Published: December 14, 2008 08:24 pm      

Project taking CO2 to new depths

BLUEFIELD, Va. — The secret to addressing the growing concerns over carbon dioxide emissions and the so-called “greenhouse effect” may lie deep beneath the surface of the earth — deeper than perhaps even Jules Verne would have dreamed.

A joint public-private partnership that includes the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research at Virginia Tech and a Tazewell County, Va., geological firm, Marshall Miller & Associates are on the verge of plunging a probe deep into the earth, into rock strata that was formed more than 300 million years ago, and depositing the noxious byproduct of burning coal — CO2 — as a permanent solution to part of the emissions problem that contributes to global warming. While disposing of the CO2 stood as part of the initial reason for the center’s Russell County, Va., test project, the science behind the project may produce a beneficial byproduct in itself — the release of natural gas trapped in the coal seams.

“It’s kind of a two-for-one package,” Marshall Miller said. Miller is chairman and chief executive officer of the geological company he founded in 1975. From its humble origins in Miller’s Bluefield, Va., garage, the company has evolved into a global leader in terms of consulting for fossil fuels, transportation, land and mineral development industries.

“When we inject the carbon dioxide into the Mississippian aged coal deposits that were deposited 260-340 million years ago, the CO2 will stay there permanently,” Miller said. “The good situation is that out from the coal seam comes a gas, CH4, (methane) that gives you additional fuel.”

Miller said that new equipment that can drill holes thousands of feet below the earth’s surface can be used to inject the carbon dioxide into the coal seams. “The CO2 loves that (Mississippian) formation and stays down there forever,” Miller said. “We have studied it before and the Russell County test project has gone quite well.

“Global warming is an issue that often stimulates a lot of discussion,” Miller said. “This test project is something that is addressing that.”

Miller talked with Scott Keim, president of Marshall Miller & Associates, and an expert in the field of carbon sequestration. Miller said that the two agreed that the citizens of the region need to know that “the country needs a lot more power plants, but the country does not need more carbon dioxide,” he said. “We’ve studied the issue and that geological strata that holds the methane gas, uniquely has more of an affinity for the carbon dioxide.

“The gas that comes out when we inject the CO2 is a clean-burning byproduct,” Miller said. “When you go down in the earth 4,000 to 8,000 feet, you have flat-line coal beds that will take the CO2 and flush out the CH4. The uniqueness is that they’re very well-preserved. This country has not had a new power plant in years. Right now, we have sophisticated equipment that can go down in the earth and inject this CO2.”

Officials at the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research at Virginia Tech are equally excited about prospects for the project, according to Margaret Radcliffe, assistant director for operations. She said the Russell County test site is “the only one testing permanency,” in the Southeast Carbon Sequestration Partnership that includes states from Maryland to Texas.

“It may be our best chance to store carbon dioxide,” Radcliffe said. Scientists have been learning more all of the time about the “characteristics” of the Russell County rock strata. “We’re at task 10 of phase 2 of the study to prepare for the larger injection,” she said.

Dr. Michael Karmis, the director of Tech’s well-known and highly-successful mine land reclamation project known as the Powell River Project, is heading the VCCER team. Radcliffe said the Russell County project is one of three carbon sequestration projects underway.

“Energy consumption in the United States has been going up, and that’s not likely to change,” she said. She added that coal is one energy source that is capable of meeting a growing demand for energy.

Virginia State Senator Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell, has been watching the developments at the center’s test site and is excited about the potential of mixing the two concepts of carbon sequestration to permanently store the carbon dioxide and also freeing the methane from the very deep coal seams for possible use in a power plant.

“We’re pushing for that project,” Puckett said. “Congressman (Frederick C. “Rick”) Boucher (D-Va.) is also helping us. A power plant like that could bring in 90-100 full time jobs that we can really use,” he said.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com