Carbon Storage - Reference Shelf
The Carbon Sequestration Newsletter

August 2001

This newsletter is produced by the National Energy Technology Laboratory and presents summaries of significant events related to carbon sequestration that have taken place over the past month.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Sequestration in the News
• Events / Announcements from NETL's Carbon Sequestration Program
• Publications
• Legislative Activity Related to Carbon Sequestration

• PBS News-Hour with Jim Lehrer On August 6, Spencer Michaels presented a fifteen minute report on carbon sequestration, emphasizing MBARI’s work on ocean sequestration research and the Weyburn geologic sequestration project. For a transcript or video of the report, see CO₂: Burial at Sea? 
• Washington Post On August 19^th Eileen Claussen and Elliot Diringer of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change published an editorial, "The Climate Challenge Begins at Home," which highlights bills currently in congress, including Jefford’s four pollutant bill, the Stevens/Byrd Climate Change Act, and McCain and Lieberman’s Cap-and-Trade proposal. 
• USA Today An August 27^th article talks about the United States’ strong reliance on coal and indicated the Bush Administration may look towards coal gasification as a means of reducing GHG emissions.
• Science A profile of ocean chemist Peter Brewer of MBARI in the August 3 edition of the journal Science explains Dr. Brewer’s role in advocating research on direct CO₂ injection into the deep ocean. "Peter Brewer: Fathoming the Chemistry of the Deep Blue Sea," page 790
• EPA Web Site EPA has updated the State and Local Climate Change Capacity Building Program website with the summer edition of the newsletter Inside the Greenhouse. The State and Local Climate Change Program works with States to produce non-binding greenhouse gas action plans. To date, 35 states and Puerto Rice have greenhouse gas inventories, and 25 states have initiated or completed GHG Action Plans. Carbon sequestration is one component of many State action plans. Several states are beginning to lay the groundwork for establishing concrete policy initiatives, many involving terrestrial sequestration.
  

• Second National Conference on Carbon Sequestration Mark your calendars. NETL will be sponsoring The Second National Conference on Carbon Sequestration on May 13, 14, 15, 2002 in Washington DC. Last year’s conference was attended by over 400 participants and included sessions on Separation and Capture, Sequestration of CO2 in Geologic Formations, Enhancing Natural Sinks, Advanced Conversion Concepts, Modeling and Assessments, Emissions Trading and Offsets, and Policy Issues. This year, the organizers intend to give increased attention to Emissions Trading and Offsets, International Activities, Control Strategies and Implementation Issues.
• NETL’s Coal Research Program On August 13^th, NETL announced awards for the DOE University Coal Research Program. Nineteen universities in 15 States won $3 million in coal research program awards. The federal grants provide a maximum of $200,000 for projects lasting up to three years. The academic institutions committed nearly $416,000 in matching funds. Ten out of the 23 winning projects are aimed toward carbon management and sequestration. These are listed below. For more complete project descriptions and contact information, please see the DOE TechLine.
• West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, will develop a gas sensor and temperature measurement array to analyze multi-pollutants including carbon oxides.
• North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, will characterize and engineer a new class of polymer/inorganic membrane materials which purify hydrogen while capturing CO2.
• Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, will use advanced diagnostic techniques to engineer enhanced carbonation minerals that permanently and benignly dispose of CO2.
• University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, will develop a computer model to determine the feasibility of storing CO2 in coalbeds while simultaneously producing clean methane.
• University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, proposes to develop and evaluate low-cost, poison–tolerant sorbents that remove CO2 from gas streams.
• University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, will study the potential of injecting CO2 into coalbed methane reservoirs while enhancing methane recovery.
• Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, will investigate storing CO2 in carbonate feedstocks while studying their physical and catalytic surface activity.
• Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, will help scientists better understand how to sequester CO2 by generating a 3-dimensional molecular model of a low-volatile bituminous coal.
• Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, will use advanced simulation techniques to engineer improved carbon-based feedstocks for sequestering CO2 and develop a detailed understanding of key aspects of carbonation.
• University of Akron, Akron, OH, will investigate the reactivity of adsorbates and their role in photosynthesis reactions.
  

Publications

• Resources for the Future released a paper August 13^th entitled The Effect of Allowance Allocation on the Cost and Efficiency of Carbon Emissions Trading [PDF], by Resources for the Future’s Senior Fellow Dallas Burtraw et al. The paper investigates the cost-effectiveness and distributional effects of alternative approaches to tradable emissions allowances, such as a revenue-raising auction, grandfathering, or a generation performance standard, using a national electricity market model.
• Iowa Department of Natural Resources released a Final Report [PDF] – Greenhouse gas phase III – Carbon Storage Quantification and Methodology Demonstration. The report was prepared by the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa. It includes information on agroforestry of poplars, switch grass and prairies as a means to sequester CO2.

• National Research Council recently published Carbon Management: Implications for R&D in the Chemical Sciences and Technology: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable. The 220 page workshop report includes a chapter on CO₂ as a feedstock.