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Building on the knowledge gained from their small-scale projects, in 2008 the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) focus turned to large-scale field laboratories in saline formations and oil and gas fields with a target of injecting at least 1 million metric tons (MMT) per project in the Development Phase of the RCSP Initiative. Starting in 2009, carbon dioxide (CO2) injection began in six Development Phase projects. Numerous applied research technologies have been integrated into these projects and the results have been essential in further technology development of carbon capture and storage (CCS).
| # | Project Name | Project Type | Geologic Basin | Expected Total Injection of CO2 |
| 1 | Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership – Kevin Dome Project | Saline Storage | Kevin Dome | 1,000,000 metric tons |
| 2 | Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium – Illinois Basin Decatur Project | Saline Storage | Illinois Basin | 1,000,000 metric tons |
| 3 | Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership – Michigan Basin Project | Enhanced Oil Recovery | Michigan Basin | 1,000,000 metric tons |
| 4 | Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership – Bell Creek Field Project | Enhanced Oil Recovery | Powder River Basin | 1,000,000 metric tons per year |
| 5 | Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership – Citronelle Project | Saline Storage | Interior Salt Basin, Gulf Coast Region | Up to 300,000 metric tons |
| 6 | Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership – Cranfield Project | Saline Storage | Interior Salt Basin, Gulf Coast Region | Greater than 5,000,000 metric tons |
| 7 | Southwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership – Farnsworth Unit – Ochiltree Project | Enhanced Oil Recovery | Anadarko Basin | 1,000,000 metric |
*Injection will not occur due to insufficient CO2 supply and low total dissolved solids in target reservoir. Project has been re-scoped.
The large-scale field laboratories support and validate the industry’s ability to ensure storage permanence in storage complex in different geologic settings. They address practical issues, such as sustainable injectivity, well design for integrity, storage resource utilization (utilization of pore space and oil and gas recovery), and reservoir behavior—with respect to prolonged injection. Complete assessments of these issues are necessary to validate and improve model predictions concerning the behavior of injected CO2 at scale, establish the engineering and scientific processes for successfully implementing and validating safe long-term storage, and achieve cost-effective integration with power plants and other large industrial emission sources for carbon capture. Experience and knowledge gained from field laboratories is key in development of the Carbon Storage Program's Best Practices Manuals (BPMs), with the recently updated BPMs being based on Phase III efforts. The BPMs are intended to disseminate knowledge gained through the RCSP field efforts and to establish effective methods, reliable approaches, and consistent standards for carrying out successful geologic storage projects.
Results from these projects will provide a more thorough understanding of CO2 plume and pressure front movement, and performance of existing and new monitoring technologies in various geologic settings, which will help support development of 50+ MMT-scale projects. To date, more than 10 MMT of CO2 have been stored in various geologic settings in these large-scale field laboratories.
