Using Carbon Dioxide

vampyregirl · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 19, 2007 Posts: 319

In Saskatchewan EnCana is using CO2 produced by the Great Plains Synfuels Plant to bring back into production an oilfield thought to be in terminal decline. The CO2 is compressed and piped more than a kilometer underground to force oil to the surface that would have been unrecoverable. EnCana expects to increase field production by 50% over the next twenty years while trapping six millions tons of CO2 underground. Enhanced Oil Recovery is not new but this is the first project to use CO2 captured from waste.

Early experiments have shown that CO2 binds to the surface of coal easily. When pumped into coalseams it can displace the methane gas which can be brought to the surface and used commercially. The coal then absorbs the CO2.

I believe underground storage of CO2 will become a new global industry