UAB, partners seek safe carbon dioxide storage for 'greener' power ...(sly characterized by geologic drilling i...)

For a geological formation to be viable as a storage location, a layer of permeable rock capable of holding injected CO2 must be present. These rock layers must be topped by impermeable cap rocks or seals that prevent the release or escape of the injected CO2.

Proposed geological carbon sequestration sites are very similar to the natural geological conditions that trap oil and natural gas deposits. There are already numerous naturally occurring deposits of CO2 trapped in the earth's geology throughout the Southeast.

As partners in the project, Southern Company will supply UAB with geological core samples and access to pilot injection sites throughout the U.S. Southeast that are being sponsored by the DOE.

UAB researchers and their student assistants will then verify the rock samples' ability to safely and permanently confine injected CO2. In collaboration with Southern Company's own geologists and engineers, UAB will help identify the rock layers that would best serve as cap rock to seal against upward migration or loss of injected CO2.

"Through the classroom and with research experience we hope to generate interest in carbon capture and storage technologies and eventually develop employees who will design, build and operate the equipment," said Richard Esposito, a Southern Company principal geologist who is also a Ph.D. candidate in the UAB School of Engineering.

"This technology is something that all fossil-fuel-based energy providers will potentially be required to deploy by 2020 in an effort to comply with proposed carbon legislation. Southern Company and other utilities will need a well-trained workforce to commercially deploy the technology and the partnership with UAB in this project will help get us there," Esposito said.

The DOE grant for the UAB CO2 storage research in conjunction with Southern Company is $29
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