CO2 FOR SALE

New Markets For Carbon Dioxide
Kristyn Ecochard, April 21, 2007 (UPI)

WHO
A. J. Mayer International/ James Mayer, president;

WHAT
The economic viability of coal-to-liquids and coal gasification rests on the market value of CO2 derived in the process.
click to enlarge pic
WHEN
Enhanced well injection is a 30-year old technology. Safe sequestration remains hypothetical.

WHERE
- A pipeline demonstration project in Beulah, N.D., operated by the Dakota Gasification Company, delivers CO2 via a 204-mile pipeline to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan for injection.
- Injection has been done successfully in the West Texas/Eastern New Mexico Permian Basin. Other projects are starting up in Kansas, Mississippi, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Alaska and Pennsylvania.

WHY
- Traditional CO2 uses: enhanced recovery in flagging oil, gas and methane fields and agricultural soil enrichment.
- Newer uses: enhanced algae feedstock for ethanol, dry ice production, carbonation.
- In coal-to-liquids: 90% CO2 captured, 1.4 tons CO2/ton of coal, 3 barrels of oil/ton of injected CO2. Theoretically, the CO2 remains in the sealed wells. Interior Department and DOE studies of sequestration under varying circumstances are pending and the possibilities and dangers are still highly in doubt.
click to enlarge pic
QUOTES
- Mayer: "Once these markets are further developed, there will be more applications discovered; right now, believe it or not, there's a shortage of carbon dioxide…"
- George Guthrie, program director for fossil energy and environment at Los Alamos National Laboratory: "Large-scale capture of CO2 at power plants must be developed and understood, our storage capacity estimates must be improved by detailed geologic studies, large-scale injection must be demonstrated under the variety of conditions that we anticipate for sequestration and we need to verify the long-term safety and reliability of storage sites which will require robust risk assessment framework…"