Map depicting the extent of each Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Region

During the Characterization Phase (Phase I), RCSPs characterized the geologic and terrestrial opportunities for carbon storage and identified CO₂ stationary sources within the territories of the individual RCSPs to assess the transportation infrastructure needed for future deployment, evaluate CO₂ capture technologies for existing and future power plants, and identify the most promising storage opportunities that would need to be validated through a series of field projects.

June 2005 marked the end of the Characterization Phase and the RCSPs succeeded on several fronts. The Characterization Phase was successful, with the following achievements:

• A national network of companies and professionals working to support storage deployment was established.
• Regional and national carbon storage atlases for the United States and portions of Canada were developed.
• Determination of major CO₂ stationary sources and evaluation of CO₂ capture technologies.
• An improved understanding of the permitting requirements that future storage activities will need to address, including potential permitting gaps for large-scale deployment of storage technologies.
• Public awareness of, and support for, carbon storage as a greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation option, both within industry and among the general public.
• Identification of the most promising carbon storage opportunities for future field tests.
• Establishment of protocols for project implementation, accounting, and management.
• Integration of CO₂ stationary source and geologic storage information into the National Carbon Sequestration Database and Geographic Information System (NATCARB).

As part of Phase I activities, the RCSPs compiled CO₂ stationary source data. This data was recently updated in the 2012 United States Carbon Utilization and Storage Atlas (Atlas IV). Stationary source emissions come from a particular identifiable source, such as a power plant. CO₂ emissions from stationary sources can be separated from stack gas emissions and subsequently transported to a geologic storage injection site.

The data gathered by the RCSPs and NATCARB illustrated on the "CO₂ Stationary Sources" map shows that CO₂ stationary source emissions result largely from power generation, energy use, and industrial processes.

This map displays CO2 stationary source data which were obtained from the RCSPs and other external sources and compiled by NATCARB. Each colored dot represents a different type of CO2 stationary source with the dot size representing the relative magnitude of the CO2 emissions. (click image to enlarge)

Breakdown of CO2 stationary source emissions by category (left), and CO2 stationary source emissions by each RCSP region and throughout Canada (right). As of December 2012, NETL's RCSPs have documented the location of 4,245 CO2 stationary sources with total annual emissions of 3,279 million metric tons (3,614 million tons) of CO2 in the United States and portions of Canada covered by the RCSPs. (click each image to enlarge)

Click on images below to enlarge

Oil and Gas Reservoirs

Unmineable Coal Areas

Saline Formations

In addition to identifying major CO₂ stationary sources, the RCSPs and NATCARB also worked to characterize and graphically depict potential geologic storage reservoirs in the United States and Canada. This effort originally started in the Characterization Phase, and continues through the Validation and Development Phases. The five potential geologic storage types include: saline formations, depleted or depleting oil and gas reservoirs, unmineable coal areas, basalt formations, and organic shale basins. Carbon dioxide geologic storage information, most recently published in NETL's 2012 United States Carbon Utilization and Storage Atlas (Atlas IV), was developed to provide a high-level overview of CO₂ geologic storage potential across the United States and parts of Canada. The 2012 Atlas uses the previous methodology to update CO₂ storage resource estimates of potential geologic storage formations in the United States and Canada at the regional and national scale. Areal extents of geologic formations and CO₂ resource estimates presented are intended to be used as an initial assessment of potential geologic storage.NETL has developed a specific framework and methodology for identifying and characterizing CO₂ geologic storage resources utilizing the type of data generated by the RCSPs in a best-practices manual for site screening, selection, and characterization.

The RCSP Characterization Phase accomplishments serve as the basis for the RCSPs' Validation and Development Phases, which focus on validating the most promising regional opportunities to deploy CCS technologies. Additional geologic characterization efforts are being continued as more data is acquired through both the Validation and Development Phase field tests. As more characterization data is available, the RCSPs can further refine the extent and storage capacity for promising storage formations being investigated under the RCSP effort.

Basalt Formations		Organic Shale Basins