Regional characterization of stacked storage units for potential CO2 sequestration in Western Nebraska, USA&#160;
Authors: Fleagle Samuel , Burberry Caroline , Kim Seunghee 
Published: March 2022

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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;In Nebraska, most electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, which is estimated to emit 15 million tons of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;per year. Additionally, ethanol plants in Nebraska are estimated to emit 4 million tons of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;annually.&amp;#160;CCS&amp;#160;enables those industries to continually&amp;#160;operate&amp;#160;whilst emitting far fewer greenhouse gases.&amp;#160;The study area of this project covers&amp;#160;Western&amp;#8239;Nebraska&amp;#160;&amp;#160;not fully evaluated to date.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;We postulate there is extensive storage space in the subsurface of Western Nebraska.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;The storage&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;space needs to be a formation or formations that meet the following criteria: extensive&amp;#160;in the study area, porous, deep (greater than&amp;#160;2600 feet&amp;#160;below ground surface)&amp;#160;and&amp;#160;situated below a primary and secondary stratigraphic or structural seal.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;We&amp;#160;plan&amp;#8239;on using&amp;#8239;existing well call outs&amp;#8239;(available through Nebraska Oil and Gas&amp;#8239;Commission&amp;#8217;s&amp;#8239;website)&amp;#8239;and wireline logs to construct&amp;#160;a&amp;#160;lithostratigraphic and structural framework for potential storage and&amp;#160;seal&amp;#160;units. &amp;#8239;Additionally,&amp;#8239;we&amp;#160;will use&amp;#8239;GIS&amp;#8239;to create maps of formations and isopach maps to model unit thickness&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;We also propose to log core in Denver at the USGS Core Storage facility or at the Nebraska Conservation and Survey Division to further understand the stratigraphy.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;Subsequently, geophysical data (seismic, aeromagnetic, and gravimetric) will be utilized to delineate regional structures in detail. Lastly, we will conduct geomechanical tests on core samples to evaluate porosity, permeability, stiffness, and strength of target units to estimate specific CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;storage volume capacity.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The hope is to provide Western Nebraska with storage space for 50 million tons of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; within the project area.&amp;#160;&amp;#160; The&amp;#160;subsurface&amp;#160;storage of CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;is critical to global efforts to reduce the effects of greenhouse gas&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;induced climate change.&amp;#160;&amp;#160; Reducing emissions will improve&amp;#160;local air quality and aid in the larger goal of curtailing emissions of greenhouse gases&amp;#160;to&amp;#160;mitigate&amp;#160;the impacts of climate change.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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