Executing first-of-a-kind large-scale CO₂ injection into a saline aquifer formation, the Illinois Basin Decatur Project

Over a decade ago, members of the Projeo team played an important role working with the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company in supporting the Illinois Basin‒Decatur Project (IBDP). Led by the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (DOE FE), the IBDP project confirmed the ability of the Mt. Simon Sandstone to accept and store one million metric tons of CO₂ over a period of three years—the equivalent of annual emissions from about 1.2 million passenger cars according to EPA calculations.

The project well was originally regulated through an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency permit as a CO₂ injection well for long-term underground CO₂ storage, and was later moved to the federal regulatory framework for a Class VI CO₂ injection well. The project is the only completed large-scale injection into a saline formation permitted to operate with the U.S. EPA Class VI injection well permit, which creates a pathway for Mt. Simon Sandstone to be used for commercial CO₂ storage.