Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced by industrial facilities that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. In 2021 global carbon dioxide emissions rose 6% to 36.3 billion tonnes. CCUS has been identified as a critical technology in reducing global carbon dioxide.
During the capture process, CO2 is dehydrated and compressed into a liquid form that is safely made available for value-added commercial industrial uses, or transported to a storage site, where the CO2 is securely and permanently injected approximately a mile underground beneath thick layers of rock. The injected CO2 is continuously monitored during and after injection to ensure CO2 remains trapped beneath the shale caprock.
The Storage Site
The Storage Site
The Mt. Simon sandstone formation in Central Illinois will be used to permanently store the CO2 captured from Midwest ethanol and fertilizer facilities transported by our Heartland Greenway carbon management platform.
This geological formation in Illinois sits over a mile underground and is uniquely positioned to serve as the storage site due to its proven geological properties and successful history of similar projects in the region. The Mt. Simon formation in Illinois is home to an ongoing carbon capture sequestration project in operation for the better half of a decade.
Because storage occurs deep underground, far below water resources used by communities and farms, landowners’ use of the land will remain unchanged. We are also compensating landowners for the use of their sub-surface geology, which is called pore space.
Our Heartland Greenway team works with the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to obtain Class VI underground injection well control permits with rigorous standards to ensure safety and environmental wellness.
Our Heartland Greenway carbon management platform is designed to store approximately 10 million metric tons of CO2 in its first year of operation and is scalable, exandable to store up to 15 million metric tons of CO2 per year.
- The system will provide ethanol and fertilizer facilities in the Midwest with the means to reduce their carbon intensity scores to sell their products in more markets domestically and abroad.
- This project will also help the U.S. ethanol industry meet their pledge to reduce their carbon emissions 70% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050.
1Source: https://www.iea.org/news/global-co2-emissions-rebounded-to-their-highest-level-in-history-in-2021