Evaluating the Suitability for CO2 Storage at the FutureGen 2.0 Site, Morgan County, Illinois, USA

Abstract FutureGen 2.0 site will be the first near-zero emission power plant with fully integrated long-term storage in a deep, non-potable saline aquifer in the United States. The proposed FutureGen 2.0 CO 2 storage site is located in northeast Morgan County, Illinois, U.S.A., forty-eight kilometres from the Meredosia Energy Center where a large-scale oxy- combustion demonstration will be conducted. The demonstration will involve > 90% carbon capture, which will produce more than one million metric tons (MMT) of CO 2 per year. The CO 2 will be compressed at the power plant and transported via pipeline to the storage site. To examine CO 2 storage potential of the site, a 1,467m characterization well (FGA#1) was completed in December 2011. The target injection zone for CO 2 storage is in a zone of high permeability within the upper portion of the Mt. Simon Sandstone. Confining beds of the overlying Eau Claire Formation reach a thickness of 126 m. Characterization of the target injection zone and the overlying confining zone was based on wellbore data, cores, and geophysical logs, along with surface geophysical (2-D seismic profiles, magnetic and gravity), and structural data collected during the initial stage of the project. Based on this geological model, 3D simulations of CO 2 injection and redistribution were conducted using STOMP-CO2, a multiphase flow and transport simulator. After this characterization stage, it appears that the injection site is a suitable geologic system for CO 2 sequestration and that the injection zone is sufficient to receive up to 33 MMT of CO 2 at a rate of 1.1 MMT/yr.