Release Date: August 22, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC - Novel carbon dioxide capture technologies and the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships are just two of the many items highlighted in the updated Carbon Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan and Carbon Sequestration Project Portfolio recently released by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) maintains and annually updates the roadmap and portfolio for use by its sequestration research partners and stakeholders.

The roadmap provides the most current science and technology pathways that have the potential to achieve goals related to carbon sequestration, while the portfolio serves as a key resource for DOE's Carbon Sequestration Program by providing maps depicting project locations, the roadmap itself, budget information, details of each sequestration project, and other pertinent information.

Among the past year's program highlights contained in the roadmap are the following:

• The Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships have progressed to a validation phase in which they will conduct 25 field tests involving the injection of CO2 into underground formations where it will be stored and monitored. 
• Pilot-scale tests and modeling of amine-based CO2 capture have shown that operating an amine stripper at vacuum can reduce energy use 5-10 percent per unit of CO2 captured.
• Novel metal organic frameworks have shown significant potential as CO2 sorbents. 

The Carbon Sequestration Program is managed by the Department's Office of Fossil Energy and implemented by NETL under the President's Global Climate Change Initiative. The program aims to improve power plant efficiency and criteria-pollutant control by developing coal-fired power plants and other fossil fuel energy systems that are cost-effective and virtually emission free.