Virginia Tech Leads $11.6 Million Project to Store Carbon Beneath Roanoke Valley

Project CARDINAL

Virginia Tech has been chosen by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management of the U.S. Department of Energy to oversee a significant feasibility study for the creation of a regional carbon dioxide storage facility in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia. Over the course of the next three decades, the project, called Project CARDINAL, aims to stop an estimated 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

Project Cardinal:

Geologic Carbon Sequestration

The Department of Energy’s CarbonSAFE program awarded a $9 million grant for the project, and the Botetourt County-based Roanoke Cement Company LLC contributed an extra $2.6 million. In order to address the carbon footprint of vital manufacturing sectors, academics, business, and government are increasingly working together.

The Roanoke Cement Plant in Troutville, Virginia, which is the only cement producing facility in the commonwealth, will be the main focus of Project CARDINAL. Because carbon dioxide emissions are produced by both the chemical process of heating limestone to form clinker, the main ingredient in cement, and the usage of fossil fuels, cement manufacturing poses a special climate problem. Because of this, decarbonizing the sector is very difficult.

Ryan M. Pollyea, an associate professor of geosciences at Virginia Tech and director of the recently formed Carbon CoLab, is spearheading the endeavor. Since 2007, Pollyea has been studying geologic carbon sequestration. Her office and research operations are located in 1050 Derring Hall on the Virginia Tech campus. With skills in high-performance computing, geospatial analysis, fracture network characterisation using terrestrial LiDAR, and numerical modeling of multi-phase fluid flow in fractured and porous media, his research lies at the nexus of geofluids and energy resources. His group also studies the chemical and physical mechanisms underlying fluid-triggered seismic activity and subterranean CO2 injections.

Pollyea stated, “This is where our research and teaching become reality.” “The first step toward preventing industrial carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere is this feasibility study.”

The overall idea behind Project CARDINAL is geologic carbon sequestration, which involves injecting carbon dioxide deep below into stable geological formations once it has been separated from industrial emissions streams at facilities like chemical, cement, and power plants. The same kinds of rock formations that have naturally retained oil, gas, and even carbon dioxide for millions of years would store carbon dioxide at the Roanoke site more than a mile below the Earth’s surface if it were proven practical.

Pollyea clarified, “Geologic systems are excellent at storing fluids.” “Natural deposits of gas, oil, and even carbon dioxide in deep geologic formations are caused by the same process.”

The ambitious long-term goal is to store over 1.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year for 30 years, which is the same as taking about 360,000 passenger cars off the road yearly. Drilling boreholes, studying deep rock samples, assessing the thickness and integrity of cap rock layers, and figuring out whether the local geology can safely and permanently store injected CO2 are just a few of the many research tasks that will be necessary to achieve this goal.

Beyond Virginia Tech and Roanoke Cement Company, Project CARDINAL is a cooperative endeavor. The Southern States Energy Board, Crescent Resource Innovation, Advanced Resources International, and Top Rock Geoscience are among the partners. Pollyea’s team at Virginia Tech consists of assistant professor of mining and minerals engineering Rohit Pandey, director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research Nino Ripepi, and geosciences professor Steve Holbrook.

Goal:

1.7 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Each Year for 30 Years.

The initiative’s regional and generational effects have been highlighted by university leadership. Kevin Pitts, dean of Virginia Tech’s College of Science, highlighted the university’s capacity to combine international scientific knowledge with regional economic and environmental sustainability, characterizing the endeavor as a victory for western Virginia and future generations.

Leaders in the industry consider the initiative to be a significant accomplishment. The study will greatly advance carbon storage science throughout the eastern United States, especially in the complicated geology of Appalachia, according to Chris Bayne, director of decarbonization and energy at Titan America, parent company of Roanoke Cement Company.

For Pollyea, Project CARDINAL offers an opportunity to convert years of scholarly research into practical climate mitigation methods, not just a research funding. If the initiative is successful, it could provide new information about the geology of Southwest Virginia, give students practical research experiences, and possibly pave the road for the region’s economic growth.

According to Pollyea, “Project CARDINAL is a fantastic example of academic research and corporate sustainability goals aligning to move the needle on climate mitigation.” “What a fantastic chance to see the concepts we’ve been experimenting with for years have a chance to become reality.”