Bringing It All Together: Public Policy and Technology for Carbon Purification, Capture, and Storage

‍The Opportunity
Successful Carbon Capture and Sequestration has multiple moving parts. In this Oklahoma Case Study, we have facilitated workshops among policy makers to articulate and quantify incentives, identied innovative technology, worked with power producers with coal and coke red generating stations, obtained demand estimates from oil and gas companies conducting enhanced oil recovery with CO2, and identifying CO2 transport systems in proximity to all, to bring it all together, balancing economic benets of EOR and veried carbon credits against infrastructure cost.

Innovative Technology for In-Combustion Carbon Purification, Capture, and Storage
PLASMA has developed commercial carbon capture applications for both existing and greeneld coal-red power plants and subsequent sequestration projects in the United States through their patented proprietary in-combustion technology for coal or coke combustion, wherein the captured carbon dioxide is of superior quality suitable for use in EOR operations. An independent analysis determined that PLASMA’s in-combustion capture is signicantly less expensive than both pre-combustion and post-combustion capture techniques. Furthermore, the PLASMA technology results in higher recovery eciencies, at 100 % CO2 capture, than lower post-combustion capture recovery. PLASMA’s technology captures CO2 with ultra-low sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitric oxides (NOx) content, thereby reducing partial pressure downhole requirements needed for EOR in mature oil producing reservoirs.

Market for CO2
Depleted oil and gas reservoirs are ideal candidates for carbon sequestration, combining capacity and trapping characteristics. In moving to full geological sequestration, injection of CO2 enhances oil recovery (EOR) in some formations. Oklahoma has opportunities that would increase oil production levels by over 20 percent. However, a signicant hurdle is the availability and transport networks for CO2. Once the infrastructure is in place for EOR, it remains as the depleted eld transitions to full geological sequestration.

Policy and Financial Incentives
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission developed the Carbon Program to provide state-veried carbon credits that incentivizes geologic carbon sequestration, including enhanced oil recovery by carbon dioxide injection underground. The United States Department of Energy’s carbon capture, utilization, and storage initiative further incentivizes public-private collaboration.

Adapted from a press release by Louise Mulhall