report conducted by Climate Central analyzed the extent to which 

the use of conservation farming practices can reduce carbon emissions in 

Missouri (USA). The report, titled “Soil Solutions: Carbon-Smart Farming in the 

Show Me State,” found that the estimated total annual carbon storage potential 

for the entire state, with the adoption of conservation practices, is equivalent 

to twice the annual total GHG emissions of Columbia, Missouri. From Climate 

Central on July 18, 2018. 

SEPTEMBER 2018

Lab-Made Mineral Developed to Address CO2 in the Atmosphere.

Scientists from Trent University in Ontario, Canada, have developed a way to 

create the mineral magnesite at room temperature, allowing for the possibility 

to expand the process to industrial scale. If implemented at scale, CO2 could 

potentially be stored long-term in the mineral. According to the research, the 

new method moves the rate of magnesite formation from hundreds to thousands of years in nature to within 72 days in a lab. Based on previous studies, 

magnesite can remove approximately half its weight in CO2 from the atmosphere. Thus, by speeding up the process of creating the mineral, magnesite 

could represent a legitimate resource for removing and storing atmospheric 

CO2. From Forbes on August 15, 2018.

Underwater Canyon Storing CO2.

A research expedition to an Irish underwater canyon has revealed a process 

that removes CO2 from the atmosphere and stores it under the sea. Led by 

the University of College Cork (Ireland), the research team built a map of the 

boundaries and interior of the Porcupine Bank Canyon (where Ireland’s continental shelf ends), discovering a process at the edge of the canyon that pulls 

CO2 from the atmosphere and stores it under the sea. The rim of the canyon is populated with cold-water corals that thrive on dead plankton, which 

are built up from carbon extracted from atmospheric CO2. As the coral consume the dead plankton, they assume the same carbon. Over time, as the 

coral die, they fall into canyon, essentially storing their CO2 under the sea. 

From Live Science on August 10, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 CLIMATE and SCIENCE NEWS

CO2 Levels May Lead to Nutritional Deficiencies.

Potentially rising levels of atmospheric CO2 may deplete nutrients in crops, according to a new study. Researchers from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public 

Health studied the effects of CO2 on crops such as rice and wheat, finding that 

elevated CO2 levels could lead to zinc, protein, and iron deficiencies, putting 

people at risk for anemia and other illnesses. The study, titled “Impact of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on global human nutrition,” appeared in the journal 

Nature Climate Change. From Fortune on August 27, 2018. 

Thawing Permafrost Could Release CO2.

According to the National Geographic, a field experiment in northern Siberia 

has revealed that some layers of permafrost are no longer freezing, potentially 

releasing previously stored CO2 into the atmosphere. Scientists drilled into the 

soil in Cherskiy (Russia), located 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and found 

“slushy mud” in areas that should have been frozen. Beneath the soil is the 

permafrost, which in this region has been frozen for hundreds to thousands of 

years, and stores billion of tons of CO2. According to the study, the permafrost 

may continue to thaw at an accelerated rate without its protective layer of 

frozen ground. From Earth.com on August 23, 2018.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

JOURNAL ARTICLES

OCTOBER 2017

Advantages from Combining CCS with Geothermal Energy.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCS technology is one important 

option to reduce CO2 emissions, however social, political and mainly economic 

barriers limit its implementation. A combination of CCS-geothermal technologies can contribute to achieve faster this reduction and to decrease costs by 

sharing injection wells, using CO2 instead of water as heat transfer fluid, thereby lowering water consumption and saving pump costs. It can also change 

public perception towards CCS. This technology is currently in mature level, 

allowing to store CO2 in a safe way. Moreover all knowledge acquired on CO2

storage and monitoring can be also used for geothermal energy.” Edesio Miranda-Barbosa, Bergur Sigfússon, Johan Carlsson, and Evangelos Tzimas, 

Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.

Developing a Consistent Database for Regional Geologic CO2 Storage 

Capacity Worldwide.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Assessments of the geologic storage capacity of CO2 in the current literature are incomplete and inconsistent, 

complicating efforts to assess the worldwide potential for CCS. [The authors] 

developed a method for generating first-order estimates of storage capacity requiring minimal data to characterize a geologic formation. [The authors] 

show this simplified method accounts for the majority of the variance in storage capacity found in more detailed studies conducted in the United States. 

[The authors] apply [their] method to create a worldwide database of storage 

capacity, disaggregated into 18 regions, and compare this storage capacity to 

CCS deployment in the MIT Economic Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) 

model. Globally, [the authors] estimate there are between 8,000 and 55,000 

gigatonnes (Gt) of practically accessible geologic storage capacity for CO2. For 

most of the regions, [the authors’] results indicate storage capacity is not a 

limiting factor for CCS deployment through the rest of this century even if 

stringent emissions reductions are required.” Jordan Kearns, Gary Teletzke, 

Jeffrey Palmer, Hans Thomann, Haroon Kheshgi, Yen-Heng, Henry Chen, 

Sergey Paltsev, and Howard Herzog, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be 

required.)

Tracking the interaction between injected CO2 and reservoir fluids 

using noble gas isotopes in an analogue of large-scale carbon capture 

and storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Industrial scale [CCS] technology 

relies on the secure long term storage of CO2 in the subsurface. The engineering and safety of a geological storage site is critically dependent on how 

and where CO2 will be stored over the lifetime of the site. Hence, there is a 

need to determine how injected CO2 is stored and identify how injected CO2

interacts with sub-surface fluids. Since July 2008 ~1 Mt of CO2 has been 

injected into the Cranfield EOR field (MS, USA), sourced from a portion of the 

natural CO2 produced from the nearby Jackson Dome CO2 reservoir. Monitoring and tracking of the amount of recycled CO2 shows that a portion of the 

injected CO2 has been retained in the reservoir. Here, [the authors] show that 

the noble gases (20Ne, 36Ar, 84Kr, 132Xe) that are intrinsic to the injected CO2

can be combined with CO2/

3

He and δ13CCO2 measurements to trace both the 

dissolution of the CO2 into the formation water, and the interaction of CO2 with 

the residual oil. Samples collected 18 months after CO2 injection commenced 

show that the CO2 has stripped the noble gases from the formation water. The 

isotopic composition of He suggests that ~0.2%, some 7 kt, of the injected 

CO2 has dissolved into formation water. The CO2/

3

He and δ13CCO2 values imply 

that dissolution is occurring at pH = 5.8, consistent with the previous determinations. δ13CCO2 measurements and geochemical modelling rule out significant 

carbonate precipitation and [the authors] determine that the undissolved CO2

after 18 months of injection (1.5 Mt) is stored by stratigraphic or residual trapping. After 45 months of CO2 injection, the noble gas concentrations appear to 

be affected by CO2-oil interaction, overprinting the signature of the formation 

water.” Domokos Györe, Stuart M.V. Gilfillan, and Finlay M. Stuart, Applied 

Geochemistry. (Subscription may be required.)

Readily implementable techniques can cut annual CO2 emissions from 

the production of concrete by over 20%.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Due to its prevalence in modern 

infrastructure, concrete is experiencing the most rapid increase in consumption among globally common structural materials; however, the production of 

concrete results in approximately 8.6% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions. 

Many methods have been developed to reduce the [GHG] emissions associated 

with the production of concrete. These methods range from the replacement 

of inefficient manufacturing equipment to alternative binders and the use of 

breakthrough technologies; nevertheless, many of these methods have barriers to implementation. In this research, [the authors] examine the extent to 

which the increased use of several currently implemented methods can reduce the [GHG] emissions in concrete material production without requiring 

new technologies, changes in production, or novel material use. This research 

shows that, through increased use of common supplementary cementitious 

materials, appropriate selection of proportions for cement replacement, and 

increased concrete design age, 24% of [GHG] emissions from global concrete 

production or 650 million [metric tons] CO2-eq can be eliminated annually.” 

Sabbie A Miller, Arpad Horvath, and Paulo J M Monteiro, Environmental Research Letters. (Subscription may be required.)

The impacts of emissions accounting methods on an imperfect 

competitive carbon trading market.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “To achieve a reduction in carbon 

intensity, the Chinese government has committed to establishing a nationwide 

carbon market. In this study, an interregional input-output model is proposed 

to derive cost curves for regional marginal abatement and to estimate interregional embodied emissions. An emissions trading model is presented for 

exploring the impacts of emissions accounting methods on imperfect competitive trading markets in the context of China achieving its 12th FYP intensity 

reduction target. The results indicated that emissions permits could be reallocated according to the CBA method. This could reduce both carbon emissions 

and total cost. Compared to the PBA method, the CBA method could lead to 

a greater change in permit prices and the amount of carbon trading in an imperfect competitive carbon market. Moreover, more regions with market power 

could cause declines in permit prices, resulting in changes in abatement costs. 

In addition, seven pilot markets (excluding Hubei province) are net embodied 

emissions importers. Pilot trading schemes in China could lead to carbon leakage among the other non-trading regions and sectors.” Yan Xia and Zhipeng 

Tang, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Carbon allowance auction design of China’s emissions trading 

scheme: A multi-agent-based approach.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In this paper, a multi-agent-based 

ETS simulation model is proposed for carbon allowance auction design in China. In the proposed model, two main agents, i.e., the government (the ETS implementer) and the firms in different sectors (the ETS targets), are considered. 

Under the ETS policy, all agents make various decisions individually according 

to their own goals, and interact with each other through three main markets: 

the commodity market, the primary carbon auction market and the secondary carbon trading market. Different popular auction designs are introduced 

into the ETS formulation to offer helpful insights into China’s ETS design. (1) 

Generally, the ETS would lead to positive effects on China’s carbon mitigation 

and energy structure improvement, but a negative impact on economy. (2) As 

for auction forms, the uniform-price design is relatively moderate, while the 

discriminative-price design is quite aggressive in both economic damage and 

emissions reduction. (3) As for carbon price, the uniform-price auction might 

generate a slightly higher market clearing price than the discriminative-price 

auction, and the prices under two auction rules fluctuate about RMB 40 per 

metric ton. (4) As for carbon cap, the total allowances in the carbon auction 

market should be carefully set to well balance economic growth and mitigation 

effect.” Ling Tang, Jiaqian Wu, Lean Yu, and Qin Bao, Energy Policy. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

NOVEMBER 2017

Estimation of soil carbon sequestration and profit analysis on 

mitigation of CO2-eq. emission in cropland cooperated with compost 

and biochar.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Only a few have evaluated the 

mitigation of greenhouse emissions and profit analysis along with soil carbon 

sequestration for corn cultivation. This experiment was conducted to evaluate 

the carbon sequestration and mitigation of [GHG] emissions as well as their 

profit analysis with different composts mixed with biochar during corn cultivation. This experimental data provided the second year of corn cultivation. The 

soil type used was clay loam. The application amounts of synthetic fertilizer 

and biochar were 220–30–155 kg ha−1 (N–P–K) as the recommended amount 

after soil analysis and 2600 kg ha−1 based on 1.3% of soil bulk density. For 

the biannual experimental results, it appeared that carbon sequestration in cow 

manure cooperated with biochar was highest at 2.3 tons ha−1 and recovered 

from 67.3 to 78.5% with biochar application. Furthermore, mitigation of CO2-

eq. emission as [GHGs] was estimated to be at 7.3–8.4 MT ha−1, and its profit 

was evaluated from $7.2 to 8.4 as lowest, from $57.2 to 66.6 as medium and 

from $139.7 to 162.7 as highest per hectare regardless of organic compost 

types used. For agricultural practice in Korea, it is evaluated that the market 

price of CO2 in corn field cooperated with 2600 kg ha−1 of biochar application 

ranged from $57.2 to 162.7 per hectare in Korean Climate Exchange. For corn 

biomass, the treatment with biochar application did not significantly decrease 

compared with the only organic compost application. Based on these experimental results, it might be applied for carbon trading with clean development 

mechanism for agricultural practices.” JoungDu Shin, Seung Gil Hong, SunIl 

Lee, SungChang Hong, and JongSik Lee, Applied Biological Chemistry. (Subscription may be required.)

Can energy policies affect the cycle of carbon emissions? Case 

study on the energy consumption of industrial terminals in Shanghai, 

Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper proposes an approach 

to calculate the time series of cumulative CO2 emissions between 1995 and 

2014 based on industrial energy consumption data in three Eastern China 

jurisdictions in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang during these two decades. 

Using the Hodrick-Prescott filter, the fluctuation components of the cumulative CO2-emission time-series data in the three provinces are obtained. 

Subsequently, a grey correlation-based change-point search algorithm is 

used to determine change-points in these data. Additionally, the CO2-emission time-series is divided into stages based on the change-points. The cycle 

characteristics of national energy policies, laws, and regulations are compared 

with those of the cumulative CO2-emission cycle of the three provinces to [analyze] the impact of energy policies on CO2 emissions. This study shows that, 

although the industrial structure and trends in the CO2 emission time-series 

data of the three provinces are different, their cumulative CO2-emission cycle 

remains the same from 1995 to 2014. The variation characteristics of the cumulative CO2 emissions for each cycle during this period are well aligned with 

the stage characteristics of energy policies, laws, and regulations, indicating 

that energy policies play a consistent role in regulating such emissions. This 

study examines low-carbon production and sustainable energy development, 

and offers suggestions for issuing and perfecting energy policies, laws, and 

regulations, considering the indicators of energy consumption and CO2 emissions.” Lihong Wang, Zaiwu Gong, Ge Gao, and Changkai Wang, Ecological 

Indicators. (Subscription may be required.)

CCS Leakage Detection Technology - Industry Needs, Government 

Regulations, and Sensor Performance.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Reliable CCS monitoring is vital in 

order to confirm that injected CO2 stays in the reservoir as intended, and that 

any occurring leakage is promptly detected allowing corrective actions to be 

initiated. Motivations for implementing monitoring strategies beyond the legal 

minimum required by government regulations, can be divided into economic, 

environmental and reputational factors, where the latter is significant; adequate monitoring is important for attaining public acceptance. CCS monitoring 

methods can be divided into deep focused (reservoir, overburden) and shallow 

focused (seabed, water column) methods. Shallow monitoring methods include 

acoustic and chemical sensors placed in the water column. For the CCS application, these sensor technologies are complementary; acoustic sensors are 

sensitive to CO2 in gas phase and chemical sensors can detect water-dissolved 

CO2 or formation fluids. [The authors] discuss the motivations for CCS monitoring, and offer a structured overview of acoustic and chemical technologies 

for CCS monitoring at the seabed and in the water column. Each technology 

is evaluated in terms of its applicability to CCS monitoring, highlighting its 

strengths and limitations for detection, quantification and characterization of 

CCS related leakage. [The authors] conclude that while state of the art sensor 

technology is sufficient to meet government requirements, there is potential for 

improved integrated monitoring through optimal use and combination of technologies. The concept of integrated monitoring where different sensor types 

measure different parameters is emerging as a promising monitoring strategy.” 

Ivar-Kristian Waarum, Ann E.A. Blomberg, Espen Eek, Jock Brown, Amund 

Ulfsnes, Mike Carpenter, Torleiv S. Grimsrud, Joonsang Park, Gerard Cornelissen, and Per Sparrevik, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

Recent increases in terrestrial carbon uptake at little cost to the water 

cycle.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Quantifying the responses of the 

coupled carbon and water cycles to current global warming and rising atmospheric CO2 concentration is crucial for predicting and adapting to climate 

changes. Here [the authors] show that terrestrial carbon uptake (i.e. gross primary production) increased significantly from 1982 to 2011 using a combination of ground-based and remotely sensed land and atmospheric observations. 

Importantly, [the authors] find that the terrestrial carbon uptake increase is not 

accompanied by a proportional increase in water use (i.e. evapotranspiration) 

but is largely (about 90%) driven by increased carbon uptake per unit of water 

use, i.e. water use efficiency. The increased water use efficiency is positively 

related to rising CO2 concentration and increased canopy leaf area index, and 

negatively influenced by increased [vapor] pressure deficits. [The authors’] 

findings suggest that rising atmospheric CO2 concentration has caused a shift 

in terrestrial water economics of carbon uptake.” Lei Cheng, Lu Zhang, YingPing Wang, Josep G. Canadell, Francis H. S. Chiew, Jason Beringer, Longhui 

Li, Diego G. Miralles, Shilong Piao, and Yongqiang Zhang, Nature Communications. (Subscription may be required.)

Laboratory measurements monitoring supercritical CO2 sequestration 

using ghost reflections retrieved by seismic interferometry.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Monitoring of seismic changes 

inside the reservoir layer during CO2 sequestration can be valuable for extraction of reservoir quantities like saturation and pore pressure. The accuracy 

of the monitoring could be deteriorated due to nonrepeatability errors in the 

source and receiver geometry. Applying seismic interferometry (SI) to permanent networks of seismic stations to retrieve virtual sources at the positions 

of the stations eliminates the non-repeatability in the source positioning. SI is 

traditionally applied using crosscorrelation. [The authors] show results from 

application of SI to ultrasonic data for layer-specific monitoring of sequestration of supercritical CO2. The data are recorded on a two-layer sample consisting epoxy (caprock) and Bentheimer sandstone (reservoir). [The authors] apply 

SI by crosscoherence, which has the potential to retrieve results with higher 

temporal resolution that SI by crosscorrelation. Using SI, [the authors] retrieve 

non-physical reflections from the bottom of the sandstone as if source and 

receiver were placed at the top of the sandstone. The velocities [the authors] 

estimate from the non-physical reflections during injection of brine aiming to 

displace supercritical CO2 and during injection of supercritical CO2 aiming to 

displace brine indicate rather similar saturation for both injection cases. [The 

authors] confirm the latter by transmission measurements, but with lower resolution.” Deyan Draganov, Alex Kirichek, Karel Heller, and Ranajit Ghose, 

Society of Exploration Geophysicists. (Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

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

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Carbon dioxide and heat integration of industrial parks.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The depletion of natural resources 

and the increase in [GHGs] emissions has led to policies aiming at drastic [CO2] 

emissions reductions over current levels. This work addresses the [CO2] integration of industrial parks, i.e. the integration of [CO2] sources, sequestration 

and utilization options to achieve required emissions reductions at minimum 

cost. The work makes use of the recently proposed [CO2] integration approach 

to explore carbon management options across an industrial park together 

with energy integration approaches to (1) minimize net energy demand of 

the industrial park and therefore cut fuel and corresponding emissions, and 

(2) explore synergies available from utilizing excess process heat to provide 

low-cost, emissions free heat and power sources for energy intensive carbon 

capture and compression costs. The proposed approach integrates methods 

for [CO2] and heat integration. The approach is demonstrated through a case 

study for which substantial savings are identified with the new approach.” Raid 

J. Hassiba, Dhabia M. Al-Mohannadi, and Patrick Linke, Journal of Cleaner 

Production. (Subscription may be required.)

Accounting and structure decomposition analysis of embodied carbon 

trade: A global perspective.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In this paper, a multi-regional 

input-output model is built to estimate the global embodied carbon trade from 

1995 to 2009 based on the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The method 

of structure decomposition analysis (SDA) is applied to quantify the changes 

in the scale and structure of embodied carbon trade in China, India, Japan, 

and the United States. According to the results, the top three countries with 

the most embodied carbon trade were: the United States, China and Japan 

in 1995, and the United States, China and India in 2009. In 1995 and 2009, 

the sectors which have the highest direct carbon emission coefficients and 

total carbon emission coefficients in China, India and the United States are 

electricity, gas and water supply sectors, while each country maintained a different coefficient. A decrease of direct carbon emission coefficient will result 

in a reduction of the imports and exports, as well as the self-consumption 

of embodied carbon. Therefore, it is suggested that countries should develop 

low-carbon industries, and reduce the carbon emissions per unit of output. 

In addition, those countries with higher carbon emission coefficients should 

consider of importing products to lower carbon emissions.” Guangyao Deng 

and Yan XU, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

DECEMBER 2017

Considerations in the Development of Flexible CCS Networks.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper discusses considerations for the design of flexibly operated CCS pipeline networks and is based 

on the findings of the Flexible CCS Network Development project (FleCCSnet), 

funded as part of the UK CCS Research Centre. The project considered the impact of flexibility across the whole CCS chain, as well as studying the interfaces 

between each element of the system; e.g. at the entry to the pipeline system 

from the capture plant and at the exit from the pipeline to the storage site. The 

factors identified are intended to allow CCS network designers to determine 

the degree of flexibility in the system; allowing them to react effectively to 

short, medium and long term variations in the flow of CO2 from capture plants 

and the constraints imposed on the system by CO2 injection and storage. The 

work of the project is reviewed in this paper which explores the flexibility of 

power plants operating with post combustion capture systems; quantifies the 

available time to store (line pack) CO2 in the pipeline as a function of pipeline size, the inlet mass flow rate and operating pressure; and explores the 

influence that uncertainty in injection and storage parameters have on the 

design of the pipeline. In addition, parameters influencing short and longer 

term network designs are discussed in terms of varying flow rates. Two practitioner workshops contributed to the direction of the project. The first workshop 

identified and confirmed key questions to be considered in order to understand 

the most likely impacts of variability in both the CO2 sources and CO2 sinks on 

CO2 transport system design and operation. The second workshop focused on 

transient issues in the pipeline and storage site. Although the case studies in 

the work are UK based, this work is applicable to other situations where large 

and small sources of CO2 are expected to be feeding into a CCS transportation 

system. The work is expected to inform a broad range of stakeholders and 

allow network designers to anticipate potential problems associated with the 

operation of a CCS network. For an effective design of CCS infrastructure, all of 

the factors that will have a substantial impact on CO2 flow will have to be [analyzed] at an early stage to prevent possible bottle necks in the whole chain.” 

Ben Wetenhall, Julia Race, Hamed Aghajani, Eva Sanchez Fernandez, Mark 

Naylor, Mathieu Lucquiaud, and Hannah Chalmers, Energy Procedia. (Subscriptions may be required.)

Multiple Pollutants, Co-Benefits, and Suboptimal Environmental 

Policies.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In [the authors’] analytical general 

equilibrium model, polluting inputs can be substitutes or complements. [The 

authors] study a tax increase on one pollutant where the other faces a tax or 

permit policy. [The authors’] solutions highlight key parameters and welfare 

effects with gains from abatement plus positive or negative co-benefits from 

other pollutants in the covered and uncovered sectors. [The authors] demonstrate several ways taxes and permits differ. First, the change in taxed pollutant 

depends on whether the other pollutant faces a tax or permit policy. Also, only 

with a tax on the other pollutant can a co-benefit arise. The sign of co-benefits 

depends on the sign of cross-price elasticities and on whether the other pollutant’s price is above or below marginal damages. Finally, the other pollutant’s 

tax or permit policy also affects emissions in the uncovered sector (leakage). 

In a numerical illustration of carbon tax in U.S. electricity, [the authors] calculate emissions of CO2 and [sulfur dioxide (SO2)] in both sectors. For plausible 

parameters, co-benefits are larger than direct.” Don Fullerton and Daniel H. 

Karney, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. (Subscription 

may be required.)

High Temperature CO2-in-Water Foams Stabilized with Cationic 

Quaternary Ammonium Surfactants.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The design of surfactants for stabilizing CO2-in-water (brine) (C/W) foams at high temperature is challenging 

given the low density (solvent strength) of CO2, limited surfactant solubility 

in brine, and a lack of knowledge of the interfacial and rheological properties. Herein, the tail length of trimethylammonium cationic surfactants was 

optimized to provide the desired phase behavior and interfacial properties for 

formation and stabilization of the C/W foams. The headgroup was properly 

balanced with a C12–14 hydrocarbon tail to achieve aqueous solubility in 22% 

total dissolved solids (TDS) brine up to 393 K (120°C) along with high surfactant adsorption (area/surfactant molecule of 154 Å2

) at the CO2–water (C–W) 

interface which reduced the interfacial tension from ~40 mN/m to ~6 mN/m. 

For C12–14N(CH3)3Cl, these properties enabled stabilization of a C/W foam with 

an apparent viscosity of 14 mPa•s at 393 K in both a crushed calcium carbonate packed bed (75 μm2

 or 76 Darcy) and a capillary tube downstream of 

the bed. In addition, the partition coefficient of the surfactant between oil and 

22% TDS (255 kg/m3

) brine was less than 0.15, which would be beneficial for 

minimizing the loss of the surfactant to an oil phase in applications including 

[EOR] and hydraulic fracturing.” Yunshen Chen, Amro S. Elhag, Andrew J. 

Worthen, Prathima P. Reddy, Anne Marie Ou, George J. Hirasaki, Quoc P. 

Nguyen, Sibani L. Biswal, and Keith P. Johnston, Journal of Chemical and 

Engineering Data. (Subscription may be required.)

Emission trading and carbon market performance in Shenzhen, China.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “China has developed its own domestic carbon markets by setting up emission trading schemes. This study 

addresses concerns about the functioning of these schemes and the financial 

performance of the Chinese carbon market. It aims to assess an actual outcome of this policy intervention, i.e. trading records, which were used in [the 

authors’] analysis to examine a key financial property of the allowance-based 

market in Shenzhen. In a mature market, assets that incur higher risks are likely to yield higher returns, i.e. a positive relationship. To examine this property, 

[the authors] solicited historical data on the price and trading volume of emission allowances. [The authors] statistically estimated the degree of volatility in 

the Shenzhen market and its relationship with expected return premium. [The 
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October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

authors] found that the rate of return was negatively associated with expected 

risk. This stands at odds with the usual expectation in the financial market 

and the prediction of asset pricing theory. Also, kurtosis in trading volume was 

excessively high and its fluctuations were highly concentrated. [The authors] 

discuss these findings in terms of market liquidity and information uncertainties, and offer some policy recommendations. More regulatory attention and 

economic fixes are needed to improve market efficiency and eliminate sources 

of market distortions.” Ren Cong and Alex Y. Lo, Applied Energy. (Subscription 

may be required.) 

Management and dewatering of brines extracted from geologic carbon 

storage sites.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Subsurface pressure management 

is a significant challenge in geologic CO2 storage. Elevated pressure generated 

from the injection of supercritical CO2 can be managed by the withdrawal of 

brine from saline formations before or during CO2 injection; however, management of the extracted brines is non-trivial because they may have high 

concentrations of dissolved solids and other contaminants. Dewatering a brine 

can reduce the volume needing disposal; in addition, water separated from the 

brine can be a source of usable low salinity water. This review will summarize 

the composition of brines extracted from select domestic geologic CO2 storage 

sites, will calculate the minimum of work of dewatering, and will provide a 

critical review of developed and developing desalination/dewatering technologies that could be applied to brines extracted from saline formations before 

or during geologic CO2 storage operations. Herein are also highlighted, when 

appropriate, the similarities and the differences between dewatering brines 

produced from oil/gas operations and brines extracted from geologic CO2 storage. Since a source of steam or natural gas is likely unavailable/unsuitable for 

dewatering brines extracted during CO2 storage, the ideal treatment processes should have a high electrical efficiency and, if possible, should be able to 

take advantage of the inherent elevated temperature of these brines.” Jason 

T. Arena, Jinesh C. Jain, Christina L. Lopano, J. Alexandra Hakala, Timothy 

V. Bartholomew, Meagan S. Mauter, and Nicholas S. Siefert, International 

Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Thermal effects on geologic carbon storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “One of the most promising ways 

to significantly reduce [GHG] emissions, while carbon-free energy sources are 

developed, is CCS. Non-isothermal effects play a major role in all stages of 

CCS. In this paper, [the authors] review the literature on thermal effects related 

to CCS, which is receiving an increasing interest as a result of the awareness 

that the comprehension of non-isothermal processes is crucial for a successful 

deployment of CCS projects. [The authors] start by reviewing CO2 transport, 

which connects the regions where CO2 is captured with suitable geostorage 

sites. The optimal conditions for CO2 transport, both onshore (through pipelines) and offshore (through pipelines or ships), are such that CO2 stays in 

liquid state. To minimize costs, CO2 should ideally be injected at the wellhead 

in similar pressure and temperature conditions as it is delivered by transport. 

To optimize the injection conditions, coupled wellbore and reservoir simulators that solve the strongly non-linear problem of CO2 pressure, temperature 

and density within the wellbore and non-isothermal two-phase flow within the 

storage formation have been developed. [Carbon dioxide] in its way down the 

injection well heats up due to compression and friction at a lower rate than 

the geothermal gradient, and thus, reaches the storage formation at a lower 

temperature than that of the rock. Inside the storage formation, CO2 injection 

induces temperature changes due to the advection of the cool injected CO2, 

the Joule-Thomson cooling effect, endothermic water vaporization and exothermic CO2 dissolution. These thermal effects lead to thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical coupled processes with non-trivial interpretations. These coupled 

processes also play a relevant role in ‘Utilization’ options that may provide an 

added value to the injected CO2, such as EOR, Enhanced Coal Bed Methane 

(ECBM) and geothermal energy extraction combined with CO2 storage. If the 

injected CO2 leaks through faults, the caprock or wellbores, strong cooling will 

occur due to the expansion of CO2 as pressure decreases with depth. Finally, 

[the authors] conclude by identifying research gaps and challenges of thermal 

effects related to CCS.” Victor Vilarrasa and Jonny Rutqvist, Earth-Science 

Reviews. (Subscription may be required.) 

Hydraulic characterization of fractured carbonates for CO2 geological 

storage: Experiences and lessons learned in Hontomín Technology 

Development Plant.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The Hontomín Technology Development Plant for CO2 geological storage located in Spain, owned by Fundación 

Ciudad de la Energía (CIUDEN) is the only current onshore injection site in the 

European Union. It has been recognized by the European Parliament as a key 

test facility. The storage reservoir is a deep saline aquifer comprised of carbonates (limestones and dolomites) of the120 m thick Sopeña Fm, and seal rocks 

belong to the overlying series of Pozazal and Lias formations. In this article experiences and lessons learned during the reservoir hydraulic characterization 

are discussed, analyzing the methodology of different types of tests performed 

at laboratory and field scale. [Carbon dioxide] injection in this reservoir shows 

specific features that are different than injection in porous media. Considering 

the low porosity/permeability of the rock matrix in the case study, the CO2

transmissivity is dominated by the fracture network where hydrodynamic and 

geochemical effects play a key role influencing the reservoir behavior and defining conditions for safe and efficient injection. The challenge at Hontomín was 

to manage the low injectivity in the reservoir. Recommendations to overcome 

this difficulty are analyzed. The design of injection strategies must consider 

characteristic parameters at the well head, tubing and bottom hole according 

to the interpretation of results from petrophysical laboratory tests, in particular 

those performed under reservoir conditions, and from field tests conducted 

on site. The use of an appropriate dynamic model is essential to achieve a 

realistic assessment of reservoir behavior. The hypothesis, data interpretation 

and conclusions reached with the modeling are discussed.” J. Carlos de Dios, 

Miguel A. Delgado, Carlos Martínez, Alberto Ramos, Iñaki Álvarez, Juan A. 

Marín, and Ignacio Salvador, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Regional carbon emission evolution mechanism and its prediction 

approach driven by carbon trading – A case study of Beijing.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Resources and environmental issues have become the main obstacles to the global sustainable development. 

For example, the global warming and paroxysmal environmental problems 

induced by fossil energy consumption are highlighted in recent years. As a 

big energy consumption and carbon emission country, China has tried to establish and implement the carbon emission trading mechanism in order to 

adjust the economic development patterns, optimize the energy structure and 

fulfill the emission goals. This mechanism has played a certain role in guiding 

and supporting the energy saving and carbon emission reduction. With the 

wide popularization and acceptance of low-carbon and green development, the 

advantages and the benefits of regional carbon emission trading mechanism 

will gradually show up with more trading activities and enterprise participation. 

Therefore, it’s imperative to explore the carbon emission trading mechanism 

and provide relative suggestions for government and enterprises. For analyzing 

the carbon emission trading mechanism in China, the development situations 

of economy, energy and policy were reviewed firstly. Then, based on the direct and indirect emissions, the carbon emission measurement method was 

used to study the emission trends of Beijing and pilot areas. With the system 

dynamics analysis model, the key factors and evolution circuits influential to 

the carbon emission mechanism were identified from the aspects of society, 

energy, economy and environment. The factors were further selected by extended STIRPAT model and ridge regression model in order to construct the 

BP Neural Network prediction model of carbon emissions. Meanwhile, take 

Beijing as an example, seven different development scenarios were set to test 

the rational levels of carbon emissions in the next five years. At last, with the 

prediction and scenario analysis results, some policy advices were discussed 

and provided theoretical and practical references for reasonable and efficient 

carbon emission trading.” Jin-peng Liu, Xu-bei Zhang, and Xiao-hua Song, 

Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)
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October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

JANUARY 2018

U.S. DOE’s Economic Approaches and Resources for Evaluating the 

Cost of Implementing Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS).

The following is the Abstract of this article: “[DOE] and [NETL] are world leaders 

in CCUS research and analysis. They have developed resources and a set of 

economic tools to evaluate the cost to implement CCUS for each segment of 

the value chain: capture, transport, and storage. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the economic models and analytical approaches DOE/

NETL has developed for assessing the CO2 capture, storage, and transport cost 

drivers that impact the entire CCUS value chain. Failure to effectively evaluate 

the economic opportunity for CCUS technology to reduce CO2 emissions would 

deter wide-spread deployment. DOE’s economic models and resources enable 

a variety of possible analytical approaches to evaluate the economics associated with deploying CCUS. The resources are open-source so that interested 

stakeholder groups can apply them to their specific problems, and to enable 

feedback to improve these models moving forward.” Derek Vikara, Chung Yan 

Shih, ShangMin Lin, Allison Guinan, Timothy Grant, David Morgan, and Donald Remson, Journal of Sustainable Energy Engineering. (Subscription may be 

required.)

The Evolution of European CCS Policy.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The European CCS industry is 

still grasping for an effective policy structure which will support deployment 

of commercial CCS projects. This paper will consider the current context of 

CCS policy given three significant developments: (a) the agreement in 2014 

for a technology neutral 2030 EU emissions reduction target; (b) a binding 

commitment at COP21 in Paris, Dec 2015, for a global emissions reduction 

target; (c) the collapse of the UK’s CCS [Commercialization] Programme in Nov 

2015. The period 2010-2015 saw continued stagnation in the European CCS 

industry, with a series of projects proposed but then subsequently cancelled. 

This hints as three problems (1) an industry which is weak in communicating 

why CCS is important, and failed to engage a wider stakeholder base; (2) incumbent governments which are not willing to fund the initially high costs of 

the first CCS projects; (3) weak market based structures which force industrial 

consortia to rely on government subsidy, thus leaving projects vulnerable to 

political forces. The tension within the UK’s [Commercialization] Programme 

could still offer lessons for other potential CCS projects in Europe; and inform 

policy developments at the UK and European level. Namely (i) payment flows 

between the emitter / capture plant to the transport & storage provider, and the 

risk apportionment between those partners; (ii) the cost-benefit of oversized 

infrastructure and the challenges of a first project to finance the bulk of these 

costs...” Matthew Billson and Mohamed Pourkashanian, Energy Procedia. 

(Subscription may be required.)

The Politics of Large-scale CCS Deployment.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Since the early 2000s, there has 

been growing recognition of the important role that CCS can play as part of 

a least-cost, global solution to climate change. Modelling by the International 

Energy Agency (IEA) has consistently highlighted a significant role for CCS in 

achieving a 2°C target, and recognition of the role of CCS has also increasingly 

been a feature of reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

(IPCC). However, this growing appreciation of the value of CCS has not been 

accompanied by commensurate growth in political and policy support for the 

technology. In fact, support for CCS has been inconsistent and at times tumultuous, and has been closely intertwined with progress in global climate 

negotiations and wider economic conditions. CCS will not advance without 

significant public investment and the required support policies will not be put 

in place without political support – hence the politics of CCS play a major role 

in this respect. This paper looks at the politics of deploying large-scale CCS 

projects, including the drivers for CCS support, the opposing political forces 

and the practical challenges of deploying CCS.” Juho Lipponen, Samantha 

McCulloch, Simon Keeling, Tristan Stanley, Niels Berghout, and Thomas 

Berly, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

Diffusive leakage of brine from aquifers during CO2 geological storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The area of investigation in this 

study is designed around an improved understanding of fundamentals of the 

diffusive leakage of brine from a storage aquifer into overlying and underlying 

low permeability layers during geosequestration of CO2 through development 

of a theoretical model. Here, [the authors] consider a two-dimensional domain 

in cylindrical coordinates, comprised of an aquifer and an overburden, where 

the interaction between the two media is handled by imposing the continuities 

of pressures and fluid fluxes at the aquifer-overburden interface. This coupled problem is solved by successive implementation of the Laplace and finite 

Hankel transforms. The developed solutions can be used to analyze diffusive 

leakage of brine from the aquifer into overburden and generate type curves 

for average pressures in the aquifer and overburden during injection and post 

injection periods. The results show that the leakage rate at early times is scaled 

with t 1/2 while it remains constant at late times. It is also shown that the average pressure in the aquifer is scaled with t for short and long times. Moreover, 

the average pressure in the overburden is scaled with t at late times while it is 

scaled with t 3/2 at early times. In addition, the results reveal that factors affecting diffusive leakage rate through intact overburden during CO2 storage are, in 

decreasing order of significance, thickness of overburden, thickness of aquifer, 

aquifer to overburden permeability ratio, and aquifer to overburden porosity 

ratio. However, thickness of aquifer has minimal effect on diffusive leakage 

of brine within post injection period. To evaluate the theoretical model, case 

studies for two potential sites in United Kingdom, one in Lincolnshire and the 

other one in the Firth of Forth, are conducted. The field studies show that the 

diffusive leakage from the aquifer into the overburden diminishes ~40 years 

after the injection has ceased for Lincolnshire while it stops after ~12 years 

for Firth of Forth. The average amount of the brine leaked from the aquifers 

per standard cubic meter (Sm3

) of the injected CO2 through diffusive leakage 

was found to be 6.28 × 10−4 m3

 of brine (or 0.330 kg of brine/kg of CO2) over 

~70 years for Lincolnshire and 4.59 × 10−4 m3

 of brine (or 0.242 kg of brine/

kg of CO2) over ~42 years for Firth of Forth.” Morteza Dejam and Hassan 

Hassanzadeh, Advances in Water Resources. (Subscription may be required.)

Efficiency of Carbon Dioxide Storage and Enhanced Methane Recovery 

in a High Rank Coal.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The high affinity and adsorption 

capacity of coal to [CO2] provides an alternative approach for the enhanced 

recovery of methane [CH4)] from unminable coalfields (CO2-ECBM) by which 

a potential solution for long-term CO2 sequestration in deep geological formations can also be achieved. However, due to chemomechanical effects induced 

by the interactions between CO2 and coal, the effective methane production 

and [CO2] storage can be degraded which has caused uncertainties about the 

techno-economic feasibility of the CO2-ECBM process. This study presents an 

experimental investigation that aims to address key knowledge gaps related to 

the efficiency of CO2 storage and CH4 recovery in high rank coals for which a 

comprehensive experimental data set and analysis are largely missing. Competitive displacements of CH4 with N2 or CO2 in an anthracite coal sample from 

a South Wales coalfield have been studies, based on a series of core flooding 

experiments. The results show that the N2 breakthrough time (the time at which 

1% of the total gas injected was recovered) was almost spontaneous whereas 

a considerably delayed breakthrough time was observed for the case of the 

CO2-ECBM experiment. In addition it was observed that for the CO2-ECBM 

experiment, the ratios of CH4 recovery with respect to the total amount of gas 

injected and gas stored were higher by factors of 10 and 2.4, respectively. 

The results also show that 90% of the total N2 injected was produced in the 

outflow gas, whereas for the case of the CO2 experiment, only 63% of the 

total injected CO2 was produced. The presence of a high amount of N2 in the 

outflow may lead to additional challenges in order to separate N2 from CH4 and 

thus affect the efficiency of the N2-ECBM method. Under the conditions of the 

experiments, the total CH4 displacement ratio and breakthrough for the case 

CO2-ECBM were found to be more favorable compared to those obtained from 

N2-ECBM. This study provides new insights into the efficiency of the CO2-ECBM 

process and offers a comprehensive experimental data set that can be used 

for testing the accuracy of predictive models.” Mojgan Hadi Mosleh, Majid 

Sedighi, Philip J. Vardon, and Matthew Turner, Energy Fuels. (Subscription 

may be required.)
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October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Geochemical tracers for monitoring offshore CO2 stores.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Chemical tracers are proposed as 

an effective means of detecting, attributing and quantifying any CO2 leaks to 

surface from geological CO2 storage sites, a key component of CCS technology. 

A significant proportion of global CO2 storage capacity is located offshore, with 

some regions of the world having no onshore stores. To assure regulatory bodies and the public of CO2 storage integrity it is important to demonstrate that 

robust offshore monitoring systems are in place. A range of chemical tracers 

for leakage have been tested at onshore pilot CCS projects worldwide, but to 

date they have not been trialled at injection projects or CO2 release experiments located offshore. Here, for the first time, [the authors] critically review 

the current issues surrounding commercial scale use of tracers for offshore 

CCS projects, and examine the constraints and cost implications posed by the 

marine environment. These constraints include the logistics of sampling for 

tracers offshore, the fate of tracers in marine environments, tracer background 

levels, marine toxicity and legislative barriers – with particular focus on the 

Europe and the UK. It is clear that chemicals that form a natural component of 

the CO2 stream are preferable tracers for ease of permitting and avoiding cost 

and risks of procuring and artificially adding a tracer. However, added tracers 

offer more reliability in terms of their unique composition and the ability to 

control and regulate concentrations. [The authors] identify helium and xenon 

isotopes (particularly 124,129Xe), and artificial tracers such as PFCs and deuterated methane as the most suitable added tracers. This is due to their conservative [behavior], low environmental impact and relative inexpense. Importantly, 

[the authors] also find that SF6 and C14 are not viable tracers for CCS due to 

environmental concerns, and many other potential tracers can be ruled out on 

the basis of cost. Further, [the authors] identify key challenges that are unique 

to using tracers for offshore monitoring, and highlight critical uncertainties that 

future work should address. These include possible adsorption or dispersion 

of tracer compounds during ascent through the overburden, longevity of tracers over the timeframes relevant for CCS monitoring, the permissible environmental effects of tracer leakage, and tracer [behavior] in seabed CO2 bubble 

streams and in dissolved CO2. These uncertainties directly affect the selection 

of appropriate tracers, the injection program and concentrations necessary for 

their reliable detection, and appropriate sampling approaches. Hence offshore 

tracer selection and associated expense are currently poorly constrained. Further, there is limited experience of sampling for tracers in the marine environment; current approaches are expensive and must be streamlined to enable 

affordable monitoring strategies. Further work is necessary to address these 

unknowns so as to evaluate the performance of potential tracers for CO2 leak 

quantitation and provide more accurate costings for effective offshore tracer 

monitoring programs.” Jennifer J. Roberts, Stuart M.V. Gilfillan, Linda Stalker, and Mark Naylor, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Cleaner coal and greener oil production: An integrated CCUS approach 

in Yanchang Petroleum Group.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The Ordos Basin has the richest 

natural resources in China. It has over one third of the coal resources of China 

and it is the second largest oil and natural gas sedimentary basin in China. The 

Yanchang Petroleum Group is the only company that has both coal and petroleum mineral rights in this basin, which provides a unique favorable condition 

for implementing a CCUS project in China. The CCUS project conducted by the 

Yanchang Petroleum Group integrates a clean coal chemical plant with lowcost CO2 capture facilities and CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and storage in 

tight formations. The coal chemical plant produces methanol and acetic acid 

from coal using the Texaco coal gasification process. High purity CO2 is separated from the methanol rich solvent. After compression and deep-freezing 

treatment, liquid CO2 with a purity of 99% is produced for CO2 EOR and the 

storage project. The cost of the CO2 product is about 117 Renminbi (RMB)/

[metric ton] CO2, which is less than US $18/[metric ton] of CO2. This cost is 

about half of the cost of CO2 in the coal power plant (US $30-40/[metric ton]). 

The captured CO2 is transported to a CO2 EOR and storage project about 30–

100 km away, which is a much shorter distance than the required transportation distances of other commercial CO2 EOR and storage projects. For example, 

the transportation distance is over 300 km for the Weyburn project. The short 

distances between the CO2 capture facility and the oil fields further reduce the 

transportation costs of the CCUS project in China. The oil fields in the Ordos 

Basin are mainly tight formations with low reservoir pressures. Water resources are very limited in the basin. Thus, minimizing water usage in the petroleum 

industry can significantly protect the environment in this area. Carbon dioxide 

EOR can reduce the water usage and [EOR] at the same time. An extensive 

experimental study was conducted to maximize the performance of CO2 EOR 

in tight formations with low reservoir pressures. The current reservoir pressure 

in those oil fields is less than 10 MPa, which is far lower than the minimum 

miscible pressure (MMP) (16–22 MPa). Different approaches, such as CO2

foam flooding and huff-n-puff, have been proposed to build up the reservoir 

pressure to enhance the oil recovery performance. A field pilot test, containing 

about 50 wells, has been conducted for four years, and the oil production rates 

for those wells have been doubled or tripled. This project is the first integrated 

CCUS project operated in China. Currently seventy thousand [metric tons] of 

CO2 have been injected. In the next five years, this project will be expanded to 

1 million [metric tons] of CO2 injection, which will make it the second largest 

CCUS project in the world after Canada’s Weyburn project.” Xiangzeng Wang, 

Fanhua Zeng, Ruimin Gao, Xisen Zhao, Shiyan Hao, Quansheng Liang, and 

Shaojing Jiang, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription 

may be required.)

The impact of carbon emission costs on manufacturers’ production 

and location decision.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper investigates how emerging carbon emission costs may affect the joint production and location decisions for a manufacturer across the world’s regions. Specifically, [the authors] 

develop a new theoretical model which explicitly links product demand, production costs and carbon emission levels to location decisions, and investigate 

the manufacturer’s optimal decisions between two distinct regions. The results 

show that the influence of carbon emissions on manufacturers’ decisions can 

vary greatly under different circumstances: both off-shoring and near-shoring 

are possible under rising carbon emission costs; manufacturers with high or 

low demand have different tolerance levels to the rising carbon emission costs 

when considering an alternative location; trade costs can change the pattern of 

relocation. To gain policy insights for those who pursue reducing carbon emissions, different product examples are used to calculate the critical carbon price 

which triggers different location choices. The results suggest that if production 

technology is stable, raising carbon cost itself has only limited effects on reducing total carbon emissions, especially for high-value-low-emission industries. The location shift, which is more sensitive to changes in variable carbon 

emissions, may lead to a significant emission reduction when completed. Additional pricing decision from the manufacturer shows no significant effect on 

the location decisions; however, if demand is linked directly to carbon emission 

footprint of the product, then it is more hopeful that a raised carbon price would 

reduce the carbon emissions significantly through relocation.” Peng Wu, Ying 

Jin, Yongjiang Chi, and Hawfeng Shyu, International Journal of Production 

Economics. (Subscription may be required.)
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Carbon emissions quotas in the Chinese road transport sector: 

A carbon trading perspective.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In response to the growing need 

to reduce carbon emissions, it is necessary to explore the design of carbon 

trading mechanisms and discuss allocation options for the transport sector. 

This paper examines the allocation of carbon quotas with the introduction of an 

emissions trading scheme (ETS) in the Chinese road transport sector. Aiming 

to simulate the allocation of carbon emissions quotas, [the authors] forecast 

vehicle possession using a gray forecast model and trend extrapolation; consider the CO2 emissions of the transport sector using a top-down approach; 

and design three policy scenarios. [The authors] provide the following findings. 

First, vehicle possession in the road transport sector and carbon emissions 

both display an increasing trend, reaching 180 million units and 6.6 billion 

tons by 2020, respectively. Second, the road transport sector has the largest 

carbon quota under the benchmark scenario and the smallest under a low-carbon scenario. The difference between these two scenarios is 2.7 billion tons 

of carbon emissions. Finally, [the authors] design a carbon emissions trading 

mechanism for the transport sector based on China’s special development period, and provide a sensitivity analysis.” Rong Han, Bi-Ying Yu, Bao-Jun Tang, 

Hua Liao, and Yi-Ming Wei, Energy Policy. (Subscription may be required.)

Probabilistic modeling and global sensitivity analysis for CO2 storage in 

geological formations: a spectral approach.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This work focuses on the simulation of CO2 storage in deep underground formations under uncertainty and 

seeks to understand the impact of uncertainties in reservoir properties on CO2

leakage. To simulate the process, a non-isothermal two-phase two-component 

flow system with equilibrium phase exchange is used. Since model evaluations 

are computationally intensive, instead of traditional Monte Carlo methods, [the 

authors] rely on polynomial chaos (PC) expansions for representation of the 

stochastic model response. A non-intrusive approach is used to determine the 

PC coefficients. [The authors] establish the accuracy of the PC representations 

within a reasonable error threshold through systematic convergence studies. In 

addition to characterizing the distributions of model observables, [the authors] 

compute probabilities of excess CO2 leakage. Moreover, [the authors] consider 

the injection rate as a design parameter and compute an optimum injection 

rate that ensures that the risk of excess pressure buildup at the leaky well 

remains below acceptable levels. [The authors] also provide a comprehensive 

analysis of sensitivities of CO2 leakage, where [the authors] compute the contributions of the random parameters, and their interactions, to the variance by 

computing first, second, and total order Sobol’ indices.” Bilal M. Saad, Alen 

Alexanderian, Serge Prudhomme, and Omar M. Knio, Applied Mathematical 

Modelling. (Subscription may be required.)

FEBRUARY 2018

U.S. DOE’s Economic Approaches and Resources for Evaluating the 

Cost of Implementing Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS).

The following is the Abstract of this article: “[DOE] and [NETL] are world leaders 

in CCUS research and analysis. They have developed resources and a set of 

economic tools to evaluate the cost to implement CCUS for each segment of 

the value chain: capture, transport, and storage. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the economic models and analytical approaches DOE/

NETL has developed for assessing the CO2 capture, storage, and transport cost 

drivers that impact the entire CCUS value chain. Failure to effectively evaluate 

the economic opportunity for CCUS technology to reduce CO2 emissions would 

deter wide-spread deployment. DOE’s economic models and resources enable 

a variety of possible analytical approaches to evaluate the economics associated with deploying CCUS. The resources are open-source so that interested 

stakeholder groups can apply them to their specific problems, and to enable 

feedback to improve these models moving forward.” Derek Vikara, Chung Yan 

Shih, ShangMin Lin, Allison Guinan, Timothy Grant, David Morgan, and Donald Remson, Journal of Sustainable Energy Engineering. (Subscription may be 

required.)

The Value of CCS under Current Policy Scenarios: NDCs and Beyond.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper describes preliminary 

results of analysis using the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) to evaluate the potential role of CCS in achieving emissions reduction targets. Scenarios are modelled using the Paris-Increased Ambition (PIA) case developed 

by Fawcett et al. (2015), and a more aggressive Paris Two-Degree Ambition 

(P2A) case. Both cases are based upon nationally determined contributions 

(NDCs) agreed to at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP-21) in December 

2015, coupled with additional mitigation effort beyond the 2030 Paris timeframe, through the end of the century. Analysis of CCS deployment and abatement costs under both policy scenarios suggests that, as modelled, having 

CCS in the technological portfolio could reduce the global cost of addressing 

emissions reduction targets specified under the policy scenario by trillions of 

dollars. Through the end of the century, total global abatement costs over the 

century associated with the PIA case – with five percent annual reduction in 

emission intensity and reaching 2.2 degrees by 2100 – are reduced by $15 

trillion USD in the scenario where CCS is available to deploy by 2025 and 

remains available through 2100, nearly halving the cost of climate change 

abatement. Under the more ambitious P2A case, with 8 percent annual reduction in emission intensity and reaching 1.9 degrees by 2100, the availability 

of CCS reduces global abatement costs by $22 trillion USD through the end 

of the century, again nearly halving the costs of addressing the policy, relative 

to achieving the same target using an energy portfolio that does not include 

CCS. PIA and P2A scenarios with CCS result in 1,250 and 1,580 GtCO2 of 

global geologic storage through the end of the century, respectively.” Casie L. 

Davidson, Robert T. Dahowski, Haewon C. McJeon, Leon E. Clarke, Gokul C. 

Iyer, and Matteo Muratori, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

A review of developments in carbon dioxide storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCS has been identified as an urgent, strategic and essential approach to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions, 

and mitigate the severe consequences of climate change. [Carbon dioxide] 

storage is the last step in the CCS chain and can be implemented mainly 

through oceanic and underground geological sequestration, and mineral carbonation. This review paper aims to provide state-of-the-art developments in 

CO2 storage. The review initially discussed the potential options for CO2 storage 

by highlighting the present status, current challenges and uncertainties associated with further deployment of established approaches (such as storage in saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs) and feasibility demonstration 

of relatively newer storage concepts (such as hydrate storage and CO2-based 

enhanced geothermal systems). The second part of the review outlined the 

critical criteria that are necessary for storage site selection, including geological, geothermal, geohazards, hydrodynamic, basin maturity, and economic, societal and environmental factors. In the third section, the focus was on 

identification of CO2 [behavior] within the reservoir during and after injection, 

namely injection-induced seismicity, potential leakage pathways, and longterm containment complexities associated with CO2-brine-rock interaction. In 

addition, a detailed review on storage capacity estimation methods based on 

different geological media and trapping mechanisms was provided. Finally, an 

overview of major CO2 storage projects, including their overall outcomes, were 

outlined. This review indicates that although CO2 storage is a technically proven 

strategy, the discussed challenges need to be addressed in order to accelerate 

the deployment of the technology. In addition, beside the necessity of techno-economic aspects, public acceptance of CO2 storage plays a central role in 

technology deployment, and the current ethical mechanisms need to be further 

improved.” Mohammed D. Aminu, Seyed Ali Nabavi, Christopher A. Rochelle, 

and Vasilije Manovic, Applied Energy. (Subscription may be required.) 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

26

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

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

An interval robust stochastic programming method for planning 

carbon sink trading to support regional ecosystem sustainability— 

A case study of Zhangjiakou, China.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In this study, an interval two-stage 

robust optimization method (ITRM) is developed for planning carbon-emission 

trading between ecosystem and industrial systems under uncertainty. The 

developed ITRM incorporates interval-parameter programming (IPP) and twostage stochastic programming (TSP) within a robust optimization (RO) framework to deal with uncertainties presented as both probabilities and intervals 

and to reflect economic penalties as corrective measures or recourse against 

any infeasibilities arising due to a particular realization of an uncertain event. 

Compared with the traditional TSP, ITRM can effectively reflect the risk generated by stochastic programming process and enhance the robustness of the 

model, such that it is suitable for risk-aversive planners under high-variability 

conditions. The ITRM is applied to a case of carbon sink trading of Zhangjiakou 

and CO2 emission planning under uncertainty. The results obtained reveal that 

carbon trading mechanism can greatly optimize the allocation of resources 

and reduce the cost of emission abatement. The results also reveal that the 

contribution of forest ecosystems to carbon sinks and ecosystem services than 

others. Moreover, the system benefit would decrease as the robustness level is 

raised. Results indicate that when the robustness level is relatively low, the decision makers would pay more attention to the economic benefit of the system 

and neglect the stability of the system.” Z.S. Guo, Y.P. Li, G.H. Huang, S.W. Jin, 

and Brian W. Baetz, Ecological Engineering. (Subscription may be required.)

Heterogeneity, pore pressure, and injectate chemistry: 

Control measures for geologic carbon storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Desirable outcomes for geologic 

carbon storage include maximizing storage efficiency, preserving injectivity, 

and avoiding unwanted consequences such as caprock or wellbore leakage or 

induced seismicity during and post injection. To achieve these outcomes, three 

control measures are evident including pore pressure, injectate chemistry, and 

knowledge and prudent use of geologic heterogeneity. Field, experimental, and 

modeling examples are presented that demonstrate controllable GCS via these 

three measures. Observed changes in reservoir response accompanying CO2

injection at the Cranfield (Mississippi, USA) site, along with lab testing, show 

potential for use of injectate chemistry as a means to alter fracture permeability (with concomitant improvements for sweep and storage efficiency). Further 

control of reservoir sweep attends brine extraction from reservoirs, with benefit 

for pressure control, mitigation of reservoir and wellbore damage, and water 

use. State-of-the-art validated models predict the extent of damage and deformation associated with pore pressure hazards in reservoirs, timing and location of networks of fractures, and development of localized leakage pathways. 

Experimentally validated geomechanics models show where wellbore failure is 

likely to occur during injection, and efficiency of repair methods. Use of heterogeneity as a control measure includes where best to inject, and where to avoid 

attempts at storage. An example is use of waste zones or leaky seals to both 

reduce pore pressure hazards and enhance residual CO2 trapping.” Thomas 

Dewers, Peter Eichhubl, Ben Ganis, Steven Gomez, Jason Heath, Mohamad 

Jammoul, Peter Kobos, Ruijie Liu, Jonathan Major, Ed Matteo, Pania Newell, 

Alex Rinehart, Steven Sobolik, John Stormont, Mahmoud Reda Taha, Mary 

Wheeler, and Deandra White, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Carbon tariffs: An analysis of the trade, welfare, and emission effects.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The potential of carbon tariffs to restore competitiveness, avoid carbon leakage, and reduce global carbon emissions has been prominently discussed. To analyze the effects of carbon tariffs 

on trade, welfare, and carbon emissions, [the authors] develop a multi-sector, 

multi-factor structural gravity model that allows an analytical and quantitative 

decomposition of the emission changes into scale, composition, and technique 

effects. [The authors’] analysis shows that carbon tariffs are able to reduce 

world emissions, mainly via altering the production composition within and 

across countries, hence reducing carbon leakage. This reduction comes at the 

cost of lower world trade flows and lower welfare, especially for developing 

countries. Applying [the authors’] framework to investigate the effects of the 

emission reduction pledges made by the Annex I countries in the Copenhagen 

Accord, [the authors] find that combining national emission targets with carbon 

tariffs would increase the Accord’s effectiveness by lowering the leakage rate 

from 13.4% to 4.1% (with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals of [11.5, 

15.8] and [3.3, 4.9], respectively).” Mario Larch and Joschka Wanner, Journal of International Economics. (Subscription may be required.)

Supercritical CO2 uptake by nonswelling phyllosilicates.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Interactions between supercritical 

(sc) CO2 and minerals are important when CO2 is injected into geologic formations for storage and as working fluids for [EOR], hydraulic fracturing, and 

geothermal energy extraction. It has previously been shown that at the elevated 

pressures and temperatures of the deep subsurface, scCO2 alters smectites 

(typical swelling phyllosilicates). However, less is known about the effects of 

scCO2 on nonswelling phyllosilicates (illite and muscovite), despite the fact that 

the latter are the dominant clay minerals in deep subsurface shales and mudstones. [The authors’] studies conducted by using single crystals, combining 

reaction (incubation with scCO2), visualization [atomic force microscopy (AFM)], 

and quantifications (AFM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, 

and off-gassing measurements) revealed unexpectedly high CO2 uptake that 

far exceeded its macroscopic surface area. Results from different methods collectively suggest that CO2 partially entered the muscovite interlayers, although 

the pathways remain to be determined. [The authors] hypothesize that preferential dissolution at weaker surface defects and frayed edges allows CO2 to 

enter the interlayers under elevated pressure and temperature, rather than by 

diffusing solely from edges deeply into interlayers. This unexpected uptake of 

CO2, can increase CO2 storage capacity by up to ~30% relative to the capacity 

associated with residual trapping in a 0.2-porosity sandstone reservoir containing up to 18 mass % of illite/muscovite. This excess CO2 uptake constitutes 

a previously unrecognized potential trapping mechanism.” Jiamin Wan, Tetsu 

K. Tokunaga, Paul D. Ashby, Yongman Kim, Marco Voltolini, Benjamin Gilbert, 

and Donald J. DePaolo, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of 

the United States of America. (Subscription may be required.)

Policy Parity for CCS? – Public Preference on Low Carbon Electricity.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “To examine the rationale for policy 

parity of three basic low carbon power sources, the consumer preference for 

those power sources was evaluated by choice experiment through a public 

survey in December 2015 - January 2016. A sample with decent representativeness was obtained by two stage stratified sampling and door-to-door 

canvassing. The choice questions were designed with realistic attributes simulating power retail market starting from April 2016. Through the data analysis, 

using random parameter logit model, [the authors] found that respondents’ 

WTP shows that they considered not only CO2 emission reductions but also 

the characteristics of the three methods of low carbon power generation. It 

is also found that WTP is 11 yen per 1% increase in renewables, 14 yen per 

1% decrease in nuclear (this WTP varies from one individual to another), and 

4 yen per 1% increase in thermal power generation with CCS. The results of 

WTPs for the share of renewables and CCS in the power mix of new electricity 

retail companies in the future market rationalizes the necessity of policy parity 

to some extent for those technologies implying inclusion of CCS in the FIT but 

not nuclear.” Kenshi Itaoka, Aya Saito, and Makoto Akai, Energy Procedia. 

(Subscription may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

27

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

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

MARCH 2018

Highlights and Lessons from the EU CCS Demonstration Project 

Network.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The European CCS Demonstration 

Project Network (the ‘Network’) is currently composed of projects located in 

the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the UK. The goal of the Network is to accelerate deployment of CCS by sharing project development experiences about 

technology implementation, including transport and storage of CO2, as well as 

regulatory environment and financial structures. This paper aims to provide an 

overview of some CCS insights gained from developing the Network projects. 

Besides technology and project development, sharing knowledge and lessons 

learned on project-level basis, have also given valuable insights on how policies can enable development and implementation of appropriate regulatory 

frameworks, and funding schemes towards effective deployment of CCS technology in power generation sector.” Zoe Kapetaki, Jens Hetland, Thomas Le 

Guenan, Tom Mikunda, and John Scowcroft, Energy Procedia. (Subscription 

may be required.)

How should Information about CCS be Shared 

with the Japanese Public?

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCS is regarded as an important 

mitigation option of climate change. However, the public discussion about CCS 

has not conducted, and an energy policy concerning the introduction of CCS 

to thermal power plants has not been decided in Japan. There are little social 

researches about the public recognition of the current situation about the energy portfolio and the public’s informational needs. The objective of this study 

is to analyze the attitudes and perception of CCS and thermal power generation 

through internet questionnaire surveys, and to provide appropriate information 

to promote public understanding and decision-making for introducing CCS 

technology for thermal power plants. Results showed that respondents did not 

grasp an accurate perception of the present energy situation such as the current energy portfolio and the role of thermal power generation. On the other 

hand, their risk perception toward climate change tended to decrease over 

time. They were not interested in CCS and almost everyone had not formed an 

impression of CCS yet, but people thought that CCS technology is more useful 

in Japan than the rest of the world. Thus the current energy situation, the 

baseline information and major premise, has to be shared in order to understand the impacts of introducing CCS technology. The public needs scientific 

evidence and explanation of implications and impacts in order to make decisions concerning the introduction of this technology. It is essential to provide 

appropriate information to the public linked with high public interest topics in 

order to overcome the lack of interest in CCS and increase public perception of 

it’s role in thermal power.” Hiromi Kubota and Akiro Shimota, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

Probabilistic modeling and global sensitivity analysis for CO2 storage 

in geological formations: a spectral approach.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This work focuses on the simulation of CO2 storage in deep underground formations under uncertainty and 

seeks to understand the impact of uncertainties in reservoir properties on CO2

leakage. To simulate the process, a non-isothermal two-phase two-component 

flow system with equilibrium phase exchange is used. Since model evaluations 

are computationally intensive, instead of traditional Monte Carlo methods, [the 

authors] rely on polynomial chaos (PC) expansions for representation of the 

stochastic model response. A non-intrusive approach is used to determine the 

PC coefficients. [The authors] establish the accuracy of the PC representations 

within a reasonable error threshold through systematic convergence studies. In 

addition to characterizing the distributions of model observables, [the authors] 

compute probabilities of excess CO2 leakage. Moreover, [the authors] consider 

the injection rate as a design parameter and compute an optimum injection 

rate that ensures that the risk of excess pressure buildup at the leaky well 

remains below acceptable levels. [The authors] also provide a comprehensive 

analysis of sensitivities of CO2 leakage, where [the authors] compute the contributions of the random parameters, and their interactions, to the variance by 

computing first, second, and total order Sobol’ indices.” Bilal M. Saad, Alen 

Alexanderian, Serge Prudhomme, and Omar M. Knio, Applied Mathematical 

Modelling. (Subscription may be required.)

Effect of wettability heterogeneity and reservoir temperature on CO2

storage efficiency in deep saline aquifers.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Reservoir heterogeneity at various 

length scales is a well-established fact. This includes reservoir wettability − a 

key factor influencing CO2 geo-storage efficiency and containment security − 

which changes with depth, and is generally non-uniform due to different depositional environments and fluid flow paths over geological times. However, the 

effect of heterogeneous wettability distribution on CO2 storage efficiency is not 

understood. Moreover, there is a knowledge gap in terms of how temperature 

affects capillary and dissolution trapping, CO2 mobility and vertical CO2 migration distance, particularly when coupled with wettability heterogeneity effects. 

Thus, in this work [the authors] studied the effect of wettability heterogeneity 

and reservoir temperature on the vertical CO2 plume migration, and capillary 

and dissolution trapping capacities. [The authors’] results clearly show that 

both wettability heterogeneity and reservoir temperature have a significant 

effect on vertical CO2 migration, and the associated capillary and dissolution 

trapping mechanisms: both heterogeneously distributed wettability and higher 

temperature significantly accelerated the vertical CO2 migration, CO2 mobility and solubility trapping, while it reduced residual trapping. [The authors] 

thus conclude that wettability heterogeneity and reservoir temperature are 

important factors in the context of CO2 geo-storage, and that heterogeneous 

wettability and higher reservoir temperatures reduce storage capacity.” Emad 

A. Al-Khdheeawi, Stephanie Vialle, Ahmed Barifcani, Mohammad Sarmadivaleh, and Stefan Iglauer, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.

(Subscription may be required.)

The impact of time-varying CO2 injection rate on large scale storage 

in the UK Bunter Sandstone.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCS is expected to play a key 

role in meeting targets set by the Paris Agreement and for meeting legally 

binding [GHG] emissions targets set within the UK. Energy systems models 

have been essential in identifying the importance of CCS but they neglect to 

impose constraints on the availability and use of geologic CO2 storage reservoirs. In this work [the authors analyze] reservoir performance sensitivities to 

varying CO2 storage demand for three sets of injection scenarios designed to 

encompass the UK’s future low carbon energy market. [The authors] use the 

ECLIPSE reservoir simulator and a model of part of the Southern North Sea 

Bunter Sandstone saline aquifer. From a first set of injection scenarios [the 

authors] find that varying amplitude and frequency of injection on a multi-year 

basis has little effect on reservoir pressure response and plume migration. 

Injectivity varies with site location due to variations in depth and regional permeability. In a second set of injection scenarios, [the authors] show that with 

envisioned UK storage demand levels for a large coal fired power plant, it 

makes no difference to reservoir response whether all injection sites are deployed upfront or gradually as demand increases. Meanwhile, there may be an 

advantage to deploying infrastructure in deep sites first in order to meet higher 

demand later. However, deep-site deployment will incur higher upfront cost 

than shallow-site deployment. In a third set of injection scenarios, [the authors] 

show that starting injection at a high rate with ramping down, a low rate with 

ramping up or at a constant rate makes little difference to the overall injectivity of the reservoir. Therefore, such variability is not essential to represent 

CO2 storage in energy systems models resolving plume and pressure evolution 

over decadal timescales.” Clea Kolster, Simeon Agada, Niall Mac Dowell, and 

Samuel Krevor, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription 

may be required.)
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

28

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

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Optimal production and carbon emission reduction level under 

cap-and-trade and low carbon subsidy policies.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In recent years, massive carbon 

emissions have caused serious global environmental damage such as a worsening greenhouse effect and thick haze. To curb carbon emissions as well as 

maintain sustainable economic development, governments promote the development of low carbon economy by issuing multiple policies among which the 

cap-and-trade policy (CTP) and low carbon subsidy policy (LCSP) are widely 

adopted. Moreover, manufacturers are increasingly adopting carbon emission 

reduction technology to produce greener products considering related government policies and rising environmental awareness among consumers. To 

give policy-making insights to governments as well as production and carbon 

emission reduction decision-making insights to manufacturers, this paper investigates the impacts of CTP and LCSP on the production and carbon emission reduction level of a manufacturer, and explores which policy is better for 

society. The results show that the carbon emission reduction level increases as 

the carbon trading price increases, whereas it is independent of the unit low 

carbon subsidy. Interestingly, the carbon trading price does not always have 

a negative effect on the manufacturer’s profit, and the cap does not always 

produce a positive effect on the manufacturer’s profit. More importantly, [the 

authors] find that LCSP is more beneficial to society when the environmental 

damage coefficient is less than a threshold, but otherwise CTP is more beneficial.” Kaiying Cao, Xiaoping Xu, Qiang Wu, and Quanpeng Zhang, Journal of 

Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required.)

The market performance of carbon trading in China: 

A theoretical framework of structure-conduct-performance.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In order to provide feasible 

platform for the establishment of national carbon market in China and other developing countries, it is vital to competitively assess China’s seven Pilot 

[ETSs] by comparing market performances. Hence, this paper employs the 

structure-conduct-performance (SCP) framework to qualitatively evaluate the 

external and internal performances of the China’s carbon market. Particularly, 

a structural vector auto-regression (SVAR) approach is adopted to calculate 

the three invisible indicators of internal performance using time series of three 

typical Pilot ETS from the launching dates till May 4, 2016 with restrictions 

on return, trading volume and volatility variables. The results depicted that: (i) 

absence of legal binding forces (Market environment), market segmentation 

(Structure), excessive allowance allocation and lack of investment (Conduct) 

are main reasons for poor performance of China’s Pilot ETS; (ii) with respect to 

internal performance, Hubei ETS has higher speculation and volatility sensitive 

to pricing returns. Hubei ETS also has the fastest information diffusion speed 

followed by Guangdong and Shanghai ETS. Guangdong ETS has a conservative 

investment environment and volatility is receptive to the changes in trading 

volume whereas Shanghai ETS has a mature investment environment.” Xueping Tan and Xinyu Wang, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may 

be required.)

A systematic review of key challenges of CO2 transport via pipelines.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Transport of CO2 via pipeline from 

the point of capture to a geologically suitable location for either sequestration 

or enhanced hydrocarbon recovery is a vital aspect of the CCS chain. This 

means of CO2 transport has a number of advantages over other means of 

CO2 transport, such as truck, rail, and ship. Pipelines ensure continuous transport of CO2 from the capture point to the storage site, which is essential to 

transport the amount of CO2 captured from the source facilities, such as fossil 

fuel power plants, operating in a continuous manner. Furthermore, using pipelines is regarded as more economical than other means of CO2 transport. The 

greatest challenges of CO2 transport via pipelines are related to integrity, flow 

assurance, capital and operating costs, and health, safety and environmental 

factors. Deployment of CCS pipeline projects is based either on point-to-point 

transport, in which case a specific source matches a specific storage point, or 

through the development of pipeline networks with a backbone CO2 pipeline. 

In the latter case, the CO2 streams, which are [characterized] by a varying 

impurity level and handled by the individual operators, are linked to the backbone CO2 pipeline for further compression and transport. This may pose some 

additional challenges. This review involves a systematic evaluation of various 

challenges that delay the deployment of CO2 pipeline transport and is based on 

an extensive survey of the literature. It is aimed at confidence-building in the 

technology and improving economics in the long run. Moreover, the knowledge 

gaps were identified, including lack of analyses on a holistic assessment of 

component impurities, corrosion consideration at the conceptual stage, the effect of elevation on CO2 dense phase characteristics, permissible water levels 

in liquefied CO2, and commercial risks associated with project abandonment 

or cancellation resulting from high project capital and operating costs.” V.E. 

Onyebuchi, A. Kolios, D.P. Hanak, C. Biliyok, and V. Manovic, Renewable and 

Sustainable Energy Reviews. (Subscription may be required.) 

Global Sequestration Potential of Increased Organic Carbon in 

Cropland Soils.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The role of soil organic carbon 

in global carbon cycles is receiving increasing attention both as a potentially 

large and uncertain source of CO2 emissions in response to predicted global 

temperature rises, and as a natural sink for carbon able to reduce atmospheric 

CO2. There is general agreement that the technical potential for sequestration 

of carbon in soil is significant, and some consensus on the magnitude of that 

potential. Croplands worldwide could sequester between 0.90 and 1.85 Pg C/

yr, i.e. 26–53 [percent] of the target of the ‘4p1000 Initiative: Soils for Food 

Security and Climate.’ The importance of intensively cultivated regions such 

as North America, Europe, India and intensively cultivated areas in Africa, such 

as Ethiopia, is highlighted. Soil carbon sequestration and the conservation of 

existing soil carbon stocks, given its multiple benefits including improved food 

production, is an important mitigation pathway to achieve the less than 2°C 

global target of the Paris Climate Agreement.” Zomer, Robert J.; Bossio, Deborah A.; Sommer, Rolf; Verchot, Louis V., Scientific Reports. (Subscription may 

be required.)

APRIL 2018

Comparative analysis of transport and storage options from a CO2

source perspective.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This study evaluated integrated 

CCS costs from the perspective of a CO2 source. A source will have captured 

CO2 requiring suitable storage and affordable transportation between source 

and storage. Capture, transport, and storage are the links of the CCS value 

chain. For this study, capture costs were modeled for six hypothetical sources 

(various industrial and power-generation facilities) with annual CO2 capture 

rates ranging from 0.65 to 3.90 million [metric tons (Mt)]. Seven storage reservoirs located in the Appalachian, Illinois and Gulf Coast Basins—and of various 

quality with respect to CO2 storage—were modeled: two within the Rose Run 

Formation, three within the Mount (Mt.) Simon Formation, one in the Lower 

Tuscaloosa Formation, and one in the Frio Formation. Storage costs were calculated with the FE/NETL CO2 Saline Storage Cost Model for the seven selected 

storage reservoirs under dome and regional dip structural settings. For transportation, a dedicated pipeline system and a trunkline pipeline system were 

modeled. Transportation costs from source to storage reservoirs were evaluated using the FE/NETL CO2 Transport Cost Model. A source may not always be 

able to find suitable proximal storage. Low CCS costs reflect a source’s mass 

of captured CO2 finding suitable storage within an affordable transportation 

distance. Economies of scale are present in each link of the CCS value chain. 

These economies of scale are limited with respect to storage or the distance 

captured CO2 can be transported to storage.” Timothy Grant, Allison Guinan, 

Chung Yan Shih, ShangMin Lin, Derek Vikara, David Morgan, and Donald 

Remson, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may 

be required.) 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

29

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

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Timescapes of CCS Projects: Is Deferring Projects and Policies Just 

Kicking the Can Down the Road?

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCS is considered a transition 

measure to a completely sustainable energy regime. Nonetheless, in recent 

years, several projects have been cancelled or postponed. This raises some 

questions about temporal issues. This study defines temporal features (i.e. 

frame, timing, tempo, and duration) for policy making and deployment of largescale CCS projects. According to this study, it appears that CCS deployment is 

lagging behind due to institutional inertia and poor temporal fit. Thus, unless 

significant progress is made in a very few years, CCS will lose ground to other 

alternatives. Timing should be taken into consideration in every matter of CCS.” 

Farid Karimi, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

Efficiency of Carbon Dioxide Storage and Enhanced Methane Recovery 

in a High Rank Coal.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The high affinity and adsorption 

capacity of coal to [CO2] provides an alternative approach for the enhanced 

recovery of methane from unminable coalfields (CO2-[enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM)]) by which a potential solution for long-term CO2 sequestration in 

deep geological formations can also be achieved. However, due to chemomechanical effects induced by the interactions between CO2 and coal, the effective methane production and [CO2] storage can be degraded which has caused 

uncertainties about the techno-economic feasibility of the CO2-ECBM process. 

This study presents an experimental investigation that aims to address key 

knowledge gaps related to the efficiency of CO2 storage and [methane (CH4)] 

recovery in high rank coals for which a comprehensive experimental data set 

and analysis are largely missing. Competitive displacements of CH4 with [nitrogen (N2)] or CO2 in an anthracite coal sample from a South Wales coalfield have 

been studies, based on a series of core flooding experiments. The results show 

that the N2 breakthrough time (the time at which 1% of the total gas injected was recovered) was almost spontaneous whereas a considerably delayed 

breakthrough time was observed for the case of the CO2-ECBM experiment. 

In addition it was observed that for the CO2-ECBM experiment, the ratios of 

CH4 recovery with respect to the total amount of gas injected and gas stored 

were higher by factors of 10 and 2.4, respectively. The results also show that 

90% of the total N2 injected was produced in the outflow gas, whereas for the 

case of the CO2 experiment, only 63% of the total injected CO2 was produced. 

The presence of a high amount of N2 in the outflow may lead to additional 

challenges in order to separate N2 from CH4 and thus affect the efficiency 

of the N2-ECBM method. Under the conditions of the experiments, the total 

CH4 displacement ratio and breakthrough for the case CO2-ECBM were found 

to be more favorable compared to those obtained from N2-ECBM. This study 

provides new insights into the efficiency of the CO2-ECBM process and offers a 

comprehensive experimental data set that can be used for testing the accuracy 

of predictive models.” Mojgan Hadi Mosleh, Majid Sedighi, Philip J. Vardon, 

and Matthew Turner, Energy Fuels. (Subscription may be required).

A plant tolerance index to select soil leaking CO2 bio-indicators for 

carbon capture and storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Plant response to the leakage of 

stored CO2 is a key concern for safe CCS. An understanding of plant tolerance 

to high soil CO2 concentrations is urgently required to facilitate bio-indicator 

selection for both long-term environmental monitoring and prevention of stored 

CO2 leakage. In this study, [the authors] propose a new index, the Leaking CO2

Tolerance Index, LCTI, which assesses plant CO2 tolerance using the change 

(downward shift) in index values under leakage treatments. The calculated LCTI 

reveals that, of the four studied plants, clover was the most tolerant (0.42), 

followed by alfalfa (0.4), teosinte (0.33), and finally maize (0.29). [The authors’] results suggest that clover, along with other high-LCTI species, should 

be selected as species that can potentially adapt and respond to CCS leakage. 

Furthermore, plants such as maize appear suitable as bio-indicators to monitor 

carbon storage fields, allowing early detection of CO2 leakage.” Xueyan Zhang, 

Xin Ma, Yang Wu, Qinzhu Gao, and Yue Li, Journal of Cleaner Production. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Potential for using municipal solid waste as a resource for bioenergy 

with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Bioenergy with Carbon Capture 

and Storage (BECCS) is a carbon removal technology that offers permanent 

net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. One of the significant bioenergy 

resources is organic waste collected from municipal solid waste (MSW). The 

goal of this study was to provide an estimate of the global potential for using 

municipal solid waste as a resource for BECCS and to compare the feasibility 

of two specific BECCS options: municipal solid waste incineration with carbon 

capture and storage (MSW-CCS), and landfill gas combusted in a gas turbine 

with carbon capture and storage (LFG-CCS). To assess the feasibility of MSWbased BECCS options, techno-economic and environmental impact assessments were conducted. In the case of a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario with no 

emission policy in effect, the [levelized] cost of electricity production from both 

BECCS options is higher than a coal power plant with CCS. However, these 

BECCS systems offer a lower cost of avoided CO2. Introducing renewable energy certificates or negative emission refund schemes to BECCS has a significant 

impact on the economic viability of these technologies in coal-dominant power 

markets. Environmental impact assessment shows that around 0.7 kg CO2-eq 

is removed for each kg of wet MSW incinerated, for the MSW-CCS scenario. 

This translates to approximately negative 2.8 billion tonnes CO2 if all the available 4 billion tonnes MSW generated per year by 2100 is [utilized] in a MSWCCS system. The net GHG emission of the LFG-CCS system with an average 

LFG collection rate of 75% was 0.56 kg CO2-eq. Challenges include the dispersed nature of MSW resources and the lack of economic support schemes, 

such as commonly apply to solar and wind. Nonetheless, MSW-based BECCS 

technologies have significant potential for abating and in some cases removing 

considerable amounts of the [GHGs] from the atmosphere, thereby contributing 

significantly to the COP21 emission reduction targets.” Nasim Pour, Paul A. 

Webley, and Peter J. Cook, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. 

(Subscription may be required.)

The cost of conserved water for coal power generation with carbon 

capture and storage in Alberta, Canada.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The impact of CCS technology on 

the coal-fired power generation was evaluated in this paper. The impact was 

measured through the cost of conserved water (CCW) as an indicator. This 

indicator was estimated by combining water demand coefficients and levelized 

cost of electricity (LCOE). CCW was calculated based on a reference case for 

each of the developed 66 generic pathways of coal-based power generation 

with CCS. The current existing mix of power generation in the Province of Alberta, Canada was taken as the reference case in this paper. Water consumption 

coefficients for coal-based power generation with CCS were found in the range 

1.01–4.85 m3

/MWh based on the complete life cycle and 0.15–3.65 m3/MWh 

for the power generation stage. Based on the complete life cycle boundary, 

pathways involved ultra-supercritical configuration and oxyfuel combustion 

CCS technology offer the lowest CCW, with values less than 0.89 USD per m3

of water saved for consumption and less than 0.66 USD per m3

 of water saved 

for withdrawals. In the sensitivity analysis, LCOE for the pathways involved dry 

cooling was increased by 6.00 USD/MWh over the base case value, and the 

resulted corresponding increase in the CCW was found in the range 9–33% 

compared to the base case.” Babkir Ali, Energy Conversion and Management. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Interactions and coordination between carbon emissions trading and 

other direct carbon mitigation policies in China.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “China has decided to rely on a 

variety of policy approaches to achieve its ambitious [GHG] mitigation targets, 

with carbon emissions trading as the latest policy alongside many existing 

policies, such as GDP CO2 intensity reduction, energy efficiency and renewable 

energy policies. This article is intended to elucidate from a qualitative perspective the interactions between emissions trading and other relevant policies in 

China through the analysis of their elements, policy processes, characteristics, 

dimensions, performances and impacts. Intensive interviews were conducted 

with more than 50 major stakeholders involved in the policy formulation and 

implementation process, including policy makers at different levels, experts, 

industries and verifiers. The authors themselves were also deeply involved in 
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the policy formulation and implementation process. The analysis shows that 

coordination between emissions trading and other policies, which is urgently 

needed from many aspects, is lacking in most aspects in practice for many 

reasons, among which institutional vested interests are possibly the most important. It is proposed that coordination should be conducted at both political 

and technical levels to achieve the full benefits of emissions trading, and starting from technical aspects may be a practical approach.” Maosheng Duan, 

Zhiyu Tian, Yongqiang Zhao, Mengyu Li, Energy Research & Social Science. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Remanufacturing with trade-ins under carbon regulations.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Observing prevalent concerns 

about the influence of carbon emissions on climate change, [the authors] address the problem of remanufacturing with trade-ins under carbon regulations. [The authors] analyze the optimal pricing and production decisions of 

the manufacturer under the carbon tax policy and the cap and trade program. 

The results show that the introduction of carbon regulations can promote sales 

of remanufactured products while reducing the demands of new products. 

However, the implementation of carbon regulations has negative impacts on 

the manufacturer’s profits. Nevertheless, the manufacturer’s profits can be 

improved through deliberately designed government subsidy schemes. [The 

authors] also demonstrate that the government has the incentive to propose 

such subsidy schemes because the total emissions can be reduced under 

well-designed regulations, but not at the cost of the manufacturer’s profits.” 

Zhaowei Miao, Huiqiang Mao, Ke Fu, and Yu Wang, Computers and Operations Research. (Subscription may be required.)

MAY 2018

World Bank CCS Program Activities in Botswana – Results and 

Lessons Learned.

The following is from the Abstract of this article: “The World Bank Carbon Capture and Storage Trust Fund (CCS TF) was established in 2009 to support 

CCS capacity and knowledge building in developing countries. CCS TF Phase 1 

support for CCS in Botswana included an allocation of USD 1.4 million and had 

the objective of supporting the Government of Botswana in the following areas: 

[1] Identifying potential geological reservoirs that can be utilized to store CO2

captured from coal-fired power plants; [2] Evaluating institutional and regulatory arrangements for CCS deployment in the country and recommendations 

for reinforcing institutional capacity; and [3] Providing training, education and 

capacity building at all stages throughout implementation, including a Study 

Tour for key individuals. For all three studies, the WB selected Environmental 

Resources Management Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd (ERM) as the lead consultant, in association with Wellfield Geosciences (Botswana) and Carbon Counts 

Company (UK) Ltd. The completed geological assessment found that there may 

be technical potential for geological storage of CO2 in Botswana’s geological 

formations within the Kalahari Karoo Basin, including three areas of interest 

-- the Passarge Basin, the Lephephe Graben and the Mmashoro Low. There is, 

however, a general lack of CO2 storage-relevant geological data that needs to 

be developed, if a more accurate assessment of CO2 storage potential is to be 

undertaken. The Passarge Basin was seen to be worthiest of additional investigation, which could be done through the re-examination of existing data or 

through new geological exploration. The Mashoro Low and Lephephe Graben 

are in close proximity to the centers of current coal-bed methane (CBM) exploration, suggesting that the integration of CBM exploitation and CO2 storage 

processes could be considered.” Brendan Beck and Natalia Kulichenko-Lotz, 

Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.) 

Subsurface CO2 storage estimation in Bakken tight oil and Eagle Ford 

shale gas condensate reservoirs by retention mechanism.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper describes the CO2

geological sequestration process in unconventional reservoirs in northern and 

southern United States such as Bakken tight oil and Eagle Ford shale gas 

condensate reservoirs. The hysteresis modelling and retention mechanism was 

performed in this research and this is one of the efficient and proven method 

to store CO2 in the subsurface. This can be achieved through CO2 EOR process 

while injecting CO2, the fluid will be trapped in the pore spaces between the 

impermeable rocks and oil can be recovered simultaneously. A total of four 

cases was taken for the analysis, such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford reservoirs with CO2 huff-n-puff process and another two cases with CO2 Flooding. 

Injection pressure, injection rate, injection time, number of cycles, [CO2] soaking time, fracture half-length, fracture conductivity, fracture spacing, porosity, 

permeability, and initial reservoir pressure as is taken as inputs and cumulative 

oil production, and oil recovery factor was taken as outputs. The reservoirs 

were modelled for 30 years of oil production and the factor year was taken 

as Decision Making Unit (DMU) and the models was calculated at each year. 

The retention was successfully calculated in all four models and percentage of 

retention above 90% was observed in all four cases and the injection pressure 

has the most dominating effect on the CO2 geological sequestration. It was also 

revealed that the CO2 huff-n-puff performance in Bakken reservoir is not that 

much more effective since the retention rate decreases during soaking period 

and flooding was found to be a suitable method in this formation. Even in Eagle 

Ford formation, the average performance of CO2 flooding process is better 

than the huff-n-puff, but the latter process was quite effective in this shale gas 

condensate reservoir.” Venkat Pranesh, Fuel. (Subscription may be required.)

An innovative computationally efficient hydromechanical coupling 

approach for fault reactivation in geological subsurface utilization.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Estimating the efficiency and sustainability of geological subsurface utilization, i.e., CCS requires an integrated 

risk assessment approach, considering the occurring coupled processes, beside others, the potential reactivation of existing faults. In this context, hydraulic 

and mechanical parameter uncertainties as well as different injection rates 

have to be considered and quantified to elaborate reliable environmental impact assessments. Consequently, the required sensitivity analyses consume 

significant computational time due to the high number of realizations that have 

to be carried out. Due to the high computational costs of two-way coupled 

simulations in large-scale 3D multiphase fluid flow systems, these are not 

applicable for the purpose of uncertainty and risk assessments. Hence, an innovative semi-analytical hydromechanical coupling approach for hydraulic fault 

reactivation will be introduced. This approach determines the void ratio evolution in representative fault elements using one preliminary base simulation, 

considering one model geometry and one set of hydromechanical parameters. 

The void ratio development is then approximated and related to one reference 

pressure at the base of the fault. The parametrization of the resulting functions 

is then directly implemented into a multiphase fluid flow simulator to carry out 

the semi-analytical coupling for the simulation of hydromechanical processes. 

Hereby, the iterative parameter exchange between the multiphase and mechanical simulators is omitted, since the update of porosity and permeability 

is controlled by one reference pore pressure at the fault base. The suggested 

procedure is capable to reduce the computational time required by coupled 

hydromechanical simulations of a multitude of injection rates by a factor of 

up to 15.” M. Adams, T. Kempka, E. Chabab, and M. Ziegler, Computers & 

Geosciences. (Subscription may be required.)

Managing Forest Soils for Carbon Sequestration: Insights From 

Modeling Forests Around the Globe.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Soil carbon (C), a fundamental 

component of soil organic matter (SOM), is commonly recognized as one of 

the key parameters of soil quality. It has been linked to ecosystem productivity 

because it is a sensitive indicator for monitoring programs. It is a critical pool 

in the carbon cycle, and through its influence on many fundamental biological 

and chemical processes, it plays a pivotal role in nutrient release and availability. Through its role in soil aggregation, it influences soil porosity and thus gas 

exchange reactions and water storage and availability for plants and microorganisms. However, several processes can deplete or alter SOM in different 

ways (acid rain, atmospheric deposition, fire, intensive harvesting, etc.). Such 

phenomena can prevent forest soils from reaching their potential for biomass 

production and C sequestration, therefore reducing their contribution to climate 

change mitigation and adaptation strategies. However, the long-time scales 

involved in forest soil ecological processes make it difficult to study the effects 

of forest management on soil C. An alternative is to use ‘virtual experiments’ 

through ecological models. In this chapter an overview is provided of the most 
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important factors altering soil C in forests soils, showcasing three examples 

of how ecological modeling can be used to better define forest management 

plans to maximize soil C sequestration.” Juan A. Blanco, Soil Management and 

Climate Change. (Subscription may be required.)

Consumption-based accounting and the trade-carbon 

emissions nexus.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper considers a recently 

developed consumption-based carbon emissions database from which emissions calculations are made based on the domestic use of fossil fuels plus the 

embodied emissions from imports minus exports, to test directly for the importance of trade in national emissions. Comparing such consumption-based 

emissions data to conventionally-measured territory-based emissions data produces several useful conclusions. For example, most countries are net importers of carbon emissions—their consumption-based emissions are higher than 

their territory-based emissions. Also, while low and high income countries tend 

to have the largest ratios (of consumption-based emissions to territory-based 

emissions), the majority of middle-income countries have ratios greater than 

one as well. Furthermore, China alone is responsible for over half the global 

outflows of carbon via trade. The econometric estimations—which were robust 

across income levels—determined that: (i) trade was significant for consumption-based emissions but not for territory-based emissions; (ii) exports and 

imports offset each other so that exports lower consumption-based emissions, 

whereas imports increase them; and (iii) the fossil fuel content of a country’s energy mix is more important (likely significantly so) for territory-based 

emissions than for consumption-based emissions; and (iv) domestic fossil fuel 

prices (oil, gasoline) had a negative impact on territory-based emissions but 

were insignificant for consumption-based emissions. Hence, there is a wedge 

between (i) the emissions a country is responsible for—consumption-based 

emissions—and (ii) the emissions that a country’s domestic policies affect—

territory-based emissions. So, countries should have both an interest and a 

responsibility to help lower the carbon intensity of energy in countries that are 

particularly important for global carbon transfers—China and India.” Brantley 

Liddle, Energy Economics. (Subscription may be required.)

Dynamics of China’s carbon prices in the pilot trading phase.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper is the first to investigate 

empirically the link between carbon prices and macro risks in China’s cap-andtrade pilot scheme. Using data from four pilot markets in Beijing, Guangdong, 

Hubei, and Shenzhen from 2014 to 2016, [the authors] demonstrate that the 

carbon price in Hubei is weakly linked to international prices of natural gas. 

[The authors’] results also indicate that energy, utilities, industrial and materials sector indices are positively related to the allowance prices in Shenzhen 

and Guangdong, suggesting that higher emitters in the region may have factored the carbon price into their production mix. [The authors] find no statistically significant relationship in the Beijing pilot. Overall, the findings suggest 

that China’s carbon market is currently in an early stage of development, as 

the carbon price fundamentals are weak and the markets are comparatively 

less efficient than the European trading scheme in an informational sense. The 

findings of the paper have policy implications for the upcoming integration of 

regional markets into the national carbon market.” John Hua Fan and Neda 

Todorova, Applied Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Making the Communication of CCS more “Human.”

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCS communication has proven a 

tough challenge, particularly for the difficulty in raising interest for the technology, which is still unknown to the majority of the population, and for the complexity of conveying information about its potential for reducing emissions. In 

this paper [the authors] present a research based effort for bringing CCS nearer to people, through visual material developed taking into account emotional 

needs related to the technology. The production of a short introductory film on 

CCS is illustrated and its testing with a sample of 700 high school students.” 

Samuela Vercelli, Salvatore Lombardi, Federica Modesti, Maria Chiara Tartarello, Maria Grazia Finoia, Davide De Angelis, Sabina Bigi, Livio Ruggiero, 

and Stefano Pirrotta, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

A fast and robust TOUGH2 module to simulate geological CO2 storage 

in saline aquifers.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “A new TOUGH2 module to simulate geological CO2 storage (GCS) in saline aquifers is developed based on 

the widely employed ECO2N module of TOUGH2. The newly developed TOUGH2

module uses a new non-iterative fugacity-activity thermodynamic model to 

obtain the partitioning of CO2 and H2O between the aqueous and gas phases. 

Simple but robust thermophysical correlations are used to obtain density, viscosity, and enthalpy of the gas phase. The implementation and accuracy of the 

employed thermophysical correlations are verified by comparisons against the 

national institute of standards and technology (NIST) online thermophysical database. To assess the computation accuracy and efficiency, simulation results 

obtained with the new TOUGH2 module for a one-dimensional non-isothermal 

radial and a three-dimensional isothermal system are compared against the 

simulation results obtained with the ECO2N module. Treating salt mass fraction 

in the aqueous phase as a constant, along with the inclusion of a non-iterative fugacity-activity thermodynamic model, and simple thermophysical correlations, resulted in simulations much faster than simulations with ECO2N 

module, without losing numerical accuracy. Both modules yield virtually identical results. Additional field-scale simulations of CO2 injection into an actual 

non-isothermal and heterogeneous geological formation confirmed that the 

new module is much faster than the ECO2N module in simulating complex 

field-scale conditions. Owing to its capability to handle CO2-CH4-H2S-N2 gas 

mixtures and its compatibility with TOUGHREACT, this new TOUGH2 module 

offers the possibility of developing a fast and robust TOUGHREACT module 

to predict the fate of CO2 in GCS sites under biotic conditions where CO2, 

CH4, H2S, and N2 gases can be formed.” Babak Shabani and Javier Vilcáez, 

Computers & Geosciences. (Subscription may be required.)

JUNE 2018

An Integrated Carbon Policy-Based Interactive Strategy for Carbon 

Reduction and Economic Development in a Construction Material 

Supply Chain.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Carbon emissions from the construction material industry have become of increasing concern due to increasingly urbanization and extensive infrastructure. Faced with serious atmospheric 

deterioration, governments have been seeking to reduce carbon emissions, 

with carbon trading and carbon taxes being considered the most effective regulatory policies. Over time, there has been a global consensus that integrated carbon trading/carbon tax policies are more effective in reducing carbon 

emissions. However, in an integrated carbon reduction policy framework, balancing the relationship between emission reductions and low-carbon benefits 

has been found to be a critical issue for governments and enterprises in both 

theoretical research and carbon emission reduction practices. As few papers 

have sought to address these issues, this paper seeks to reach a trade-off between economic development and environmental protection involving various 

stakeholders: regional governments which aim to maximize social benefits, and 

producers who seek economic profit maximization. An iterative interactive algorithmic method with fuzzy random variables (FRVs) is proposed to determine 

the satisfactory equilibrium between these decision-makers. This methodology 

is then applied to a real-world case to demonstrate its practicality and efficiency.” Liming Zhang, Wei Yang, Yuan Yuan, and Rui Zhou, Sustainability.

(Subscription may be required.)

Global Carbon Budget 2017.

The following is from the Abstract of this article: “Accurate assessment of anthropogenic CO2 emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, 

ocean, and terrestrial biosphere – the ‘global carbon budget’ – is important to 

better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate 

policies, and project future climate change. Here [the authors] describe data 

sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry (EFF) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, respectively, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are 

based on land-cover change data and bookkeeping models. The global atmo-
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spheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) 

is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The ocean CO2 sink 

(SOCEAN) and terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) are estimated with global process 

models constrained by observations. The resulting carbon budget imbalance 

(BIM), the difference between the estimated total emissions and the estimated 

changes in the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere, is a measure of 

imperfect data and understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle.” Corinne 

Le Quéré et al., Earth System Science Data. (Subscription may be required.)

Diffusivity of Carbon Dioxide in Aqueous Solutions under Geologic 

Carbon Sequestration Conditions.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Accurate assessment of the longterm security of geologic carbon sequestration requires knowledge of the mobility of [CO2] in brines under pressure and temperature conditions that prevail 

in subsurface aquifers. Here, [the authors] report Raman spectroscopic measurements of the rate of CO2 diffusion in water and brines as a function of pressure, salinity, and concentration of CO2. In pure water at 50 ± 2°C and 90 ± 2 

bar, [the authors] find the diffusion coefficient, D, to be (3.08 ± 0.03) × 10–9

m2

/s, a value that is consistent with a recent microfluidic study but lower than 

earlier [pressure, volume, and temperature (PVT)] measurements. Under reservoir conditions, salinity affects the mobility of CO2 significantly and D decreased 

by 45% for a 4 M solution of NaCl. [The authors] find significant differences of 

diffusivity of CO2 in brines (0–4 M NaCl), in both the absolute values and the 

trend compared to the Stokes–Einstein prediction under [the authors’] experimental conditions. [The authors] observe that D decreases significantly at the 

high CO2 concentrations expected in subsurface aquifers (~15% reduction at 

0.55 mol/kg of CO2) and provides an empirical correction to the commonly reported D values that assume a tracer concentration dependence on diffusivity.” 

Pradeep N. Perera, Hang Deng, P. James Schuck, and Benjamin Gilbert, The 

Journal of Physical Chemistry. (Subscription may be required.)

Impacts of SO2 gas impurity within a CO2 stream on reservoir rock of a 

CCS pilot site: Experimental and modelling approach.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In order to evaluate chemical impacts of [sulfur dioxide (SO2)] impurity on reservoir rock during CO2 capture and 

storage in deep saline aquifers, several batch reactor experiments were performed on laboratory scale using core rock samples from the pilot CO2 injection 

site in Heletz. In this experiment, the samples were exposed to pure N2(g), pure 

CO2(g), and CO2(g) with an impurity of 1.5% SO2(g) under reservoir conditions 

for pressure and temperature (14.5 MPa, 60°C). Based on the set-up and 

the obtained experimental results, a batch chemical model was established 

using the numerical simulation program TOUGHREACT V3.0-OMP. Comparing 

laboratory and simulation data provides a better understanding of the rockbrine-gas interactions. In addition, it offers an evaluation of the capability of the 

model to predict chemical interactions in the target injection reservoir during 

exposure to pure and impure CO2. The best match between the geochemical 

model and experimental data was achieved when the reactive surface area of 

minerals in the model was adjusted in order to calibrate the kinetic rates of 

minerals. The simulations indicated that SO2(g) tends to dissolve rather quickly 

and oxidizes under a kinetic control. Hence, it has a stronger effect on the 

acidity of the brine than pure CO2(g) and as a result, increased mineral dissolution and caused the precipitation of sulfate and sulfide minerals. Ankerite, 

dolomite, and siderite, the most abundant carbonates in the sandstone rock 

sample, are subject to stronger dissolution in the presence of SO2 gas. The 

performed simulations confirmed a slower dissolution rate for ankerite and 

siderite than for dolomite. The model reproduced the precipitation of pyrite 

and anhydrite as observed in the laboratory. The dissolution of dolomite observed in the batch reaction test with pure N2 is assumed to be due to slight 

contamination with oxygen and modelling supported this. The inclusion of SO2

increased the porosity over that of the pure CO2 case, and is thus considered 

to increase the permeability and injectivity of the reservoir as well. Exposure to 

SO2 also increased the concentration of trace elements. The calibrated kinetic 

parameters determined in this study will be used to model the injection and 

long-term behavior of CO2 at the Heletz field site, and may be used for similar 

geologic reservoirs.” Maryeh Hedayati, Andrew Wigston, Jan Lennard Wolf, 

Dorothee Rebscher, and Auli Niemi, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas 

Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Transnational transfer of carbon emissions embodied in trade: 

Characteristics and determinants from a spatial perspective.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Based on the multi-regional input-output analytical framework and spatial econometric regression models, 

this paper analyzes embodied global emissions in trade, so as to unravel the 

characteristics of spatial emissions transfer for 39 countries from 1995 to 

2011, and investigates the determinants of transnational transfer of the global 

emissions in trade changes from a spatial perspective. One important finding 

from this study is that the global emissions in trade primarily have flown from 

developing to developed countries and regions. Notably, however, for those 

countries endowed with rich natural resources and developed economy like 

Canada, they have become the net carbon exporters in trade. Another important finding is that such important determinants as energy and industrial 

structure have spatial spillover effects on the emissions embodied in trade 

changes. Regarding climate policies, [the authors’] results suggest that the 

increase in the share of clean energy could curtail the impact of trade on global 

carbon emissions. Notably, [the authors’] study also finds that improving energy efficiency would not lower the emissions embodied in global trade because 

the forecasted reduction in energy use and thus carbon emissions that may be 

lost due to the sum of consumer and market responses.” Zhangqi Zhong, Lei 

Jiang, and Peng Zhou, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Value of performance baseline in voluntary carbon trading under 

uncertainty.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Voluntary carbon trading has long 

been criticized for producing a large number of non-additional offsets. The 

reason for this production lies primarily in the use of a project-based baseline that misrepresents the business-as-usual (BAU) emissions of individual 

projects. Performance baseline however, as an alternative baseline approach, 

does not rely on evaluating individual BAU emissions. Instead, it uses a pre-defined emission threshold for a class of project activities. This paper compares 

the effects of the two baseline approaches on sectoral emission mitigation 

and compliance costs by modeling dynamic emission abatement behaviors. 

In the context of the U.S. commercial building sector, the modeling results 

indicate that while both baseline approaches are capable of reducing sectoral 

emissions, the use of performance baseline is especially advantageous under 

private cost information and uncertain market environments. The performance 

baseline should be stratified by region to ensure the equity in offset allocation 

in sectors that are highly diversified in emission magnitudes.” Xiaoyu Liu and 

Qingbin Cui, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

General public reactions to carbon capture and storage: Does culture 

matter?

The following is the Abstract of this article: “[The authors scrutinize CCS] technology from a cross-cultural perspective. The reaction of the public to CCS 

will considerably affect the development of the technology. Previous research 

has identified general and local mechanisms in how the general public reacts 

to CCS. Researchers have noticed that differences exist between countries, 

but the effects of cross-cultural differences have not been explored in detail. 

[The authors] argue that it is crucial to understand how public perceptions of 

the technology emerge and form in their individual contexts or embedded in 

large-scale cultural frameworks. Public reaction to CCS is structured in two 

dimensions—risk perception and benefit perception—and [the authors] design a model with individual and national cultural level predictors. [The authors] indicate that effects of individual level variables such as familiarity with 

technology, or sociodemographic variables such as education, are important 

but their effects are likely mediated and confounded by the cultural setting 

people operate in. The results show that, in parallel with other factors such as 

trust, risk perception is affected by cultural dimensions such as uncertainty 

avoidance and the society’s short-term or long-term orientation. [The authors] 

provide a framework to understand why and how societies challenge the technology.” Farid Karimi and Arho Toikka, International Journal of Greenhouse 

Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)
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Exergy and economic analyses of indirect coal-to-liquid technology 

coupling carbon capture and storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology 

has been developed steadily for producing gasoline and diesel fuels as the 

demand for energy security issue and liquid fuels in China outpaces production capacities. In this light, given the importance of CO2 emissions in climate 

change, CCS is considered as an integral part of CTL processes. In this study, 

CTL coupling with CCS technology (CTL-CCS) were simulated using the Aspen 

Plus software. Based on it, this study conducted exergy and economic analyses 

to the CTL-CCS system for five different coal types, including anthracite, meager, lean, coking and gas. Results show that the exergy utilization ratios ranged 

from 40.3% to 43.7%, revealing only a limited effect of the choice of coal type; 

although anthracite, meager, and gas coal were marginally better. Results also 

indicate the largest sources of exergy loss to be firstly from gas generation 

and secondly from the combined process of synthesis and separation. The 

economic analysis compared the cost, net present value, internal rate of return, 

and payback period. The cost of liquid fuel produced by CTL-CCS system was 

in the range from 4117 to 5627 yuan RMB/t, indicating economic feasibility. 

The system using lean coal revealed the best economic performance, while 

those using coking coal and gas coal were the second best performers. This 

research suggests that gas coal can achieve relatively reasonable values for 

both the exergy utilization ratio and cost in comparison to other coal types 

processed through a coupled CTL-CCS system.” Li Zhou, Maosheng Duan, 

and Yadong Yu, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may be required).

JULY 2018

Developing CCS in the UK and Beyond: Insights from the 

UK CCS Research Centre.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre coordinates a programme of research covering all aspects of CCS in support of basic science and UK government efforts on energy 

and climate change. This paper will present progress and ‘lessons learned’ 

from the Centre’s activities, with a particular focus on the development and 

use of pilot scale facilities and encouraging industrial and other stakeholder 

engagement in research. It will also highlight key features of an extensive programme of international engagement activities undertaken by the Centre, identifying added value for both the UK CCS community and global development of 

CCS.” Ciara O’Connor, Hannah Chalmers, Steph Wright, Bruce Adderley, and 

Jon Gibbins, Energy Procedia. (Subscription may be required.)

The Neglected Importance of Corporate Perceptions and Positions for 

the Long-term Development of CCS.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Many companies that produce 

fossil fuels or fossil fuel-derived products show a strong belief in a large and 

continuing role for fossil fuels in the global economy up to 2050 and beyond. 

These companies are generally expected to be amongst the primary consumers of CCS technology. So far, however, fossil fuel companies have shown only 

moderate interest in CCS. Whilst a lot of potential operational barriers to CCS 

adoption have been identified in the literature, the value of CCS from a corporate strategy perspective has sometimes been assumed, but rarely explored. 

This paper asks the following question: What are the perceptions and positions 

of fossil fuel companies on CCS and how does this inform their decision-making on CCS investment and advocacy? This paper addresses this issue by 

presenting the results of in-depth interviews with high-level CCS experts from 

major multinational oil and gas companies and major coal mining firms. The results indicate that CCS would require a significant change within the business 

strategy of fossil fuel companies. This is contrary to the common argument 

that CCS is attractive because the technology is regarded as not being very 

disruptive to the incumbent energy system as it leaves most of the existing 

infrastructure, actor constellations and institutions intact. While fossil fuel companies engage in CCS development, it is often to [familiarize] themselves with 

technologies that might have future value if markets for these technologies 

take off. In several cases, CCS engagement has served the strategic need 

to weaken the link between fossil fuel extraction and climate change, build 

up shareholder trust, and improve public perception. However, there is little 

evidence that these companies engage in CCS to develop a strategic insurance 

against climate policy risks to their core businesses.” Lukas Braunreiter and 

Simon J. Bennett, Energy Procedia. (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 commercial-scale 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 commercial-scale 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.)

Cost-optimal design of pressure-based monitoring networks 

for carbon sequestration projects, with consideration of 

geological uncertainty. 

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Leakage from geologic faults and 

abandoned wells represents one of the major risks to industrial-scale CCS 

projects. Current CCS regulations and best practice guidance suggest that operators emplace risk-informed monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) 

plans to protect public safety and reduce property and environmental damage. 

Deep subsurface pressure monitoring is regarded as one of the most cost-effective technologies for early leakage detection in CCS projects. In practice, 

however, the number of deep pressure monitoring wells that an operator can 

deploy often remains limited because of the high costs associated with drilling, 

instrumenting, and operating these wells. Thus, optimal design of the pressure 

monitoring network is essential to minimizing monitoring and liability costs and 

gaining public support. In this work, [the authors] present a general, binary integer programming approach to solve an optimal monitoring well network design problem under multiple constraints. Specifically, [the authors’] approach 

helps a CCS operator to design a cost-optimal monitoring network that covers 

all potentially leaky locations (in a worst-case-scenario sense) while satisfying 

a prescribed CO2 storage performance criterion and considering geological 

uncertainty. Instead of using cost surrogates as has been done in many other 

studies, [the authors’] formulation allows the user to directly assess total costs 

in terms of monitoring costs and potential economic losses associated with 

brine and CO2 leakage. [The authors’] numerical examples demonstrate that a 

cost-optimal monitoring network may save millions of dollars in total costs, including well construction and leakage costs. Factors exerting the most impact 

on the cost-optimal monitoring network design are unit leakage damage costs, 

pressure threshold for leakage detection, and geological uncertainty.” Hoonyoung Jeong, Alexander Y. Sun, and Xiaodong Zhang, International Journal 

of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

MRI study on CO2 capillary trap and drainage behavior in sandstone 

cores under geological storage temperature and pressure.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Capillary pressure is an important 

parameter to characterize the core properties in CO2 geological storage applications, and it is necessary to study the CO2 drainage behavior to predict the 

potential and ensure the safety of storage. In this work, [the authors] conducted 

CO2 drainage experiments in two types of sandstone cores (Berea sandstone 

and synthetic sandstone) under reservoir conditions (800m underground) and 

measured the capillary pressure using an MRI system. The drainage experiments were repeated in a capillary number range from 5.22×10−9 to 5.5×10−7

by varying the injection rate. The entry pressure and pore size distribution index 

were calculated by fitting a straight line on a log-log curve of the effective 

saturation versus capillary pressure. Relative permeability curves were plotted using the calculated entry pressure and pore size distribution index. The 

curves were consistent with the properties of the sandstone cores. The capillary desaturation curves gave the irreducible brine saturations for different 

permeability, wettability, injection pressure and injection direction conditions 

as a function of capillary number.” Ying Teng, Lanlan Jiang, Yu Liu, Dayong 

Wang, and Yongchen Song, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 

(Subscription may be required.) 

Modelling and optimization of a manufacturing/remanufacturing 

system with storage facility under carbon cap and trade policy.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Due to rigorous environmental 

legislations and competitive economics worldwide, a growing number of companies are devoted to recovering and remanufacturing used products. Consequently, over the past few decades, the management of manufacturing/remanufacturing systems has been receiving increasing attention from researchers 

and companies leaders. Most of the existing research papers in the literature 

considered that remanufactured products have the same quality and price as 

new ones. However, in practice, the market perceives new items as higher 

quality products rather than remanufactured items. This paper aims to bridge 

the gap in research on manufacturing/remanufacturing supply chain, by investigating an optimal storage and manufacturing/remanufacturing planning, 

while taking into consideration the difference between new and remanufactured items, random machine failures, carbon constraints and distinct random 

customer demands for both items types. Furthermore, to make our system 

more realistic, it is assumed that the return rate of used items depends on the 

sales in the past periods, machine repair time is stochastic and set-up time 

period is not negligible. In this study, two models are developed, considering 

carbon emissions or not, to determine the optimal values of the manufacturing/

remanufacturing period lengths and serviceable stock capacities of new and 

remanufactured items. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the impact 

of set-up cost, percentage of returned used items, machine availability, carbon 

cap and carbon trading price on the optimal storage and production planning. 

Moreover, the influences of carbon cap, carbon trading price and percentage 

of returned used items on carbon emissions have been analyzed. The results 

reveal that set-up cost, percentage of returned used items and machine availability have significant impact on storage and production planning of new and 

remanufactured items. In addition, the results indicate that a lower carbon 

cap and/or a high carbon trading price, induce the producer to collect and remanufacture used items and curb carbon emissions.” Sadok Turk, Christophe 

Sauvey, and Nidhal Rezg, Journal of Cleaner Production. (Subscription may 

be required.)

How to optimize the development of carbon trading in China—

Enlightenment from evolution rules of the EU carbon price.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper explores the optimization scheme of carbon trading in China based on a novel energy-saving and 

emission-reduction (ESER) system with carbon price constraints. With the aid 

of nonlinear dynamics theory, the dynamics behavior of the novel system is 

discussed. Genetic algorithm and back propagation neural network is used 

to identify the quantitative coefficients according to the statistical data of the 

second period in European Union (EU). Taking the actual situation in EU for 

instance, the variables which are sensitive to carbon trading [are researched]. 

Enlightened by the EU’s experience, an optimal road of China’s carbon trading 

is put forward. The results show that carbon emissions could be controlled by 

carbon trading. The investment to carbon trading hampers economic growth 

in the near future, and ESER technical progress is negatively correlated with 

carbon trading in the long run. Demand and supply relationship is closely related to carbon price, both are the important issues in carbon trading system. 

Excessive government control and extortionate carbon price will deliver the 

opposite effect and even fatal influence on carbon trading system.” Guochang 

Fang, Lixin Tian, Menghe Liu, Min Fu, and Mei Sun, Applied Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

Carbon trading’s impact on California’s real-time electricity 

market prices.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “What is the extent of a real-time 

electricity market’s pass-through of the marginal cost of CO2 emissions due 

to a cap-and-trade (C&T) program? This is an important policy question, as 

an incomplete pass-through would suggest the program’s limited effectiveness in achieving efficient pricing of electricity. To answer the question, [the 

authors] perform a regression analysis of California’s electricity market data 

for a 65-month period of [January 1, 2011, through May 31, 2016]. Based 

on this newly constructed large sample, [the authors] find that the California 

Independent System Operator’s real-time market prices contain a CO2 premium that closely tracks the marginal cost of CO2 emissions of California’s 

natural-gas-fired generation units, which are often at margin that determines 

the power prices. While the CO2 premium provides much needed incentives 

for renewable energy development, it does little to improve the incentive for 

natural-gas-fired generation investment in California. Hence, procurement of 

dispatchable generation capacity via long-term contracts continues to be useful for the state to meet the mandatory criteria for resource adequacy and 

system reliability.” C.K. Woo, Y. Chen, J. Zarnikau, A. Olson, J. Moore, and T. 

Ho, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

AUGUST 2018

Detecting subsurface fluid leaks in real-time using injection and 

production rates.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “[Carbon dioxide] injection into geologic formations for either enhanced oil recovery or carbon storage introduces 

a risk for undesired fluid leakage into overlying groundwater or to the surface. 

Despite decades of subsurface CO2 production and injection, the technologies 

and methods for detecting CO2 leaks are still costly and prone to large uncertainties. This is especially true for pressure-based monitoring methods, which 

require the use of simplified geological and reservoir flow models to simulate 

the pressure behavior as well as background noise affecting pressure measurements. In this study, [the authors] propose a method to detect the time 

and volume of fluid leakage based on real-time measurements of well injection 

and production rates. The approach utilizes analogies between fluid flow and 

capacitance-resistance modeling. Unlike other leak detection methods (e.g. 

pressure-based), the proposed method does not require geological and reservoir flow models to simulate the behavior that often carry significant sources of 

uncertainty; therefore, with [the authors’] approach the leak can be detected 

with greater certainty. The method can be applied to detect when a leak begins 

by tracking a departure in fluid production rate from the expected pattern. The 

method has been tuned to detect the effect of boundary conditions and fluid 

compressibility on leakage. To highlight the utility of this approach [the authors] 

use [their] method to detect leaks for two scenarios. The first scenario simulates a fluid leak from the storage formation into an above-zone monitoring 

interval. The second scenario simulates intra-reservoir migration between two 

compartments. [The authors] illustrate this method to detect fluid leakage in 

three different reservoirs with varying levels of geological and structural complexity. The proposed leakage detection method has three novelties: i) requires 

only readily-available data (injection and production rates), ii) accounts for fluid 

compressibility and boundary effects, and iii) in addition to detecting the time 

when a leak is activated and the volume of that leakage, this method provides 

an insight about the leak location, and reservoir connectivity. [The authors] 

are proposing this as a complementary method that can be used with other, 

more expensive, methods early on in the injection process. This will allow an 

operator to conduct more expensive surveys less often because the proposed 
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

method can show if there are no leaks on a monthly basis that is cheap and 

fast.” Harpreet Singh and Nicolas J. Huerta, Advances in Water Resources. 

(Subscription may be required.)

Long-term viability of carbon sequestration in deep-sea sediments.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Sequestration of [CO2] in deep-sea 

sediments has been proposed for the long-term storage of anthropogenic CO2

that can take advantage of the current offshore infrastructure. It benefits from 

the negative buoyancy effect and hydrate formation under conditions of high 

pressure and low temperature. However, the multiphysics process of injection 

and postinjection fate of CO2 and the feasibility of subseabed disposal of CO2

under different geological and operational conditions have not been well studied. With a detailed study of the coupled processes, [the authors] investigate 

whether storing CO2 into deep-sea sediments is viable, efficient, and secure 

over the long term. [The authors] also study the evolution of multiphase and 

multicomponent flow and the impact of hydrate formation on storage efficiency. The results show that low buoyancy and high viscosity slow down the ascending plume and the forming of the hydrate cap effectively reduces permeability and finally becomes an impermeable seal, thus limiting the movement of 

CO2 toward the seafloor. [The authors] identify different flow patterns at varied 

time scales by analyzing the mass distribution of CO2 in different phases over 

time. [The authors] observe the formation of a fluid inclusion, which mainly 

consists of liquid CO2 and is encapsulated by an impermeable hydrate film in 

the diffusion-dominated stage. The trapped liquid CO2 and CO2 hydrate finally 

dissolve into the pore water through diffusion of the CO2 component, resulting 

in permanent storage. [The authors] perform sensitivity analyses on storage 

efficiency under variable geological and operational conditions. [The authors] 

find that under a deep-sea setting, CO2 sequestration in intact marine sediments is generally safe and permanent.” Yihua Teng and Dongxiao Zhang, 

Science Advantages. (Subscription may be required.)

Air quality co-benefits of carbon pricing in China.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Climate policies targeting energy-related CO2 emissions, which act on a global scale over long time horizons, 

can result in localized, near-term reductions in both air pollution and adverse 

human health impacts. Focusing on China, the largest energy-using and 

CO2-emitting nation, [the authors] develop a cross-scale modelling approach to 

quantify these air quality co-benefits, and compare them to the economic costs 

of climate policy. [The authors] simulate the effects of an illustrative climate 

policy, a price on CO2 emissions. In a policy scenario consistent with China’s 

recent pledge to reach a peak in CO2 emissions by 2030, [the authors] project 

that national health co-benefits from improved air quality would partially or fully 

offset policy costs depending on chosen health valuation. Net health co-benefits are found to rise with increasing policy stringency.” Mingwei Li, Da Zhang, 

Chiao-Ting Li, Kathleen M. Mulvaney, Noelle E. Selin, and Valerie J. Karplus, 

Nature Climate Change. (Subscription may be required.)

Assessment of two-phase flow on the chemical alteration and sealing 

of leakage pathways in cemented wellbores.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Wellbore leakage tops the list 

of perceived risks to the long-term geologic storage of CO2, because wells 

provide a direct path between the CO2 storage reservoir and the atmosphere. 

In this paper, [the authors] have coupled a two-phase flow model with [the 

authors’] original framework that combined models for reactive transport of 

carbonated brine, geochemistry of reacting cement, and geomechanics to predict the permeability evolution of cement fractures. This addition makes the 

framework suitable for field conditions in geological storage sites, permitting 

simulation of contact between cement and mixtures of brine and supercritical 

CO2. Due to lack of conclusive experimental data, [the authors] tried both linear 

and Corey relative permeability models to simulate flow of the two phases 

in cement fractures. The model also includes two options to account for the 

inconsistent experimental observations regarding cement reactivity with twophase CO2-brine mixtures. One option assumes that the reactive surface area 

is independent of the brine saturation and the second option assumes that the 

reactive surface area is proportional to the brine saturation. [The authors] have 

applied the model to predict the extent of cement alteration, the conditions 

under which fractures seal, the time it takes to seal a fracture, and the leakage 

rates of CO2 and brine when damage zones in the wellbore are exposed to twophase CO2-brine mixtures. Initial brine residence time and the initial fracture 

aperture are critical parameters that affect the fracture sealing behavior. [The 

authors] also evaluated the importance of the model assumptions regarding 

relative permeability and cement reactivity. [The authors’] results illustrate the 

need to understand how mixtures of [CO2] and brine flow through fractures 

and react with cement to make reasonable predictions regarding well integrity. 

For example, a reduction in the cement reactivity with two-phase CO2-brine 

mixture can not only significantly increase the sealing time for fractures but 

may also prevent fracture sealing.” Jaisree Iyer, Stuart D.C. Walsh, Yue Hao, 

and Susan A. Carroll, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required.)

Estimates of carbon storage in grassland ecosystems 

on the Loess Plateau.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Grassland ecosystems play an 

important role in the carbon (C) balance of arid and semi–arid regions. These 

ecosystems provide C for grass growth and soil microbial activities and represent one of the main sources of atmospheric C. In this study, [the authors] estimated the C density and storage of 223 sampling sites in grassland ecosystems on the Loess Plateau using elevation, vegetation indexes, precipitation, 

air temperature, day and night land surface temperature (LSTd and LSTn, respectively), evapotranspiration (ET), percent tree cover and the non–vegetated 

area to build decision regression tree and generalized linear regression models 

(GLMs). The results showed that the C density decreased from south to north 

and ranged from 0.22 to 29.29 kg C/m2

. The average amount of C stored in 

the ecosystems was 1.46 Pg. The typical steppe and forest steppe stored the 

most C, and the steppe desert stored the least. The soil (0–1 m) stored most 

of the organic C, accounting for > 90%, and the belowground biomass (BGB) 

contained > 3 times the amount of C as the aboveground biomass (AGB). This 

study provides reference information for the loss of C and associated mitigation 

strategies on the Loess Plateau.” Yinyin Wang, Lei Deng, Gaolin Wu, Kaibo 

Wang, and Zhouping Shangguan, CATENA. (Subscription may be required.)

Impact of inner reservoir faults on migration 

and storage of injected CO2.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “[Carbon dioxide] geological storage 

(CGS) is an effective way to mitigate [GHG] emissions, and geological security 

is one of the most important issues in CGS. The faults distributed in geological 

formations make multi-layered reservoirs interconnected systems. A three-dimensional (3D) numerical model was established to evaluate the effects of 

inner reservoir faults on the CO2 migration and storage capacity of an actual 

CGS demonstration project in the Ordos Basin of China. The results show that 

the faults in the layered reservoir system could significantly affect the migration 

of injected CO2. The cross-layer faults at the bottom of the faulted reservoir 

could act as preferential passages between the upper and lower geological 

formations, causing the CO2 in the reservoir formation to move upward to adjacent layers rather than to lateral migration. CO2 migration along the inner-layer 

faults widely occurred at the top of the reservoir formation, decreasing the 

pressure accumulation and CO2 saturation around the injection well. Based on 

the simulation, CO2 will have migrated into the Heshanggou Formation after 

300 years, and most of the CO2 will be trapped in the bottom sub-layers, with 

no CO2 intruding into the upper caprock. The spatial and temporal evolution 

of the injected CO2 was well presented for the faulted reservoir system, suggesting that the faults inside the multi-layered reservoir are beneficial to CGS.” 

Zhijie Yang, Tianfu Xu, Fugang Wang, Yanlin Yang, Xufeng Li, and Ningning 

Zhao, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be 

required.)

Adaption, mitigation and risk-taking in climate policy.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The future consequences of climate change are highly uncertain and estimates of economic damages differ 

widely. Governments try to cope with these risks by investing in mitigation 

and adaptation measures. In contrast to most of the existing literature, [the 

authors] explicitly model the decision of risk averse governments on mitiga-
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

tion and adaptation policies. [The authors] also consider the interaction of the 

two strategies in presence of uncertainty. Mitigation efforts of a single country 

trigger crowding out as other countries will reduce their mitigation efforts. This 

may even lead to lower mitigation on the global scale. In contrast, a unilateral 

commitment to large adaptation efforts benefits the single country and can 

reduce the global risk from climate change at the expense of other countries.” 

Heike Auerswald, Kai A. Konrad, and Marcel Thum, Journal of Economics. 

(Subscription may be required.)

The role of revenue sharing and first-mover advantage in emission 

abatement with carbon tax and consumer environmental awareness.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “In this study, [the authors] explore 

the role of revenue sharing and first-mover advantage in manufacturer’s carbon emission abatement effort and the firms’ profitability in a linear demand 

setting, where the government might impose some carbon emission charges 

and consumers may have environmental awareness. [The authors] consider 

a supply chain system, consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer. Either of 

them can move first to offer the other firm a wholesale price contract (WP) or 

a revenue sharing contract (RS), which is termed as ‘abatement level promise 

strategy’ (PR) and ‘abatement level requirement strategy’ (RQ), respectively. 

[The authors’] analysis shows that under both PR and RQ, there exists a unique 

abatement level maximizing the manufacturer’s profit in WP and RS, respectively. Moreover, both firms’ incentives for abatement are perfectly aligned under 

PR, but are misaligned under RQ when the marginal abatement cost is large. 

Contrary to conventional wisdom, RS does not necessarily dull the manufacturer’s effort in abatement, it depends on whether she possesses first-mover 

advantage and whether consumers have environmental awareness. Further, 

with consumer environmental awareness (numerically) or without, both firms 

always prefer to possess first-mover advantage, but the system’s profit under 

RQ is smaller than that under PR (numerically). Surprisingly, whether a greater 

share of revenue benefits a firm depending on whether the firm possesses 

first-mover advantage (numerically). Finally, under both RQ (numerically) and 

PR, RS fails to coordinate the system.” Huixiao Yang, Jianwen Luo, and Haijun 

Wang, International Journal of Production Economics. (Subscription may be 

required.)

Decentralized optimal multi-energy flow of large-scale integrated 

energy systems in a carbon trading market.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper proposes a novel decentralized optimal multi-energy flow (OMEF) of large-scale integrated energy 

systems (IES) in a carbon trading market, to fully exploit economic and environmental advantages of the system considering difficulties of information 

collection from subareas. The decentralized OMEF is solved by three decentralized optimization algorithms, including auxiliary problem principle (APP), block 

coordinates down (BCD), and approximate Newton directions (AND). Moreover, 

a dynamic parameter adjustment is developed for APP and BCD to ensure convergence. So that a cooperative optimization among subareas can be achieved 

through utilizing only the local information and the boundary information. Finally, case studies of a two-area IES with 8 energy hubs and a three-area IES 

with 33 energy hubs are carried out to deeply compare the performance of the 

three decentralized algorithms, together with a thorough analysis about the 

effect of carbon trading price on the system.” Kaiping Qu, Tao Yu, Linni Huang, 

Bo Yang, and Xiaoshun Zhang, Energy. (Subscription may be required.)

SEPTEMBER 2018

Understanding key elements in establishing a social license 

for CCS: An empirical approach.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “This paper presents results of 

empirical research with the broad aim of exploring societal responses to CO2

storage, framed around the concept of social license to operate (SLO). [The authors] describe a mixed method approach incorporating stakeholder interviews 

and focus groups deployed in two case study locations in the UK. The approach 

helps [the authors] to build up an understanding of the social context in which 

CCS will be introduced, in terms of the specific local conditions and with reference to the influence of local experiences of other technologies (such as 

hydraulic fracturing (fracking), for example). This understanding is then used to 

guide further empirical research, from which [the authors] assess the extent to 

which an SLO for CCS is emerging. Results show that perceptions of trust and 

confidence in key institutions to safely manage projects are highly dependent 

not just on the track record of the [organizations] but are strongly influenced by 

past experiences with different technologies. While the indications for achieving an SLO for CCS are currently positive, consolidating and maintaining that 

support depends on the evolving social, industrial and political landscape.” 

Clair Gough, Rebecca Cunningham, and Sarah Mander, International Journal 

of Greenhouse Gas Control. (Subscription may be required).

A review of optimization and decision-making models for the planning 

of CO2 capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) systems.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCUS is considered as one of 

the key strategies for mitigating climate change. This technology involves CO2

capture from stationary sources, followed by distribution of CO2 to different intermediate utilization and/or final storage options. [Carbon dioxide] capture and 

utilization (CCU) by itself offers resource conservation benefits by displacing 

the need for extracted CO2 from natural sources. On the other hand, CCS provides CO2 emissions reduction by sequestration of captured CO2 for long-term 

storage. Combining CCS and CCU can potentially result in valuable symbiosis, 

but remains debatable due to gaps between the roles of these technologies in 

energy engineering. Such gaps have resulted in slower commercial deployment of CO2 capture. Some important issues resulting from these technologies 

have been addressed in previous studies through process systems engineering (PSE) methodologies, which are able to provide rigorous decision support 

during CCUS planning. This review paper provides an in-depth discussion of 

the state-of-the-art of these tools, and also discusses recent developments on 

integrating CCUS components in large-scale planning. While recent literature 

in this area reveals the availability of tools for planning and policy-making, 

further research opportunities are identified through the bibliometric trends 

that show how CCUS research can develop further.” John Frederick D. Tapia, 

Jui-Yuan Lee, Raymond E.H. Ooi, Dominic C.Y. Foo, and Raymond R. Tan,

Sustainable Production and Consumption. (Subscription may be required)

Element mobilization and immobilization from carbonate rocks 

between CO2 storage reservoirs and the overlying aquifers during 

a potential CO2 leakage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Despite the numerous studies on 

changes within the reservoir following CO2 injection and the effects of CO2

release into overlying aquifers, little or no literature is available on the effect 

of CO2 release on rock between the storage reservoirs and subsurface. This 

is important, because the interactions that occur in this zone between the 

CO2 storage reservoir and the subsurface may have a significant impact on 

risk analysis for CO2 storage projects. To address this knowledge gap, relevant rock materials, temperatures and pressures were used to study mineralogical and elemental changes in this intermediate zone. After rocks reacted 

with CO2-acidified 0.01 M NaCl, liquid analysis showed an increase of major 

elements (e.g., Ca and Mg) and variable concentrations of potential contaminants (e.g., Sr and Ba); lower aqueous concentrations of these elements were 

observed in N2 control experiments, likely due to differences in pH between 

the CO2 and N2 experiments. In experiments with As/Cd and/or organic spikes, 

representing potential contaminants in the CO2 plume originating in the storage 

reservoir, most or all of these contaminants were removed from the aqueous 

phase. SEM and Mössbauer spectroscopy results showed the formation of 

new minerals and Fe oxides in some CO2-reacted samples, indicating potential for contaminant removal through mineral incorporation or adsorption onto 

Fe oxides. These experiments show the interactions between the CO2-laden 

plume and the rock between storage reservoirs and overlying aquifers have 

the potential to affect the level of risk to overlying groundwater, and should 

be considered during site selection and risk evaluation.” Amanda R. Lawter, 

Nikolla P. Qafoku, R. Matthew Asmussen, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, Odeta Qafoku, 

Diana H. Bacon, and Christopher F. Brown, Chemosphere. (Subscription may 

be required).
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Metamodeling-based approach for risk assessment and cost 

estimation: Application to geological carbon sequestration planning.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “CCS is being evaluated globally 

as a geoengineering measure for significantly reducing greenhouse emission. 

However, long-term liability associated with potential leakage from these geologic repositories is perceived as a main barrier of entry to site operators. Risk 

quantification and impact assessment help CCS operators to screen candidate 

sites for suitability of CO2 storage. Leakage risks are highly site dependent, 

and a quantitative understanding and categorization of these risks can only be 

made possible through broad participation and deliberation of stakeholders, 

with the use of site-specific, process-based models as the decision basis. Online decision making, however, requires that scenarios be run in real time. In 

this work, a Python based, Leakage Assessment and Cost Estimation (PyLACE) 

web application was developed for quantifying financial risks associated with 

potential leakage from geologic carbon sequestration sites. PyLACE aims to 

assist a collaborative, analytic-deliberative decision making processes by automating metamodel creation, knowledge sharing, and online collaboration. In 

PyLACE, metamodeling, which is a process of developing faster-to-run surrogates of process-level models, is enabled using a special stochastic response 

surface method and the Gaussian process regression. Both methods allow 

consideration of model parameter uncertainties and the use of that information 

to generate confidence intervals on model outputs. Training of the metamodels 

is delegated to a high performance computing cluster and is orchestrated by a 

set of asynchronous job scheduling tools for job submission and result retrieval. As a case study, workflow and main features of PyLACE are demonstrated using a multilayer, carbon storage model.” Alexander Y. Sun, Hoonyoung 

Jeong, Ana González-Nicolás, and Thomas C. Templeton, Computers & Geosciences. (Subscription may be required.)

An optimization model for carbon capture & storage/utilization vs. 

carbon trading: A case study of fossil-fired power plants in Turkey.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “[The authors] consider fossil-fired 

power plants that operate in an environment where a cap and trade system is 

in operation. These plants need to choose between CCS, CCU, or carbon trading in order to obey emissions limits enforced by the government. [The authors] 

develop a mixed-integer programming model that decides on the capacities of 

carbon capture units, if it is optimal to install them, the transportation network 

that needs to be built for transporting the carbon captured, and the locations 

of storage sites, if they are decided to be built. Main restrictions on the system 

are the minimum and maximum capacities of the different parts of the pipeline 

network, the amount of carbon that can be sold to companies for utilization, 

and the capacities on the storage sites. Under these restrictions, the model 

aims to minimize the net present value of the sum of the costs associated with 

installation and operation of the carbon capture unit and the transportation 

of carbon, the storage cost in case of CCS, the cost (or revenue) that results 

from the emissions trading system, and finally the negative revenue of selling 

the carbon to other entities for utilization. [The authors] implement the model 

on General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) by using data associated with 

two coal-fired power plants located in different regions of Turkey. [The authors] 

choose EOR as the process in which carbon would be utilized. The results 

show that CCU is preferable to CCS as long as there is sufficient demand in 

the EOR market. The distance between the location of emission and location of 

utilization/storage, and the capacity limits on the pipes are an important factor 

in deciding between carbon capture and carbon trading. At carbon prices over 

$15/ton, carbon capture becomes preferable to carbon trading. These results 

show that as far as Turkey is concerned, CCU should be prioritized as a means 

of reducing nation-wide carbon emissions in an environmentally and economically rewarding manner. The model developed in this study is generic, and it 

can be applied to any industry at any location, as long as the required inputs 

are available.” Semra Ağralı, Fehmi Görkem Üçtuğ, and Burçin Atılgan Türkmen, Journal of Environmental Management. (Subscription may be required.)

Diffusive leakage of brine from aquifers during CO2 geological storage.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “The area of investigation in this 

study is designed around an improved understanding of fundamentals of the 

diffusive leakage of brine from a storage aquifer into overlying and underlying 

low permeability layers during geosequestration of CO2 through development 

of a theoretical model. Here, [the authors] consider a two-dimensional domain 

in cylindrical coordinates, comprised of an aquifer and an overburden, where 

the interaction between the two media is handled by imposing the continuities 

of pressures and fluid fluxes at the aquifer-overburden interface. This coupled problem is solved by successive implementation of the Laplace and finite 

Hankel transforms. The developed solutions can be used to analyze diffusive 

leakage of brine from the aquifer into overburden and generate type curves 

for average pressures in the aquifer and overburden during injection and post 

injection periods. The results show that the leakage rate at early times is scaled 

with t 1/2 while it remains constant at late times. It is also shown that the average pressure in the aquifer is scaled with t for short and long times. Moreover, 

the average pressure in the overburden is scaled with t at late times while it is 

scaled with t 3/2 at early times. In addition, the results reveal that factors affecting diffusive leakage rate through intact overburden during CO2 storage are, in 

decreasing order of significance, thickness of overburden, thickness of aquifer, 

aquifer to overburden permeability ratio, and aquifer to overburden porosity 

ratio. However, thickness of aquifer has minimal effect on diffusive leakage 

of brine within post injection period. To evaluate the theoretical model, case 

studies for two potential sites in United Kingdom, one in Lincolnshire and the 

other one in the Firth of Forth, are conducted. The field studies show that the 

diffusive leakage from the aquifer into the overburden diminishes ~40 years 

after the injection has ceased for Lincolnshire while it stops after ~12 years 

for Firth of Forth. The average amount of the brine leaked from the aquifers 

per standard cubic meter (Sm3) of the injected CO2 through diffusive leakage 

was found to be 6.28 × 10−4 m3 of brine (or 0.330 kg of brine/kg of CO2) 

over ~70 years for Lincolnshire and 4.59 × 10−4 m3 of brine (or 0.242 kg 

of brine/kg of CO2) over ~42 years for Firth of Forth.” Morteza Dejam and 

Hassan Hassanzadeh, Advances in Water Resources.

The contribution of China’s bilateral trade to global carbon emissions 

in the context of globalization.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Controlling and reducing carbon 

emissions for mitigation of climate change are a global common consensus. 

It is imperative for legitimately and effectively ascertaining responsibilities 

among countries to study CO2 emissions embodied in the international trade. 

As the largest exporter and the second largest importer in the world, the large 

amount of CO2 emissions embodied in China’s bilateral trade have a significant 

impact on China’s and global carbon emissions. Based on the single region 

input-output tables using the non-competitive imports assumption, this study 

estimated CO2 emissions embodied in China’s bilateral trade with 219 countries/regions over the period of 2000–2014, and analyzed the contribution of 

China’s bilateral trade to global carbon emissions under the assumption of 

non-trade scenario. The results show that, CO2 emissions embodied in China’s 

exports and imports in 2014 were 2561.1 Mt and 1209.9 Mt respectively, and 

CO2 emissions embodied in exports were higher than those in imports throughout the period. It is indicated that China had produced a large amount of CO2

emissions for other countries through the international trade. And meanwhile, 

China avoided a large amount of CO2 emissions with the rapid growth of imports. And furthermore, the net CO2 emissions embodied in China’s bilateral 

trade had been declining since 2011. At last, China’s bilateral trade had extremely little impact on global carbon emissions. It is concluded that there is a 

possibility of reducing global carbon emissions based on the results of China’s 

bilateral trade with countries along the routes of Silk Road Economic Belt and 

21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.” Tao Ding, Yadong Ning, and Yan Zhang,

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics. (Subscription may be required.)
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

October 2017 – September 2018 JOURNAL ARTICLES

Technology-adjusted national carbon accounting for a greener trade 

pattern.

The following is the Abstract of this article: “Crediting green trade patterns 

is essential for effective national carbon accounting. Neither production- nor 

consumption-based accounting satisfies this condition. Thus, Kander et al. 

proposed a technology-adjusted consumption-based carbon accounting 

method that focuses on interregional differences in sectoral carbon intensity. 

The intermediate input structure is also closely related to the production technology level. Therefore, this study recommends a new technology-adjusted 

consumption-based carbon accounting framework that distinguishes between 

direct and cumulative exports, forward and backward industrial linkages, and 

different trade patterns. Based on the consideration that production-based accounting will remain the core indicator for regional emissions in the near future, this study proposes a technology-adjusted production-based accounting 

framework. The empirical study is based on the World Input-Output Database, 

and the results indicate that technology-adjusted carbon accounting will redraw the global emissions map if the intermediate input linkage is considered. 

The technology-adjusted carbon accounting method satisfies the conditions 

of additivity, sensitivity, monotonicity, and scale invariance, through proper selection of the world average emissions multipliers.” Zengkai Zhang, Energy 

Economics. (Subscription may be required.)
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October 2017 – September 2018 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

OCTOBER 2017

Second-Generation Toolset for Calculation of Induced Seismicity Risk 

Profiles.

The following is the Abstract of this NRAP document: “This report describes development and demonstration of the second-generation toolset for NRAP. The 

toolset provides a probabilistic analysis of hazards and risks from earthquakes 

that could potentially be induced by increased subsurface pore pressures on 

faults resulting from CO2 injection for geological carbon sequestration (GCS). 

Hazard and risk calculations utilize earthquake catalogs produced by physics-based simulations that incorporate injection-induced pressure changes 

generated by subsurface fluid flow modeling. The second-generation toolset 

has the capability of calculating the seismic hazard at an arbitrary number of 

ground surface sites from events occurring on multiple source faults. Hazard 

uncertainty bounds are determined using multiple realizations of simulated 

earthquake catalogs that sample the epistemic and aleatory uncertainty distributions on the input parameters. ‘Nuisance fragility functions’ for seismic 

ground motion developed as part of the second-generation work are combined 

with the hazard curves to estimate the risk of nuisance from ground shaking. 

Hazard and risk estimates for different time periods before, during, and after 

CO2 injection can be compared to assess the impact of the GCS operation 

and to inform operational decision making. The results described in this report 

demonstrate the functionality of the toolset based on its application to a hypothetical scenario involving two faults. Further development, including modifications to the current computer code implementation and code parallelization, 

will be needed to bring the toolset up to full functionality in dealing with large 

numbers of faults.” 

Kimberlina, California Site Characterization for Applications to Potential 

Induced Seismicity.

The following is the Executive Summary of this NRAP document: “This study 

considered a hypothetical location of a CO2 injection facility at the Kimberlina site, described [in this document]. The report is divided into four parts: 

1) ground motion prediction; 2) ambient (in-situ) stress field; 3) topographic 

site characterization, and 4) fault characterization. The focus is twofold: [(1) 

site characterization parameters and methodologies that have been applied to 

the Kimberlina site, and (2) a more general discussion of site characterization 

approaches and methodologies that are applicable to general sites of interest.] 

This study resulted in a number of summary conclusions and recommendations, some of which are specific to the hypothetical Kimberlina site, and many 

of which are more broadly applicable to the consideration of seismicity in selecting and characterizing future carbon storage sites, including the impact of 

surface facilities. The methods described herein can be applied to a site with 

a relatively small amount of measured seismic activity. The benefits of establishing seismic monitoring networks, collecting rock cores, and characterizing 

peak ground acceleration and velocity have been identified. Further detail regarding these conclusions and recommendations can be found in the final two 

sections of this report.”

Algae Cultivation for Carbon Capture and Utilization Workshop Summary 

Report.

The following is from the Introduction of this DOE Office of Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy (EERE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) document: “BETO works to accelerate the development of a bioeconomy that can 

strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality. 

BETO’s Advanced Algal Systems Program (also called the Algae Program) is 

implementing a long-term applied R&D strategy to support the bioeconomy 

by lowering the costs of production for algal biofuels and bioproducts. The Algae Program works with partners to develop innovative technologies, integrate 

these technologies in pre-pilot test environments, and conduct crosscutting 

analyses to better understand the potential and challenges of an algal biofuels 

and bioproducts industry. BETO’s Algae Program regularly hosts algal biofuels 

strategy workshops to engage stakeholders in discussions of R&D priorities 

and to facilitate partnerships. On May 23–24, 2017, BETO hosted the Algae 

Cultivation for Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) Workshop in Orlando, 

Florida. Over 80 attendees participated in the event, providing valuable input 

through facilitated discussions focused on innovative technologies and business strategies for growing algae on waste CO2 emissions. Representatives 

from BETO, DOE’s FE’s Office of Coal and Power Research and Development, 

and experts in the fields of waste CCU and algae cultivation considered challenges and opportunities related to the following: [(1) sourcing CO2, including 

quality, quantity, siting, and transport; (2) cultivating algae, including biomass 

productivity, efficiency in CO2 utilization, and carbon balances of end products; 

and (3) identifying sustainable ‘win-win’ solutions to reducing CO2 emissions 

while achieving cost savings].” 

NOVEMBER 2017

Reduced-Order Model for Leakage through an Open Wellbore from the 

Reservoir due to CO2 Injection.

The following is the Abstract from this NRAP document: “Potential CO2 leakage 

through existing open wellbores is one of the most significant hazards that 

needs to be addressed in geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) projects. In the 

framework of NRAP which requires fast computations for uncertainty analysis, 

rigorous simulation of the coupled wellbore-reservoir system is not practical. 

This study developed a 7,200-point look-up table reduced-order model (ROM) 

for estimating the potential leakage rate up open wellbores in response to 

CO2 injection nearby. The ROM is based on coupled simulations using T2Well/

ECO2H which was run repeatedly for representative conditions relevant to 

NRAP to create a look-up table response-surface ROM. The ROM applies to 

a wellbore that fully penetrates a 20-m thick reservoir that is used for CO2

storage. The radially symmetric reservoir is assumed to have initially uniform 

pressure, temperature, gas saturation, and brine salinity, and it is assumed 

these conditions are held constant at the far-field boundary (100 m away from 

the wellbore). In such a system, the leakage can quickly reach quasi-steady 

state. The ROM table can be used to estimate both the free-phase CO2 and 

brine leakage rates through an open well as a function of wellbore and reservoir conditions. Results show that injection-induced pressure and reservoir gas 

saturation play important roles in controlling leakage. Caution must be used in 

the application of this ROM because well leakage is formally transient and the 

ROM lookup table was populated using quasi-steady simulation output after 

1,000 time steps which may correspond to different physical times for the 

various parameter combinations of the coupled wellbore-reservoir system.” 

Influence of Geochemical Processes on the Geomechanical Responses 

of Overburden Strata during CO2 Storage in Saline Aquifers.

The following is the Executive Summary of this NRAP document: “Saline aquifers have been identified as types of desirable geologic formations suitable for 

storage of CO2 in large amounts. While the impermeable caprock layer(s) in the 

overburden provides the primary trap for injected CO2, other trapping mechanisms such as solubility, residual, ionic or mineral trapping help contribute to 

CO2 storage. Geochemical reactions alter the petrophysical properties in the 

target reservoir, and may have an influence on the reservoir storage capacity. 

When CO2 is injected for long periods of time, it changes the fluid pressures 

and overburden geomechanical response. In this study, coupled multiphase 

fluid flow and geomechanical modeling with geochemical processes was performed to simulate long-term (1,000 years), large-scale injection of CO2 (up 

to10 million metric tons per year) into a deep saline aquifer, to investigate the 

influence of geochemical processes on the geomechanical response of overburden during long-term CO2 injection. Geochemical modeling results from 

this study show that geochemical processes such as mineral dissolution and 

precipitation have very little influence on reservoir rock porosity at the reservoir scale. Results from the coupled fluid flow and geomechanics models with 

geochemical reactions for large-scale CO2 injection scenarios indicate that the 

inclusion of geochemical reactions in the geomechanical models have a very 

little influence on the computed vertical ground displacements during injection 

and post-injection periods. Modeling results show that the pressure increases 

and ground displacements caused due to CO2 injection decay with time during 
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October 2017 – September 2018 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

the post-injection period. Thus, the study findings are that geochemical interactions have no significant impact on geomechanical response at the reservoir 

scale. It should be noted, however, that the impacts of geochemistry on geomechanical response at the local scale, such as in faults or fractures that are 

found in a caprock layer, were not addressed in this study.”

Principles for Best Practice Geomechanics for CCS Injection 

Operations and its Application to the CarbonNet Project. 

The following is from the Executive Summary of this Global CCS Institute 

document: “For the CCS industry to make a significant contribution to global 

emissions reduction, it must be deployed at scale, worldwide. This ‘new’ industry will inherit much of the data and experience of the petroleum industry 

especially as regards safe operation and pressure management. An important 

element for every CCS project is the identification of subsurface injection pressure limits to ensure CO2 retention. The purpose of the pressure limits is to 

protect the overlying aquifers, for surface equipment integrity, and to ensure 

subsurface geomechanical stability. A high confidence is required that during 

the operation of an injection project, any geomechanical events will be small 

and/or relatively [localized] and that adequate safeguards exist to prevent or 

[minimize] adverse events. Best Practice manuals for CCS are in development 

worldwide but to date no comprehensive code of practice or manual has been 

published. Extensive datasets exist in the experience of drilling oil and gas 

wells in a wide variety of stress regimes. The process of well drilling samples 

and tests the geomechanical environment in a near-wellbore context (tens to 

hundreds of [meters]) over a relatively short timeframe of days to months, while 

injection of fluids leads to a test over a larger spatial extent (km to tens of km) 

over longer timeframes (years to decades), and therefore a more stringent 

pressure management approach is required due the larger potential scale of 

geomechanical effects. Although working pressure guidelines are commonly 

identified for injection projects, the resultant approaches applied worldwide are 

inconsistent, since they have been partially guided by local jurisdictions that 

account for the geomechanical in-situ conditions in different ways.”

DECEMBER 2017

Geological Storage of CO2 in Deep Saline Formations.

The following is a description of this book: “This book offers readers a comprehensive overview, and an in-depth understanding, of suitable methods for 

quantifying and characterizing saline aquifers for the geological storage of CO2. 

It begins with a general overview of the methodology and the processes that 

take place when CO2 is injected and stored in deep saline-water-containing 

formations. It subsequently presents mathematical and numerical models used 

for predicting the consequences of CO2 injection. This book provides descriptions of relevant experimental methods, from laboratory experiments to field 

scale site characterization and techniques for monitoring spreading of the injected CO2 within the formation. Experiences from a number of important field 

injection projects are reviewed, as are those from CO2 natural analog sites. 

Lastly, the book presents relevant risk management methods. Geological storage of CO2 is widely considered to be a key technology capable of substantially 

reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere, thereby reducing 

the negative impacts of such releases on the global climate. Around the world, 

projects are already in full swing, while others are now being initiated and 

executed to demonstrate the technology. Deep saline formations are the geological formations considered to hold the highest storage potential, due to their 

abundance worldwide. To date, however, these formations have been relatively 

poorly characterized, due to their low economic value. Accordingly, the processes involved in injecting and storing CO2 in such formations still need to be 

better quantified and methods for characterizing, modeling and monitoring this 

type of CO2 storage in such formations must be rapidly developed and refined.”

A Reduced-Order Model of Fault Leakage for Second-Generation 

Toolset.

The following is the Abstract of this NRAP document: “This report describes 

the NRAP second-generation fault leakage model. The key features of the new 

model are: [(1) A three-dimensional (3-D) site model has been developed; (2) 

Geomechanical changes in permeability due to fault slip are now included; and 

(3) The Kimberlina reservoir model is used as a reference to specify boundary conditions for pressure and saturation.] This report briefly describes both 

the high-fidelity leakage simulations and their subsequent reduction to a response-surface model. This response-surface model constitutes a reduced-order model (ROM) that can be incorporated into a system model that predicts 

the potential for CO2 or brine to be released from a storage reservoir to an 

overlying aquifer or the atmosphere. This second-generation ROM builds on 

the first-generation ROM, which was two-dimensional (2-D) and did not incorporate geomechanical effects. Note that this ROM considered aseismic, quasi-static slip behavior. The third-generation ROM will look at leakage response 

due to seismic events.”

JANUARY 2018

Geological Storage of CO2 in Deep Saline Formations.

The following is a description of this book: “This book offers readers a comprehensive overview, and an in-depth understanding, of suitable methods for 

quantifying and characterizing saline aquifers for the geological storage of CO2. 

It begins with a general overview of the methodology and the processes that 

take place when CO2 is injected and stored in deep saline-water-containing 

formations. It subsequently presents mathematical and numerical models used 

for predicting the consequences of CO2 injection. This book provides descriptions of relevant experimental methods, from laboratory experiments to field 

scale site characterization and techniques for monitoring spreading of the injected CO2 within the formation. Experiences from a number of important field 

injection projects are reviewed, as are those from CO2 natural analog sites. 

Lastly, the book presents relevant risk management methods. Geological storage of CO2 is widely considered to be a key technology capable of substantially 

reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere, thereby reducing 

the negative impacts of such releases on the global climate. Around the world, 

projects are already in full swing, while others are now being initiated and 

executed to demonstrate the technology. Deep saline formations are the geological formations considered to hold the highest storage potential, due to their 

abundance worldwide. To date, however, these formations have been relatively 

poorly characterized, due to their low economic value. Accordingly, the processes involved in injecting and storing CO2 in such formations still need to be 

better quantified and methods for characterizing, modeling and monitoring this 

type of CO2 storage in such formations must be rapidly developed and refined.”

CSLF Technology Roadmap 2017.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this Carbon Sequestration 

Leadership Forum (CSLF) document: “The CSLF Technology Roadmap 2017 

aims to provide recommendations to Ministers of the CSLF member countries on technology developments that are required for CCS to fulfill the CSLF 

mission to facilitate the development and deployment of CCS technologies via 

collaborative efforts that address key technical, economic, and environmental 

obstacles.”

Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2017.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this Climate Policy Initiative 

document: “Climate Policy Initiative’s 2017 edition of the Global Landscape 

of Climate Finance updates the most comprehensive assessment of annual 

climate finance flows with data from 2015 and 2016, providing, for the first 

time, a five-year trend analysis on the how, where, and from whom finance is 

flowing toward low-carbon and climate-resilient actions globally in order to 

identify trends, gaps, and opportunities to scale up investment. As with previous reports, the figures identified in this Landscape represent overall global finance flows and should be compared with estimates of total investment 

needed consistent with the goal of limiting global temperature rise to below 2 

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

October 2017 – September 2018 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

FEBRUARY 2018

Reduced-Order Model for the Geochemical Impacts of CO2, Brine, and 

Trace Metal Leakage into an Unconfined, Oxidizing Carbonate Aquifer, 

Version 2.1.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this document: “The National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) is a DOE-funded program to develop and demonstrate a methodology and toolset for predicting long-term risk 

profiles needed for quantifying potential liabilities at a CO2 storage project. 

The approach taken by NRAP is to divide the system into components, including injection target reservoirs, wellbores, natural pathways including faults 

and fractures, groundwater, and the atmosphere. Next, detailed physics- and 

chemistry-based models of each component are developed. Using the results 

of the detailed models, efficient, simplified models, termed reduced-order 

models (ROM) are then developed for each component. Finally, the component 

ROMs are integrated into a system model that calculates risk profiles. The 

groundwater component models are based on two sites: the confined reducing, sandstone High Plains aquifer, which extends from South Dakota to Texas; 

and the unconfined, oxidizing carbonate Edwards aquifer in south-central Texas. Two ROMs have been developed for each aquifer, one with varied hydraulic 

parameters, and another with varied geochemical parameters, resulting in four 

separate groundwater ROMs. This report focuses on [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL’s)] development of the geochemical ROM for the Edwards 

aquifer. The approach used to develop the groundwater geochemistry ROM for 

the Edwards aquifer was to develop a complex model of groundwater flow 

and reactive transport in the shallow, urban unconfined portion of the aquifer 

near San Antonio, Texas. The areal model domain covers a 5×8-km area and 

is 150-m thick, with upscaled heterogeneous porosity and permeability. This 

model, using the STOMP (Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases) simulator, used a well leak ROM provided by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) 

to calculate CO2 and brine leakage rates into the aquifer. The STOMP model 

included equilibrium, kinetic mineral, and adsorption reactions related to the 

carbonate and clay minerals in the aquifer reacting with major ions and trace 

metals in groundwater, as well as CO2 and brine containing sodium (Na), chloride (Cl), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) leaking from the wellbore.”

Updated short-term traded carbon values used for UK public policy 

appraisal.

The following is from the Background of this UK Department for Business, 

Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) document: “BEIS’s short-term traded 

carbon values for UK public policy appraisal are used for valuing the impact of 

government policies on emissions in the traded sector, i.e. those sectors covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Short-term values quoted 

in this paper correspond to the period up to 2030 and long-term values correspond to the period post-2030. In 2009, the Department of Energy and Climate 

Change (DECC) set out a methodology for producing traded sector carbon values to 2050 in the paper ‘Carbon Valuation in UK Public Policy Appraisal: A 

Revised Approach’ (July 2009). The paper advocated moving from a social 

cost of carbon/damage cost approach for valuing carbon to a target consistent 

resource-cost approach. In 2012, the hybrid methodology for producing shortterm traded carbon values was adopted and involved using a market-based 

approach using futures prices to produce short-term traded carbon values in 

the central scenario, and fundamentals-based high and low scenarios for sensitivity purposes. Since 2012, these values have been updated annually using 

the BEIS Carbon Price Model (BCPM). These values are being revised again 

as part of the annual process for updating BEIS’s analytical projections and 

assumptions.”

Geological CO2 Sequestration Atlas of Miocene Strata, Offshore Texas 

State Waters.

The following is the Abstract of this University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology document: “The purpose of this atlas is to provide a summary 

of research undertaken as part of a multiyear study (2009–2014) of Texas 

State Waters and the adjacent Federal Offshore continental shelf (i.e., near 

offshore waters of the State of Texas). The goal of the study was to assess 

and analyze existing data from historical hydrocarbon-industry activities in a 

regional transect of the Texas coast in order to verify the ability of Miocene-age 

rocks of the region to safely and permanently store large amounts of anthropogenic (industrial) CO2. The authors’ intent in producing this atlas is to provide 

a resource for exploring the geological CO2 sequestration potential of the near 

offshore waters of the State of Texas by populating the atlas with both largescale regional, qualitative and detailed quantitative information that can help 

operators quickly assess CO2 sequestration potential at specific sites. This is 

the first comprehensive attempt to accomplish this goal in the near offshore of 

the Gulf Coast and United States.”

MARCH 2018

Reduced-Order Model for the Impacts of Carbon Dioxide and Brine 

Leakage into an Unconfined, Oxidizing Carbonate Aquifer, ThirdGeneration.

The following is from the Abstract of this National Risk Assessment Partnership 

(NRAP) document: “NRAP consists of five DOE national laboratories collaborating to develop a framework for predicting the risks associated with carbon 

sequestration. The approach taken by NRAP is to first divide the system into 

components, including injection target reservoirs, wellbores, natural pathways 

including faults and fractures, groundwater, and the atmosphere. Next, develop a detailed, physics- and chemistry-based model of each component. 

Using the results of the detailed models, develop efficient, simplified models, 

termed reduced-order models (ROMs), for each component. Finally, integrate 

the component ROMs into a system model that calculates risk profiles for the 

site, using a probabilistic methodology. This report details the development 

of the groundwater ROM for an unconfined carbonate aquifer, loosely based 

on an unconfined portion of the Edwards Aquifer in south-central Texas. For 

practical reasons of computational efficiency, two sets of detailed multiphase 

reactive-transport simulations were performed separately: one emphasizing 

complex hydrogeology factors, the other emphasizing detailed geochemistry. 

These results were combined into a single groundwater ROM that considered 

both hydrogeologic and geochemical factors that might be expected to influence the fate and transport of brine and CO2 in a shallow aquifer.”

Carbon Capture and Storage Sector: Worldwide Forecast until 2021.

The following is from a Summary of this document: “The use of CCS technology is one of the novel ideas that help reduce the amount of CO2 released into 

the atmosphere by fossil fuel-dependent industries including power generation and oil and gas processing. The basic functioning of the CCS technology 

includes capturing the CO2 before its release into the atmosphere and then 

transporting and storing it in an environmentally secure location. The experts 

estimate the worldwide [CCS] market to increase at a compound annual 

Growth rate of ~9.2 percent between 2017 and 2021. [The scope of this report] describes the ongoing situation and its growth expectations of the global 

[CCS] sector for 2017-2021. To calculate the market value, the industry report 

examines business dimensions with an eye on individual growth trends and 

contribution of upcoming market segments. The sector is segmented into the 

specified segments established on area: Americas; Asia-Pac; [and] Europe, 

Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The market study, Worldwide Carbon Capture 

and Storage Sector 2017-2021, has been produced established on a comprehensive and detailed market studies with data coming from specialists of the 

sector. The study describes the market outlook and its growth expectations 

over the next years. This study also comprises conversations with top vendors 

operating in this segment.”

The Clean Growth Strategy: Leading the way to a low carbon future.

The following is from an Introduction in this document: “The move to cleaner 

economic growth is one of the greatest industrial opportunities of our time. This 

Strategy will ensure Britain is ready to seize that opportunity. [The UK’s] modern Industrial Strategy is about increasing the earning power of people in every 

part of the country. [The UK needs] to do that while not just protecting, but improving the environment on which [their] economic success depends. In short, 

[the UK needs] higher growth with lower carbon emissions. This approach is 

at the heart of [the] Strategy for clean growth. The opportunity for people and 

business across the country is huge. The low carbon economy could grow 11 
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October 2017 – September 2018 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

percent per year between 2015 and 2030, four times faster than the projected 

growth of the economy as a whole...” 

APRIL 2018

Reduced-Order Models for Prediction of Groundwater Quality Impacts 

from CO2 and Brine Leakage – Application to the High Plains Aquifer.

The following is the Executive Summary of this National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) document: “In this study, modeling was performed to represent 

the complex hydrogeological and geochemical conditions in a heterogeneous 

aquifer by using two separate reduced-order models (ROMs). The first ROM is 

derived from a high-fidelity model that accounts for the heterogeneous flow 

and transport conditions in the presence of multiple leakage wells. This ROM, 

developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) takes into account uncertainties related to flow, transport, and leakage parameters; however, this ROM has a simplified representation of chemical reactions. The second 

ROM is obtained from models that feature greatly simplified flow and transport 

conditions, but allow for a more complex representation of all relevant geochemical reactions. This ROM, developed by LBNL takes into account uncertainties related to chemical parameters and reactions. Both ROMs specifically 

address the physical and chemical properties of the High Plains Aquifer. 

Neither ROM can separately provide an accurate prediction of the risk profile 

volume because of the simplifications inherent in these models. Accurate prediction could be achieved with a very complex three-dimensional (3-D) reactive 

transport model; however, this model would be quite demanding computationally. Therefore, development of an alternative approach that allows linking of 

the two ROMs and, in particular, a correction of the risk profile volumes estimated by the two separate ROMs, was conducted. The development of a linking function was accomplished by: (1) the establishment of two simple models 

— a one-dimensional (1-D) model with homogenous flow and transport field 

and single leakage point, but including as many chemical reactions as possible—and a two-dimensional (2-D) model considering aquifer heterogeneity 

but no reactions; (2) the development of a complex model that incorporates all 

the parameters and physical and chemical processes of both simple models; 

(3) multiple runs of both simple and complex models; and (4) estimation of the 

linking functions based on those runs. This report describes the development 

and usage of the ROMs and linking function.”

MAY 2018

Analysis of Field Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP) Data: Cranfield 3D-VSP 

Project.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) document: “The investigations in this report address 

one of the priority research topics of the NRAP Strategic Monitoring Working 

Group—the research need of quantifying and improving temporal and spatial 

resolution of monitoring data, in this case three-dimensional (3D) borehole 

based seismic data. The resulting Cranfield 3D vertical seismic profiling (VSP) 

study consists of two different investigations of VSP technology as it applies 

to the storage of anthropogenic CO2. These investigations are firstly, an examination of the subsurface spatial resolution of 3D-VSP technology compared 

to more expensive, lower frequency 3D surface seismic technology, including 

the potential economic and technical value for subsurface monitoring of large 

volumes of anthropogenic CO2. The second investigation relates to the value 

of least-squares, reverse-time migration processing for coping with the sparse 

distribution of VSP seismic sources and the avoidance of processing artifacts 

that may mimic low offset faults or other subsurface discontinuities. Such artifacts could result in the incorrect estimation of higher project risk, greater 

geologic uncertainty, and could result in negative impacts to project schedule 

or budget. The key findings of this report relate the relative spatial resolution 

of reflections at the reservoir depth (which are used to monitor the storage of 

CO2) and in above zone monitoring intervals (AZMI), which are used to monitor 

for leakage. For the Cranfield data set, this study found that the 3D-VSP data 

have only slight improvements over conventional 3D surface seismic in the 

resolution of the high amplitude, continuous reflector for the Tuscaloosa injection formation, but that a real advantage of 3D-VSP is found in the improved 

imaging of weakly reflective, discontinuous reflectors in a potential AZMI. At 

Cranfield such reflectors above the injection formation form an important zone 

for leakage monitoring. At other sites, the reservoir interval may consist of 

weakly reflective seismic events whose imaging could be improved by 3D-VSP. 

This improvement in imaging is essential in being able to detect and quantify 

changes in subsurface properties related to seismic monitoring.”

Global Carbon Account 2018.

The following is the Introduction of this document: “This overview presents 

key trends regarding the implementation of explicit carbon pricing policies 

throughout the world in 2018. A timeline, a world map, a detailed table and 

a graph provide comprehensive information on the jurisdictions that have implemented or plan to implement explicit carbon pricing policies, the type of 

instrument chosen, the sectors and fuels covered, the pricing levels, and the 

use of revenues.”

JUNE 2018

Performance Evaluation and Integration of Multiple CO2 Leak Detection 

Monitoring Technologies.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) document: “Monitoring, mitigation and verification 

(MMV) is an indispensable part of an integrated geologic [CCS] project. Developing a reliable MMV network is of vital importance in order to avoid threats 

to public health, the environment, and economic investments in sequestration in case of significant leakage. The large spatial extent of sites and the 

several decades-long duration required for MMV present a great challenge. 

The availability of several technologies (soil gas, surface flux, eddy covariance, 

perfluorocarbon tracers, seismic, pressure monitoring, groundwater chemistry, 

etc.) allow such networks to be established. However, the large numbers of 

monitoring devices, operating practices, failure modes, and leakage scenarios 

dictate the need for an overseeing mechanism that will help to integrate and 

interpret the signals from the network. This project was carried out to develop 

such an integrating mechanism utilizing a Bayesian belief network (BBN). A 

well-established and calibrated BBN can statistically characterize the reliability 

of a given leakage signal, combining evidence from multiple measurements in 

a weight-of-evidence framework. Both false positives and false negatives are 

intended to be reduced, and eliminated if possible, through application of this 

statistical tool. Once developed, the BBN can be used to predict the probability 

that a future leak of a given size will be detected. In future studies the final 

product from this project can also be used to design an MMV network that 

optimizes detection capabilities for a given expenditure of available resources, 

and as part of an integrated risk model that includes adaptive management 

options should leakage be detected.”

Why Carbon Pricing Matters: A guide for implementation.

The following is the Preface of this World Business Council for Sustainable 

Development (WBCSD) document: “Carbon pricing is an accepted concept 

for managing carbon emissions and many jurisdictions are looking to implement one instrument or another. Many resources describing different carbon 

pricing mechanisms exist. However, they tend not to be comparative and are 

relatively high-level. WBCSD and its members believe that carbon pricing is 

now regarded as one of the most efficient means of driving the transition to 

a low-carbon world. As an increasing number of jurisdictions have adopted or 

are considering adopting carbon pricing, this document focuses on the ‘what’ 

and ‘how’ rather than the ‘why.’ Policymakers need to choose the most suitable carbon pricing instruments and design them appropriately. This document 

aims to guide policymakers who are considering carbon pricing mechanisms in 

their choice of instruments and some key design principles. In the process, this 

document hopes to stimulate further and more detailed discussions between 

policymakers and business leaders on how best to implement the carbon price 

so that it can incentivize low-carbon innovation and investment, create a global 

level playing field and support the attainment of the [United Nations Framework 

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)] 2°C goal in a sustainable way.”
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

43

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

October 2017 – September 2018 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

JULY 2018

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 Executive Summary of this National Risk Assessment 

Partnership (NRAP) 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 long-term 

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.”

Clean Air, Clean Industry, Clean Growth: How Carbon Capture Will 

Boost the UK Economy.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this document: “This Study 

into the value of CCS investments along the East Coast of the [UK], represents 

a new approach to evaluating the economic and societal benefits associated 

with the deployment of CCS. The results provide a robust basis for advancing 

CCS in the UK. The Study considers a phased evolution of CCS Investments 

providing essential [decarbonization] options with discrete investment/decision 

points along the way. The CCS Investments considered are sized and timed 

to align with the Committee on Climate Change (“CCC”) projections for UK 

carbon emissions reductions targets with each investment demonstrating a 

significant net positive impact on the UK economy. Successive investments in 

CCS projects and infrastructure are envisaged that evolve over time into a CCS 

network. Each phase of East Coast CCS investments is considered as discrete 

but with each phase building on and using the infrastructure implemented in 

the previous phases. For modelling purposes, the phases are divided into 5 

year periods i.e. the same as parliamentary terms and climate budget periods in the UK. This approach is adopted [recognizing] that policy may change 

from time to time and technology does not stand still. Options can therefore 

be maintained and adjusted for UK [decarbonization] policy as circumstances 

evolve, with successive phases of investment only proceeding if the case for 

them stands up over time. There is no requirement for investors, the UK and/or 

Scottish governments to commit to the whole series of investments upfront.”

AUGUST 2018

Feasibility of Biogeochemical Sealing of Wellbore Cements: Lab and 

Simulation Tests.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this DOE/NETL document: “A 

critical facet of a successful CO2 storage program in geologic formations—a 

major component of the DOE Fossil Energy portfolio—necessitates prevention 

of CO2 leakage from cement and its interface with host lithologies. To ensure 

permanence of CO2 stored in a geologic formation it is essential to maintain 

the wellbore integrity to prevent leakage of gas to the surface or surficial aquifers. This study builds on advances on the current understanding of behavior 

of cement under high pressure/temperature and CO2 conditions and recent 

reports on the bioprecipitation of calcium carbonate by Sporosarcina pasteurii 

(S. pasteurii) in the presence of supercritical CO2, to test the feasibility of microbially-mediated sealing of a leaking wellbore. This study used a Portland 

cement, Mt. Simon sandstone cores (to be supplied by [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory [PNNL] researchers), and a synthetic Illinois Basin brine as 

the model geologic materials. The Mt. Simon formation has been targeted for 

supercritical CO2 injection as a part of the DOE’s FutureGen project, and as one 

of the U.S. DOE-NETL Phase III Regional Partnership programs. The growth rate 

of S. pasteurii on cement and sandstone in various temperature and pressure 

conditions were measured. For the aqueous experiments, this study focused 

on the aqueous population of S. pasteurii as it allowed a quantitative evaluation 

of community growth. However, it was also qualitatively evaluated whether this 

species was able to grow on cement or sandstone that was previously collected from the Mt. Simon formation. It was found that the species grew best at 

30°C compared to 40°C, the latter being among the lowest temperatures likely 

to occur in the Mt. Simon formation. The species was able to have temporarily 

stable population for a in the brine at 30°C, but failed after 40°C. This study 

inoculated a brine solution overlaying cement/sandstone ‘cement samples’ 

and incubated them at 30°C in the brine with urea augmented. The results 

demonstrated that the species grew well on the sandstone, and on the cement 

with an apparent preference for the later.”

Role of CCUS in a below 2 degrees scenario.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this European Zero Emission 

Technology and Innovation Platform (ZEP) document: “The world’s economy is 

built on energy, 80% of which still came from fossil fuels in 2016. The growth 

in use of fossil fuels worldwide is still far higher in absolute terms than the 

growth of non-CO2 emitting energies, so far employed. In Europe, the EU Commission’s 2016 reference scenario for primary energy consumption showed 

similar levels of demand for natural gas and oil in 2050 as in 2010. Meanwhile, 

the Paris Agreement commits the world to net-zero emissions in the second 

half of the century, balancing remaining sources with sinks to achieve neutrality. In a European context, the recently agreed Regulation on Governance of 

the Energy Union commits the EU to meeting net-zero ‘as soon as possible’. 

The EU’s Long-term strategy for [GHG] emissions reduction, to be presented 

at COP 24 in November, will assess how to reach net-zero by 2050. Although 

a major source for global GHG emissions, the industry sector has largely been 

shielded from contemporary climate action, postponing relevant measures into 

the far future. Cash and investment constrained European industry will not 

make changes to reduce CO2 emissions without a strong positive business 

case, which so far is lacking. Within a 32 year timeframe Europe cannot rely 

on potential breakthrough technologies and fundamental changes in consumer 

[behavior], but needs to deploy real solutions that are available today to reduce 

industry emissions. [CCS], along with [utilization] of CO2 where appropriate 

(CCUS), is available, scalable, cost effective and suitable to deeply reduce 

emissions from industrial processes and heat.” 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

44

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

October 2017 – September 2018 REPORTS and PUBLICATIONS

SEPTEMBER 2018

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 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 mD. 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 mD. Porosity of the parallel sample group ranges from 0.54% 

to 1.32% and permeability readings from 0.02 to 1.12 mD. 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.” 

Risk Reduction of CO2 Storage with Stochastic Simulations.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this NETL Technical Report 

Series document: “The purpose of this project was to create an efficient and 

flexible tool based on principal component analysis (PCA) for a generation of 

differentiable realizations of porosity and permeability fields. Of particular interest were data which had significant connectivity between patches of the same 

rock type, which is called ‘binary.’ The efficiency requirement needed a socalled kernel PCA, and the binary images were found with the method called 

optimization based PCA (OPCA) for which interpretation is provided. The ability 

to honor given data at particular locations is also incorporated. The tool worked 

very well and efficiently for two dimensional (2-D) simulations. Furthermore, 

the tool was applied to a three-dimensional (3-D) dataset and determined that 

conditioning can be used to maintain the connectivity between vertical layers. 

Since kernel-based tools need snapshots, several tools that generate snapshots were also created. These tools are based on PCA or on novel filtering 

techniques. The next steps for this project include new techniques to combine 

PCA with upscaling, testing models with more data, expanding OPCA and filtering, and extending techniques to work more appropriately with non-Gaussian 

data.”

An independent assessment of the UK’s Clean Growth Strategy: From 

ambition to action.

The following is from the Executive Summary of this UK Committee on Climate 

Change document: “Under the Climate Change Act, the Government is required 

to publish a set of policies and proposals that will enable the legally-binding 

carbon budgets, on track to the 2050 target, to be met. The Clean Growth 

Strategy, published in October 2017, presents the Government’s plans. In this 

report [the authors] set out [their] assessment of that Strategy. [The authors’] 

key conclusions are: [1] The Government has made a strong commitment to 

achieving the UK’s climate targets. It has placed the low-carbon economy at 

the heart of the UK’s industrial strategy, framing the Clean Growth Strategy as 

a positive contribution to the economy (rather than a burden to be [minimized]). 

It has committed to a position of international leadership. There is great interest internationally in the model provided by the UK Climate Change Act. This 

makes it all the more important to have plans in place to meet the targets 

through domestic actions – this is the basis on which the carbon budgets were 

set. [2] Policies and proposals need to be firmed up. The Strategy includes 

some new policies to reduce emissions. In other areas – covering the majority 

of the emissions reductions in the Strategy – it sets out some ambitious new 

proposals, but policy to deliver those aspirations has not yet been worked up. 

Development of policy in these areas (e.g. upgrading as many homes as possible to Energy Performance Certificate Band C by 2035, improved standards 

of new buildings, phasing out the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel 

cars and vans by 2040) will need to progress urgently. [3] Gaps to meeting 

the fourth and fifth carbon budgets remain. These must be closed. Whilst the 

Strategy sets out a ‘2032 Pathway’ for sectoral emissions that would just meet 

the fifth carbon budget, there is no clear link to the policies, proposals and 

intentions that the Strategy presents. [The authors’] assessment of the policies 

and proposals set out in the Strategy indicates that, even if these deliver in full, 

there remain gaps of around 10-65 MtCO2e to meeting both the fourth and fifth 

carbon budgets on the basis of central projections.”
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

45

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

October 2017 – September 2018 ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

OCTOBER 2017

NETL Research Studies CO2 Interaction with Shale.

NETL researchers are using complex experiments to determine if shale formations can serve as a storage reservoir for CO2 captured from fossil fuel-burning 

power plants and other industries. Initial NETL research has shown that injected CO2 may change the rock’s porosity and permeability; understanding these 

and other effects is key to developing successful carbon storage techniques 

and achieving more accurate predictions of the formation’s storage potential. 

The research supports DOE’s goal to increase the ability to predict CO2 storage 

capacity in geologic formations to within ± 30 percent. 

NETL Releases Updated BPMs for Geologic Carbon Storage.

DOE/NETL announced the release of the final two of five 2017 revised edition 

Best Practice Manuals (BPMs) for geologic carbon storage projects. The final 

two BPMs (“Operations for Geologic Storage Projects” and “Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting (MVA) for Geologic Storage Projects”) join the three 

BPMs released in July 2017 to provide a holistic approach to carrying out a 

geologic storage project from inception to completion. Developed in conjunction with the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs), the revised 

BPMs include new information learned as the RCSPs progressed to large-scale 

Development Phase field projects, as well as a variety of carbon storage scenarios at different geologic and geographic settings across the United States. 

DOE/NETL Conference Proceedings Available Online.

Proceedings of the DOE/NETL-sponsored “2017 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 1-3, 2017, are available online. Included are 

posters and presentations from the three-day meeting. 

Ultra-High-Resolution 3D Seismic Technology Deployed in DOE/NETL 

Offshore CO2 Storage Monitoring Project.

Researchers from the Gulf Coast Carbon Center at the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology conducted an ultra-high-resolution 3D seismic data collection 

survey off Japan’s north island of Hokkaido. At the time of the survey, approximately 65,000 tons of CO2 had been injected into a geologic formation 1,100 

meters below the seafloor. Funded through DOE/NETL’s Carbon Storage Program, the seismic data were collected using technology designed to provide 

high-resolution 3D data that can be used to characterize the geology above 

potential CO2 storage sites. 

New International Standards for CO2 Capture and Storage.

New international standards for the storage and transport of CO2 will be presented at a seminar at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) in Stavanger, Norway, in fall 2017. The standards relate to the storage of CO2 and its 

transportation by pipeline. 

UKCCSRC Autumn 2017 Biannual Proceedings Available Online.

Posters and presentations from the United Kingdom Carbon Capture and Storage Research Center’s (UKCCSRC) Autumn 2017 Biannual meeting are available online. Held in September 2017, the Autumn Biannual Meeting focused 

on the UKCCSRC’s core research program. 

University of Maryland Releases Updated Action Plan.

The University of Maryland (UMD) released an updated action plan outlining 

strategies to help the university become carbon neutral by 2050. In addition 

to reducing the university’s CO2 emissions, Climate Action Plan 2.0 will also 

fully integrate sustainability into its educational and research efforts. Since the 

original plan in 2009, UMD has reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 

28 percent.

NOVEMBER 2017

DOE-Supported Project Reaches Milestone.

The Petra Nova project, DOE’s post-combustion carbon capture system, has 

captured more than 1 million metric tons of CO2 for use in EOR operations. Located near Houston, Texas, USA, the project demonstrates an advanced aminebased CO2-capture technology that removes 90 percent of the CO2 emitted 

from the flue gas stream. The captured CO2 is used for EOR at the West Ranch 

Oil Field, which has increased oil production from 300 barrels per day when it 

began operations to approximately 4,000 barrels per day currently. 

FY 2017 Carbon Storage Newsletter Annual Index Available.

The FY 2017 Carbon Storage Newsletter Annual Index is available online in a 

new, updated format. The document is a compilation of NETL’s Carbon Storage 

Newsletters published over the October 2016 through September 2017 timeframe, organized by section. Outdated information (e.g., conference dates and 

paper submittals) have been removed.

DECEMBER 2017

NCCC Surpasses Milestone.

The DOE-sponsored National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) surpassed 

100,000 hours of technology testing, marking the research facility’s work in 

the development of advanced technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) 

emissions from natural gas and coal power plants. Managed and operated 

by Southern Company, NCCC was created by DOE/FE in 2009 and offers a 

pathway to advance novel technologies from the laboratory to demonstration 

in real-world power plant conditions.

DOE/FE Selects Projects to Receive Federal Funding.

DOE/FE selected two projects to receive funding to assess offshore geologic 

storage of CO2 and technology development in the Gulf of Mexico. Selected as 

part of FE’s Carbon Storage Program, the NETL-managed projects will focus 

on assembling the knowledge base required for secure, long-term, large-scale 

CO2 storage and assessing technology-development needs. In addition, DOE/

FE also selected two projects to receive funding for cost-shared research and 

development (R&D) for the safe storage of CO2 in geologic formations. The 

two NETL-managed projects will also support the Carbon Storage Program 

and are supported through Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DEFOA-0001725, “Technology Development to Ensure Environmentally Sustainable CO2 Injection Operations.” 

Global CCS Institute Releases Report on CCS.

The Global CCS Institute released its “Global Status of CCS Report: 2017” 

at the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. The report 

details the importance of CCS to meet international targets, and highlights CCS 

as the conduit to a new energy economy of hydrogen production, bioenergy, 

and CO2 re-use applications. 

Global Summit on CCUS.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) held a high-level summit to support investment in CCUS. Attended by energy ministers, government officials, and 

chief executives of major energy companies, the summit was held ahead of 

the IEA 2017 Ministerial Meetings and co-chaired by the United States. In 

addition, IEA offered a document on the “Five Keys to Unlock CCS Investment.” 

A summary of the summit is available on the IEA website. 

RGGI Report on Secondary Market.

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 2017” addresses the period from July through September 2017. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

46

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

October 2017 – September 2018 ANNOUNCEMENTS

Results of 38th RGGI Auction Released.

The nine states participating in the RGGI market-based regulatory program to 

reduce GHGs announced the results of their 38th auction of CO2 allowances. 

The last of 2017, Auction 38 saw 14,687,989 CO2 allowances sold at a clearing price of $3.80. Bids for the CO2 allowances ranged from $2.15 to $8.00 

per allowance, generating a total of $55.8 million for reinvestment in strategic 

programs such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, and GHG abatement. 

Additional details are available in the “Market Monitor Report for Auction 38.”

JANUARY 2018

Reports on Decarbonizing Australia.

A suite of reports released by Energy Networks Australia has found that decarbonizing gas in Australia by 2050 is achievable with the application of carbon 

capture and storage (CCS) to Australia’s gas network infrastructure. The new 

report, titled “Decarbonizing Australia’s gas networks,” was conducted by Deloitte Access Economics and builds on a previous report, titled “Gas Vision 

2050.”

Carbon Capture Projects Map Developed.

A company developed an interactive map detailing the carbon capture projects 

across the world. The map filters projects by application, location, and partners. 

A database of the projects is available online.

Webinar on Decarbonizing Industry Using CCS.

The Global CCS Institute and Gassnova conducted a webinar exploring how 

Norway is working to realize a full-chain CCS project. In addition to providing 

an overview of the Gassnova-managed Norway Full Chain CCS project, the 

webinar also covered the value Norway seeks to derive and the key stakeholders involved.

Seminar on Nordic CCS Cooperation.

A recent seminar conducted by Bellona highlighted the role of CCS in reaching 

Europe’s climate targets. According to the stakeholders, cooperation between 

Sweden and Norway on the development of common CCS infrastructure may 

lead to decreases in costs and increases in effectiveness. 

Paper Published on CCS Market.

The European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants 

(ZEP) published an updated paper on their recommendations for the design of 

the Innovation Fund Delegated Act. The paper provides input on how the act 

can support the development of CCS “Market Makers.”

FEBRUARY 2018

Forum on CCS Cooperation.

Bellona held its second forum on Nordic carbon capture and storage (CCS) 

cooperation, focusing on Norway and Sweden joining forces for CO2 management. The industry and environmental non-governmental organization representatives from Oslo, Norway, and Gothenburg, Sweden, that attended the forum discussed the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and how three CCS 

projects around the Oslo fjord showcase the potential of CO2 capture plants 

being built on cement and waste incineration plants.

Report on Role of CCS.

The International Energy Agency (IEA)-established Coal Industry Advisory Board 

(CIAB) released a report on the investment in CCS. Among other findings, CIAB 

reported on the Australian government promoting CCS investment and working with industry to co-develop CCS technology projects that are industrially 

scalable.

Online Tool Calculates Soil’s Carbon Storage Potential.

Researchers from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) developed The Soil Carbon App, an online tool that can calculate soil’s capacity for 

storing organic carbon. The tool can be used by investors and decision makers 

to assess to which degree planned efforts to restore degraded land will bind 

organic carbon in soil and reduce potential CO2 emissions. 

Chilean Government Agrees to CCS Plan.

The government of Chile and the Chilean association of electricity producers 

have agreed to not build new coal power plants that are not equipped with CCS 

or equivalent technologies. In addition, the two parties will also establish a joint 

working group that will focus on phasing out the operation of coal-fired power 

plants that do not currently utilize CCS or equivalent technologies.

MARCH 2018

NETL Names Acting Director.

The DOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (ASFE) named Sean I. Plasynski the acting director of NETL. A 28-year veteran of Federal fossil energy 

research, Dr. Plasynski previously served as the executive director of NETL’s 

Technology Development and Integration Center (TDIC), director of the Strategic Center of Coal, director of the Office of Coal and Power R&D, and Sequestration Technology manager. 

DOE Selects Projects to Receive Funding.

DOE’s FE and NETL selected nine projects to receive funding for Phase I of the 

Fossil Fuel Large-Scale Pilots FOA. The projects selected have demonstrated 

technical success at the small-scale pilot stage and are ready to proceed to 

the large-scale development stage. DOE’s FE also selected seven projects to 

receive funding for cost-shared R&D through the “Design and Testing of Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies” FOA. These projects will advance competitive operation of the Nation’s fossil-based power-generation infrastructure 

by reducing energy consumption and capital costs associated with next-generation carbon capture systems. Lastly, DOE’s FE selected six projects to receive 

funding under the “Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies” FOA. These projects will address the cost and operational challenges 

associated with current CO2 capture technologies commercially available for 

industry.

CCS Facility Demonstrates Success.

The carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam 

Power Station located in Saskatchewan, Canada, was online for the entire 

month of January 2018, capturing 81,008 metric tons of CO2 (approximately 

81 percent of its max capacity). It marked the third time in more than a year 

that the facility had been online for the entirety of the month. Since startup in 

2014, the facility has captured more than 1.9 million metric tons of CO2.

Carbon Capture Coalition Launched to Further CCS Adoption.

The National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative (NEORI) has rebranded as the 

Carbon Capture Coalition, expanding its agenda following the reform and extension of the Federal Section 45Q tax credit for CO2 storage. The Coalition’s 

mission now includes, among other focus areas, working with government and 

stakeholders to support the development of CO2 utilization and storage projects.

RGGI Report on Secondary Market.

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: Fourth Quarter 2017” addresses the period from October through 

December 2017.
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

47

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

October 2017 – September 2018 ANNOUNCEMENTS

APRIL 2018

NETL Releases CCSI Toolset.

NETL’s Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI) released the CCSI Toolset 

as open-source software, making it available for researchers in industry, government, and academia. The CCSI Toolset is a suite of computational tools and 

models designed to help maximize learning and reduce cost and risk during 

the scale-up process for carbon capture technologies. 

Federal Budget Bill Includes Carbon Tax Credits.

Tax credits for carbon storage were included in a recently passed budget bill. 

For every qualifying project, the 45Q tax incentive will generate a tax credit 

of $50 per ton of CO2 in underground storage and $35 per ton of CO2 for 

utilization or EOR.

Scottish Government Recognizes CCS in Publication.

The Scottish government released its Climate Change Plan, which sets out 

specific policies and proposals for meeting Scotland’s potential targets. According to Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS), the plan recognizes the potential importance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in reducing 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

SaskPower CCS Surpasses Milestone.

The CCS process at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Power Station in Estevan, 

Saskatchewan, has prevented more than 2 million metric tons of CO2 from 

entering the atmosphere since operations began in 2014. SaskPower’s strategy is to reduce its GHG emissions by 40 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

RGGI States Comment on Proposed Virginia Regulation.

The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) submitted comments on program elements identified in Virginia’s (USA) proposed 

regulations for emissions trading. The comments focus primarily on regulatory 

compatibility and address Virginia’s meeting of the definition of an RGGI Participating State, as set forth in the 2017 Model Rule.

MAY 2018

DOE’s ASFE Delivers Keynote.

DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (ASFE) delivered keynote remarks 

at a National Coal Council (NCC) meeting. Topics discussed included the upgrading of existing coal-fired power plants, developing technologies for future 

coal plants, and early-stage R&D on carbon capture, utilization, and storage 

(CCUS). 

Carbon XPRIZE Announces Finalists.

Finalists have been announced for the final round in the Carbon XPRIZE, a 

global competition in which teams address technologies that convert carbon 

dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants into valuable products. Each of the 

10 finalists passed a first-round evaluation based on the amount of CO2 they 

could convert into products, as well as the economic value, market size, and 

CO2 uptake potential of those products.

Film on CCS.

Norcem, a Norwegian-based cement producer, released a film explaining 

the process of carbon capture and storage (CCS) at its Brevik cement plant 

in Norway.

JUNE 2018

SPE Releases CO2 Storage Resources Management System Document.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) released the “CO2 Storage Resources 

Management System (SRMS),” developed by a subcommittee of SPE’s CCUS 

Technical Section, which engages in collaboration, knowledge sharing, and 

activities dedicated to the advancement of CCUS and the decarbonization of 

the petroleum industry. The document establishes technically based capacity 

and resources evaluation standards.

DOE-Supported Research Wins Award.

A DOE-sponsored report, titled “Geological CO2 Sequestration Atlas of Miocene 

Strata, Offshore Texas State Waters,” received the 2018 John C. Frye Memorial 

Award in Environmental Geology. The award, co-sponsored by The Geological 

Society of America (GSA) and the Association of American State Geologists 

(AASG), is for the best publication in the field of environmental geology published by a state geological survey or by GSA during the past three years. 

Initial research for the report, which was published by the Bureau of Economic 

Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, was supported by DOE project 

DE-FE0001941; DOE project DE-FE0026083 supported the final publication 

efforts.

Company Joins MIT Energy Initiative.

IHI, a global engineering, construction, and manufacturing company, signed a 

three-year agreement to join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative’s (MITEI) Low-Carbon Energy Center for CCUS. The center is one 

of eight Low-Carbon Energy Centers established by MITEI as part of MIT’s 

Plan for Action on Climate Change. In addition to funding research, IHI’s membership will support MIT’s technical assessment program, which analyzes the 

technical and economic potential of various CCUS technologies. 

JULY 2018

FE Appoints New Head of Clean Coal and Carbon Management.

DOE’s FE announced the appointment of Lou Hrkman as the new Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Clean Coal and Carbon Management, where he will 

oversee research, development, and demonstration of advanced coal-based 

power systems. 

UK Government Plans Full-Scale CCS Scheme in 2030s.

According to United Kingdom (UK) government officials, Scottish companies 

are on track to launch full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in 

the 2030s. The UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy 

(BEIS) announced that a CCS cross-challenge taskforce report will be published that will discuss steps to achieve cost-effective CCS.

Tokyo Announces Sustainability Plan Towards Zero Carbon.

The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games published its Sustainability Plan Version 2. One of the plan’s five themes focuses 

on “Towards Zero Carbon,” which refers to efforts to reduce CO2 emissions 

generated during preparations and operation of the 2020 Games. 

Countries Release Declaration of Ambition on International Policy.

A group of 23 participating countries have committed to exploring the possibilities of enhancing their targets and developing implementation guidelines at 

the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Nations Framework 

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held in December 3-14, 2018, 

in Katowice, Poland. 

RGGI Report on Secondary Market.

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 2018” addresses the period from January through 

March 2018. 
CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

48

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

October 2017 – September 2018 ANNOUNCEMENTS

AUGUST 2018

Commitments Made to Reducing GHG Emissions.

At the China-U.S. High-Level Dialogue on Energy and Climate Change, held in 

San Francisco, California (USA), U.S. and Chinese experts discussed several 

cooperative mechanisms in existence between the two countries and pledged 

to continue dialogue. In addition, officials from China and the European Union 

(EU) also reaffirmed their commitment, releasing a joint statement at the 20th

EU-China Summit, held in Beijing, China. In the joint statement, the two sides 

committed to policies and measures to limit greenhouse gases (GHGs).

CCUS Taskforce Sets Out Recommendations for the United Kingdom 

(UK).

The Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Taskforce presented a report to the UK government, detailing recommendations, opportunities, and the 

importance of CCUS technology. Among the recommendations is the development of at least two CCUS clusters (incorporating capture plants and carbon 

dioxide [CO2] stores) that are operational from the mid-2020s. The CCUS Cost 

Challenge Taskforce was established in January 2018 with the remit of informing and proposing a strategic plan for supporting the development of CCUS in 

the UK.

Dutch Policy Measures.

The Dutch government has committed to reducing their national CO2 emissions 

by 49 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. In addition to other policy 

measures, the Netherlands is also considering a national carbon price floor.

SEPTEMBER 2018

NETL Develops Methods and Tools to Estimate Prospective CO2

Storage in the Subsurface.

NETL has developed a tool to better predict CO2 storage potential in geologic 

formations. The CO2 Storage prospeCtive Resource Estimation Excel aNalysis 

(CO2-SCREEN) is an online tool that applies NETL’s methods to calculate prospective CO2 storage resources. CO2-SCREEN is available on NETL’s online 

collection of capabilities and resources known as the Energy Data eXchange 

(EDX). 

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: Second Quarter 2018” addresses the period from April through 

June 2018.

Record-High Supply, Demand on Voluntary Carbon Markets in 2017.

According to a report by Ecosystems Marketplace, the supply of carbon credits on voluntary markets worldwide reached 62.7 million metric tons of CO2

equivalent (MtCO2E) in 2017, while 42.8 MtCO2e offsets were purchased and 

retired. Both totals are the most on record. The report, titled “Voluntary Carbon Markets Insights: 2018 Outlook and First-Quarter Trends,” also examines 

trends from the first quarter of 2018.

Indian State to Estimate Emissions Trends.

The Indian state of Sikkim will assess its carbon footprint and estimate a trend 

for emissions. The Sikkim Climate Inventory and Monitoring System studies all 

sectors in the Himalayan state (e.g., transport, tourism, industry, roads, agriculture) to estimate their carbon emissions. The total is then juxtaposed with the 

carbon storage by the state’s forests to find out its carbon footprint.

Cities Sign Net-Zero Carbon Declaration.

Nineteen global cities signed a “Net-Zero Carbon Building Declaration,” pledging to make “Net-Zero Carbon” buildings by 2030 and upgrade existing buildings to net-zero standards by 2050. The declaration, orchestrated by the C40 

Cities Climate Leadership Group, builds on a similar initiative (in June 2018) 

from the World Green Building Council that called on businesses to commit to 

making all new building net zero by 2030.

Reports Assess Economic, Energy, Environmental Implications of 

Federal Carbon Taxes.

Columbia University’s Center of Global Energy Policy (New York, USA) released 

four reports that assess the economic, energy, and environmental implications 

of Federal carbon taxes. The independent, peer reviewed reports use state-ofthe-art modeling tools to analyze the implications of an upstream carbon tax 

that starts at $14, $50, and $73 a ton through a hypothetical first decade of 

policy implementation (2020s).
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY | OFFICE OF FOSSIL ENERGY | NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

CARBON STORAGE NEWSLETTER ANNUAL INDEX – FY 2018

ABOUT DOE’S CARBON STORAGE 

PROGRAM

The Carbon Storage Program advances the development and validation of 

technologies that enable safe, cost-effective, permanent geologic storage of 

CO2. The Carbon Storage Program also supports the development of best practices for CCS that will benefit projects implementing CCS at a commercial 

scale, such as those being performed under NETL’s Clean Coal Power Initiative 

and Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage Programs. The technologies being 

developed and the small- and large-scale injection projects conducted through 

this program will be used to benefit the existing and future fleet of fossil fuel 

power-generating facilities by developing tools to increase our understanding 

of the behavior of CO2 in the subsurface and identifying the geologic reservoirs 

appropriate for 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 are available via the Carbon Storage 

Program Publications webpage.

Get answers to your carbon capture and storage questions at NETL’s Frequently Asked Questions webpage.

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.

NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

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. 

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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 

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expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

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