The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that the Illinois Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage (ICCS) project in Decatur, Illinois, has begun operation by injecting carbon dioxide (CO₂) into a large saline reservoir.  This project received a $141 million investment from DOE, matched by over $66 million in private-sector cost share.

Led by the Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), the large-scale major demonstration project is demonstrating an integrated system for collecting CO₂ from an ethanol production plant and geologically storing the CO₂ in a deep underground sandstone reservoir. The CO₂ is a byproduct from processing corn into fuel-grade ethanol at the ADM plant through biological fermentation.

“Today’s announcement marks a major step forward for the advancement of industrial carbon capture and storage technologies,” said Doug Hollett, Acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy.  “We congratulate ADM and their partners on this important accomplishment.”

The CO₂ will be stored in the Mt. Simon Sandstone in the Illinois Basin – one of the largest saline aquifers in the world. While the project can store approximately one million tons of CO₂ per year at depths of approximately 7,000 feet, researchers estimate that the sandstone formation can potentially store more than 250 million tons of produced CO₂ each year. Nearly 50 years of successful natural gas storage in the Mt. Simon Sandstone indicates that this saline reservoir and overlying seals should effectively contain stored CO₂.

The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) funds research, development and demonstration projects to reduce the risk and cost of advanced carbon technologies and further the sustainable use of the Nation’s fossil resources.