MVA Techniques and Application At the Citronelle Secarb Phase III Site, Alabama

The Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) Anthropogenic Test is a demonstration of the deployment of CO₂ transport and geologic storage and monitoring technologies implemented in conjunction with Southern Company’s Plant Berry 25MW Post-combustion CO₂ Capture Unit. This project is the largest fully-integrated commercial prototype coal-fired carbon capture and storage projects in the USA.  The demonstration is approaching the first full year of injection. Two Class V Experimental Injection Well underground injection control (UIC) permits were issued in November 2011 and the project’s injection wells have been installed with one of the two wells being used for injection of CO₂. A robust Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting (MVA) plan has been developed and implemented to monitor and track the CO₂ plume and the associated pressure field. 

A maximum of 550 tonnes of CO₂ per day is being captured, transported and injected into a saline geologic formation. The injection target is the lower Cretaceous Paluxy Formation, which occurs at 9,400 feet. Transportation and injection operations will continue for two to three years. Subsurface monitoring will be deployed through 2017 to track plume movement and monitor for leakage and site closure.  This paper will discuss the range of MVA techniques deployed at the site, which include surface, shallow, and deep monitoring. Frequency, range of accuracy, and key findings of the MVA program to date will be presented.