NATIONAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION PROGRAM: FROM PAPER TO THE INTERNET TO 3DFrank LaFone, West Virginia University

Maneesh Sharma, West Virginia University

Tim Carr, West Virginia University

WHAT IS GEOLOGIC CCS?Geologic storage is defined as the placement of CO2 into a subsurface formation such that it will remain permanently stored.

Formations of concern1. Oil/Gas2. Coal3. Saline

WHY STUDY GEOLOGIC CCS?• New power plants are being built

worldwide all the time• Power demand is increasing, not

decreasing• Power plants are major sources of CO2

pollution, particularly from coal sources• Estimates suggest 40% of CO2

emissions in the US comes from power plants

• Geologic CCS provides an alternative to:• Planting 62 million trees and waiting 10

years• Shutting off power for over 300,000

homes• It’s easier to monitor a few hundred

stationary source points instead of millions of ever mobile consumption points

NATIONAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION PROGRAM

“NATCARB organizes and enhances the critical information about CO2 stationary sources and develops the technology needed to access, query and model, analyze, display, and distribute CO2 storage resource data. Data are generated, maintained, and enhanced locally at each RCSP, or at specialized data warehouses and public”

http://seca.doe.gov/technologies/carbon_seq/natcarb/index.html 

METHODOLOGY

Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) were charged with providing a high-level, quantitative estimate of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage resource available in subsurface environments of their regions as well as estimating CO2 emitting stationary sources

METHODOLOGY

• Estimates were done of 5 major geologic formations• Oil & Gas reserves• Unmineable coal areas• Saline• Shale• Basalt

• Volumetric estimations for subsurface volumes based upon geologic properties and storage efficiency• Generated using Monte Carlo simulations• Designed to create a high level, regional/national scale estimation• End up with 10K grid scales

WHERE CAN CO2 BE STORED GEOLOGICALLY IN NORTH AMERICA?

STORAGE BY FORMATION

SOURCES

• Agricultural Processing• Cement Plant• Ethanol Plant• Fertilizer• Industrial• Mining• Petroleum & Natural Gas• Refineries/Chemical• Electricity Generation• Unclassified

VISUALIZATION GOALS

1. Provide a high level look at geologic carbon sequestration

2. Provide a method to explore carbon sequestration potential

3. Provide a method to explore stationary source CO2 emissions

4. Provide a method for the general public to explore this data

5. Provide a method for interested, non-experts to explore this data

6. Provide a scientific tool for experts

FIRST CHALLENGE - MIXED USER EXPERTISE

SECOND CHALLENGED – MIXED SCALES

THIRD CHALLENGE – MIXED PLATFORMS

ATLAS IV APPROACH - PAPER ATLAS

ATLAS IV APPROACH - ONLINE INTERACTIVE MAP

ATLAS IV APPROACH – DATA DOWNLOAD

DISCOVERIES AND ISSUES

• Paper Atlas serves the paper format well

• Interactive Map attempt to serve both the novice and the expert• Neither served to the best of their ability

• “Experts” are not experts in everything – same with novices• Experts knew the data and the science, struggled with the interfaces• Novices addressed the interface easily, yet didn’t have the scientific

background

• Cross platform development is hard

• Feature creep – expert tools started to show up in novice areas

APPROACHES FOR ATLAS V

Understand different audiences require different approaches

NEW INTERACTIVE ATLAShttp://natcarbviewer.org/beta/

NEW SCIENTIFIC TOOLS FOR EXPERT NEEDS

NEW SCIENTIFIC TOOLS FOR EXPERT NEEDS

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?