Kentucky Coal and Shale Analyses in Support of Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) Phase II Project 10

The Kentucky Geological Survey appreciates the cost share supplied by the KY GOEP, which will aid the Survey in participating with the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) as a research partner in the proposed Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) Phase II Task 10 project. We are pleased to be part of the proposed coalition to implement a large-scale test of carbon sequestration in unmineable coal seams via coalbed methane wells and the characterization of potential secondary storage geology in saline aquifers, depleted oil and gas fields and the Devonian Shale in Central Appalachia. As part of this coalition, under this proposed project, the Kentucky Geological Survey will sample and analyze coals and the Devonian shale from eastern Kentucky. This research will augment existing research at KGS. Samples of coals that will be desorbed under existing projects to determine their methane contents, will have adsorbtion isotherms determined as part of this project. Adsorption is the process by which carbon dioxide is inferred to stick to coal and organic shales. Samples of Devonian black shale will be analyzed for adsorbtion and mineralogy. Because preliminary research in other basins has shown that coal swelling may influence carbon dioxide injection in coals, and the mechanisms of carbon dioxide adsorbtion are thought to be similar in coals and organic shales, KGS proposes to test Kentucky coals and carbonaceous shales for swelling properties to determine the degree to which this property may influence the CO2 storage potential of the coals and Devonian shale. Results of these lab analyses will be interpreted and reports written.