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Robert C. Burruss
Lead Geologist
703.648.6144

Leslie Ruppert
Project Manager
703.648.6431

Geologic CO2 Sequestration Research at the USGS

Overview	Illustrations	Related Links	Helpful Definitions

Overview

Assessment of Geologic Reservoirs for Carbon Dioxide Sequestration

USGS Activities:

Based on current projections, the United States faces the need to increase its electrical power generating capacity by 40% over the next 20 years and its total energy consumption by 24% by the year 2030. Fossil fuel usage, a major source of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, will continue to provide the dominant portion of total energy in both industrialized and developing countries. Overall reduction of carbon dioxide emissions will likely involve some combination of techniques, but for the immediate future, sequestration of carbon dioxide in geological reservoirs seems especially promising, as existing knowledge derived from the oil and gas production industries has already helped to solve some of the technological obstacles. The USGS has been studying geologic options for storing CO2 in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, deep coal seams, and brine formations.

USGS research has focused on these themes:

1. Characterization of geological and geochemical factors controlling the capacity to store CO2 in geologic formations
2. Identification of potential reservoirs for geologic CO2 sequestration
3. Characterization of the geological processes that operate in natural and man-made analogs of CO2 storage reservoirs, including high-CO2 content natural gas accumulations, oil reservoirs undergoing long-term enhanced oil recovery with carbon dioxide, and natural gas storage reservoirs

USGS research has produced:

1. A geographic information system (GIS) map comparing the location of major CO2 sources with the size, location, and type of potential storage reservoirs Maps
2. New measurements of the solubility of CO2 in brines (Rosenbauer and others, 2005)
3. New methods of assessing the CO2 sequestration capacity of geologic formations (Brennan and Burruss, 2003; 2006)

Potential USGS Products:

1. New tools/approaches that can be used to study CO2 sequestration in sedimentary basins
2. Storage capacity assessments for major U.S. sedimentary basins

The methodology for quantitative assessment of total geological reservoir capacity may prove applicable worldwide, allowing international assessment of carbon sequestration capacity.

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