THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2011
PAGE 5
SCIENCE
Geologists awarded funding to test CO2 storage
IAN CUMMINGS
icummings@kansan.com
One solution to the problem of climate change involves liquefying carbon dioxide and burying it deep underground.
It may sound like a far-fetched idea, but geologists from the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS), based at the University, are preparing to test it in the oil fields of southern Kansas.
The KGS has secured $11.5 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) to fund a large-scale experiment in trapping the industrial greenhouse gas and storing it in underground reservoirs. They call it carbon sequestration. The technique has also been used in the U.S. for many years to increase oil production in wells.
Petroleum industry representatives involved in the project say it could become a regional industry.
The $11.5 million award is the
largest ever received by the KGS, which has received grants totaling $10 million between 2009 and 2010.
W. Lynn Watney, a geologist with the KGS and a lead investigator in the project, said his group hopes to begin a pilot test in April 2013, injecting carbon dioxide into the Arbuckle aquifer, a watery, underground rock structure under Summer County, Kan. They will monitor those injections using seismic imaging equipment and use the results to propose future studies.
"We need to know exactly where the plume of carbon dioxide is and how it behaves," Watney said.
Watney and Jason Rush are the project's lead investigators, working with scientists from Kansas State and Berexco, Inc., a Wichita-based petroleum firm. The project will outfit the Abengoa ethanol plant, near Colwich, Kan., to trap
At eight truckloads per day, it will take nine months to move the 40,000 tons of it from Abengoa to the project site.
some of the carbon dioxide it produces as a by-product.
Watney said the researchers will pump 40,000 tons of the greenhouse gas, in pressurized liquid form, into the aquifer 5,000 feet below the surface. Another 30,000 tons will go into an overlying oil field at around 3,600 feet.
The KGS has subcontracted with petroleum firms such as Berexco LLC, Bereedo Drilling and Bittersweet Energy Inc. to accomplish the drilling. Bereexco is the operator of the oil fields where much of the testing is being done.
"If the industry looks at it as an asset, they might help build the pipeline and make it feasible for a power plant," Watney said during preliminary testing in March.
Other researchers have raised questions about the safety and
feasibility of such projects. The research of Mark Little and Robert Jackson at Duke University's Center on Global Change showed that carbon dioxide could contaminate groundwater with metals and potentially dangerous uranium and barium if it leaked from underground storage.
Another study questioned the feasibility of storing large amounts of carbon dioxide underground. A paper published in the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering by Christine Ehlig-Economides and Michael Economides asserts that many researchers have vastly overestimated the quantities of carbon dioxide that most geologic formations can hold. The researchers used mathematical models to make their own estimates of how much space is available in underground reservoirs.
Michael Economides earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in
CARBON SEQUESTRATION BY THE NUMBERS
Department of Energy money: $11.5 million
Tons of carbon dioxide: 70,000
transported by: 14 trucks every day for 9 months
Buried underground: 3,600 to 5,000 feet
SOURCE: KANSAS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
chemical engineering at the University of Kansas and is now a University of Houston professor of chemical engineering. Economides said using sequestration to mitigate against climate change was not feasible, and that many researchers and government officials were promoting unrealistic projections.
ing in Kansas will provide information to regulators for making appropriate rules for carbon sequestration. The current project is governed by EPA regulations, and the researchers will meet with local officials in Wellington Kan., near the project site, for a public meeting Dec. 12, Watney said.
Watney has said that the test
STUDENT LIFE
- Edited by Jayson Jenks
'Winterize' your car before the cold
MONISHA BRUNER
mbruner@kansan.com
Waiting until temperatures drop below 10 degrees isn't when students want to make sure their cars are winterized. Alex Clotnikov, the owner of Alek's Auto, said winterizing cars is very important.
"To winterize your car, it costs you from — it depends on what kind of vehicle — from $68 to $150," he said.
completely."
And if students don't winterize their cars, Clotnikov said they're looking at replacing an engine, which can cost up to $2,000.
"If the anti-freeze isn't strong enough, then in the pretty cold days or nights, the anti-freeze cooling fluid can freeze up," he said. "Your engine will be ruined
There are three important things mechanics say students should do to winterize their cars. First, new windshield wipers are a must for cold winter months. Second, making sure students have an ample amount of anti-freeze in their cars is essential. Third, students should check their tires to make sure there's enough threading on them.
Here are some essential products for winter driving: ice and frost shield to keep ice from sticking, anti-freeze, windshield wipers, de-icer, a good battery, jumper cables, an ice scraper and a windshield cover. It's also a good idea to keep water and a blanket in the trunk.
Edited by Ben Chipman
To avoid future complications, such as having to replace an engine, students should winterize their cars before winter hits full force. Winterizing a car can cost between $68 and $150, according to Alex Clotnikov, the owner of Alek's Auto.
MIKE GUNNOE/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
CRIME
Florida A&M aims to end band hazing
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida A&M President James Ammons said Monday the university is committed to breaking a conspiracy of silence that has for decades shrouded hazing practices at the school and finally resulted in a band member's death.
Ammons addressed an estimated 2,000 FAMU students Monday night and then took several questions, many of which were about the media coverage that most in the audience felt portrayed the school in a bad light.
"We are going to eliminate this pattern of destructive behavior from our campus," Ammons said.
"This code of silence hampers our ability to root out these insidious activities."
Petitions were sent through the audience from student government leaders seeking signatures from students to pledge to stop hazing at the school.
Robert Champion, a drum major in the school's famed band, the "Marching 100," died in Orlando. It came hours after performing at the annual Florida Classic football game between the Rattlers and rival Bethune-Cookman.
Champion, 26, was found unresponsive on Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside a hotel after the game after he had been seen vomiting.
Recap the entire last year with the JAYHAWKER MAGAZINE
Available for only 10 dollars at HyVee, Dillons, Wal-Mart and KU Bookstores. If you pre-ordered a Jayhawker you can pick it up in room 2051 Dole Human Resources Center.
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