The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota is a global leader in the areas of climate change and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a major by-product of energy use. CCS comprises capturing CO₂ and putting it into environmentally sound temporary or permanent storage.

There is growing concern that the ongoing accumulation of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activity may affect global climate. The Global Climate Change Initiative, issued by President George W. Bush in February 2002, called for an 18% reduction in U.S. CO₂ intensity by 2012. Conservation, more efficient power systems, renewable energy, and CCS are all tools to help reduce CO₂ intensity.

The EERC is currently leading one of the world’s largest programs dedicated to developing and demonstrating technologies to reduce CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere from large-scale sources. The EERC’s PCOR Partnership is one of seven regional partnerships operating under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) Program. This multiyear effort, which began in 2003, is being conducted in three phases. Since its inception, the PCOR Partnership’s nearly 100 private and public sector members have provided data, guidance, financial resources, and practical experience with CCS. The PCOR Partnership region includes all or part of nine states and four Canadian provinces.

• Phase I – Characterization Phase (2003–2005): characterized carbon sequestration opportunities within the region.
• Phase II – Validation Phase (2005–2009): conducted four carbon storage field validation projects focused on the region’s subsurface and terrestrial settings.
• Phase III – Deployment Phase (2007–2017): focused on implementation of commercial-scale geologic carbon sequestration demonstration projects in the region.

The PCOR Partnership plans to develop two full commercial-scale CO₂ sequestration projects over the next several years. Each of the projects will inject 1 million or more tons of CO₂ a year into the receiving geologic formations. Each large-volume injection test is designed to demonstrate that the site has the potential to store CO₂ safely, permanently, and economically for hundreds of years.

Development of economically feasible carbon capture technology presents one of the biggest challenges to the fossil energy industry in the 21st century. Many existing technologies are capable of capturing carbon from coal-fired power plants, but most are expensive and inefficient. Development and evaluation of new technologies are critical steps toward economical carbon capture. To address this challenge, the EERC initiated a program to evaluate several CO₂ capture technologies that are among the most advanced systems under development. PCO₂C was developed with the overall goal of advancing the state of CO₂ capture by evaluating and demonstrating those technologies with the most commercial viability for utility applications. In performing pilot-scale testing of these systems, PCO₂C identifies the strengths and weaknesses of each technology to allow for enhanced performance and decreased costs for future applications.

The PCO₂C project is being conducted in three phases. During Phase I of PCO₂C, the focus was on understanding and developing two-platform based technologies: solvent-based absorption and stripping (postcombustion capture) and oxygen-fired combustion. Phase I results indicate that technological advances are the main ways to reduce the costs of capturing CO₂ using a retrofit oxy-fired technology. For postcombustion capture, 90% CO₂ capture can be met with monoethanolamine (MEA) and advanced solvents. However, the EERC has shown that use of advanced solvents can be expected to reduce the cost of CO₂ capture considerably.

Phase II of PCO₂C is focused on further developing the most promising technologies studied in Phase I. Phase II will utilize the information gathered during Phase I for the development of lower-cost and more effective capture technologies as well as their integration into a total system that provides substantial economic and environmental benefits. A third phase will investigate a novel liquid-gas contactor which has potential use as a postcombustion CO₂ capture technology. During operation at the EERC, the system will be tested with a flue gas stream from two separate pilot facilities simultaneously: the combustion test facility and the particulate test combustor. The ability to expand the flue gas production is expected to be a key factor in demonstrating the scale-up capability of the novel design.