Estimating CO₂ storage capacity, injectivity, and storage costs for large-scale CCS deployment & carbon dioxide removal goals

Large-scale deployment (i.e.,, nationwide) of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology will play a key role in carbon storage removal (CDR) and overall climate mitigation efforts. The economic feasibility of large-scale CCS deployments partly depends on the CO₂ storage costs per project. However, the suitability of regional storage and injectivity per project, particularly for large-scale purposes, is not well understood. This study focuses on two concepts that augments existing studies of storage capacity and cost to assess the opportunities and barriers to CDR. The first concept focuses on identifying all potential areas for CO₂ storage within the sedimentary rocks throughout the U.S. based on a novel concept we call the CO₂ Storage Window. The second concept focuses on improving CO₂ storage costs estimates by considering 1) the number of wells needed to inject at a certain rate, dependent on injectivity of the area and 2) the areal extent of pressure build-up caused by CO₂ injection. This area extent is a novel concept we call pressure space. Understanding the pressure space of a project helps delineate the area of review for a project and the extent of the pore space required for the project. The results of this study include a spatial geodatabase and a series of U.S. cohesive, spatial distribution maps showcasing 1) CO₂ storage potential in areas not explored before, 2) Storage costs per CCS project and storage costs per ton of CO₂, assuming a constant maximum storage capacity of 20 Mt per project over a 20-year timeframe, and 3) Estimated storage costs per ton of CO₂ in areas where storage potential is found but where there is not enough data to calculate capacity nor injectivity