Carbon sequestration work starts at ADM in $84 million project

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our or .

| Sourced From |

DECATUR — Drilling began this week for a carbon dioxide injection well as part of an $84.3 million project beneath Archer Daniels Midland Co. property.

Workers have started constructing a well that will eventually reach over 6,500 feet underground. The drilling of the injection well is expected to be completed in late March or early April.

No objections were filed before a late January deadline for an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency permit, clearing the way for equipment used in the drilling to be moved into place, said Sallie Greenberg, Illinois Geological Survey communications coordinator.

The project is intended to capture carbon dioxide from ADM’s ethanol plant, convert it into liquid form and pump it underground for storage before it’s emitted into the atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy expects 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from the plant to be injected over a three-year period beginning in early 2010.

The project is intended to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air contributing to global warming.

Developing technologies for capturing and storing carbon dioxide emitted by power plants is a crucial initiative for electricity generators and coal companies, with federal legislation to limit greenhouse-gas emissions expected as soon as this year, the Department of Energy said in a release.

The energy department, which is dedicating $66.7 million over seven years for the ADM project, has formed seven regional partnerships to advance carbon capture and storage initiatives. The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium, which is spearheading the ADM project, is the first partnership to begin drilling an injection well.

The Midwest consortium is investigating the carbon storage potential of the Illinois Basin of the Mount Simon Sandstone, a 60,000 square-mile formation that underlies most of Illinois, southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky. Geologists estimate the basin could store up to 109 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide.