Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration
The Southwest Partnership on Carbon Sequestration completed several more tasks during the period of April 1, 2005-September 30, 2005. The main objective of the Southwest Partnership project is to evaluate and demonstrate the means for achieving an 18% reduction in carbon intensity by 2012. While Phase 2 planning is well under way, the content of this report focuses exclusively on Phase 1 objectives completed during this reporting period. Progress during this period was focused in the three areas: geological carbon storage capacity in New Mexico, terrestrial sequestration capacity for the project area, and the Integrated Assessment Model efforts. The geologic storage capacity of New Mexico was analyzed and Blanco Mesaverde (which extends into Colorado) and Basin Dakota Pools were chosen as top two choices for the further analysis for CO{sub 2} sequestration in the system dynamics model preliminary analysis. Terrestrial sequestration capacity analysis showed that the four states analyzed thus far (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah) have relatively limited potential to sequester carbon in terrestrial systems, mainly due to the aridity of these areas, but the large land area offered could make up for the limited capacity per hectare. Best opportunities were thought to be in eastern Colorado/New Mexico. The Integrated Assessment team expanded the initial test case model to include all New Mexico sinks and sources in a new, revised prototype model in 2005. The allocation mechanism, or ''String of Pearls'' concept, utilizes potential pipeline routes as the links between all combinations of the source to various sinks. This technique lays the groundwork for future, additional ''String of Pearls'' analyses throughout the SW Partnership and other regions as well.
- Research Organization:
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-03NT41983
- OSTI ID:
- 882883
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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