Geologic and Economic Criteria for Siting Clean-Coal Facilities in the Texas Gulf Coast, USA

• Published in: Natural resources research (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2012-12, Vol.21 (4), p.461-482
• Main Authors: Ambrose, W. A., Breton, C., Núñez-López, V., Gülen, G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brines; Carbon capture and storage; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Chemistry and Earth Sciences; Cleaning; Coal; Coalbed methane; Coastal environments; Computer Science; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Electrical loads; Enhanced oil recovery; Exact sciences and technology; Flooding; Formations; Fossil Fuels (incl. Carbon Capture); Geography; Geological mapping; Groundwater; Groundwater availability; Groundwater storage; Lignite; Mathematical Modeling and Industrial Mathematics; Metallic and non-metallic deposits; Mineral Resources; Miscibility; Oil and gas fields; Oil fields; Oil recovery; Oils & fats; Petroleum pipelines; Physics; Pipelines; Power plants; Proximity; Reservoir storage; Spatial analysis; Statistics for Engineering; Surface water; Sustainable Development; Water availability
• ISSN: 1520-7439; 1573-8981
• DOI: 10.1007/s11053-012-9188-y

The Texas Gulf Coast (TGC) contains the greatest number of favorably co-located CO 2 sources and sinks in Texas that favor new potential clean-coal facilities. Areas in the TGC with clean-coal potential were delineated by mapping spatial linkages between coal- and lignite-bearing formations and geologic and infrastructure factors that include proximity to existing fields from mine-mouth power plants for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), length of new pipelines to transport CO 2 from new clean-coal facilities to either EOR fields or to brine formations for deep storage, proximity to centers of electric load, and depth to subsurface coal for enhanced coalbed methane recovery. Other factors include thickness of brine formations for deep storage of CO 2 , groundwater and surface-water availability, and proximity to railroads for haulage of western U.S. coal feedstock. Geospatial analysis of maps portraying the distribution of these factors, together with data on volumes of oil recoverable from miscible CO 2 flooding of oil fields, indicates that optimal areas for new clean-coal sites in the TGC are in east and southeast Texas. CO 2 pipeline networks linking these sites to EOR fields are integral components of systems that can typically recover 5–50 million stock tank barrels from miscible CO 2 flooding from each EOR field. Many of these fields with EOR potential (for example, Neches, Long Lake, Conroe, and Livingston) have a great potential for stacked CO 2 storage, in which multiple reservoir zones can undergo EOR development and deeper zones in the field can accommodate excess CO 2 from EOR operations.