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Each year, the typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Based on those numbers, if Project ACCESS develops, it could eliminate the annual carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 370,000 passenger vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The technology is especially applicable to industries that have difficulty lowering greenhouse emissions, such as steel and cement production. By retrofitting production plants with carbon capture technology, the emissions could be contained and injected into deep geological formations, allowing those industries to greatly reduce their carbon footprint without sacrificing production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end result of this process would deposit and trap carbon dioxide in many of the same types of geological formations that hold other resources. Not only will Project ACCESS help industrial sectors with hard-to-reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it will do so by storing the emissions in the challenging types of rocks many previous efforts have avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith many industrial emitters and a limited history exploring carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage opportunities, Project ACCESS represents an initial step toward understanding the opportunities and challenges associated with commercial deployment in South Florida,\u201d said Ben Wernette, principal scientist and strategic partnerships lead for Southern States Energy Board, which is overseeing the project. \u201cVirginia Tech is responsible for the design and oversight of the surface characterization program, including all field data acquisition programs and modeling efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working to keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and doing it in a way that\u2019s economically, technically, and scientifically sound,\u201d Pollyea said. \u201cOur research aims to put carbon dioxide permanently underground, while also developing long-term plans to monitor and verify that the carbon dioxide is stored securely.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we can get this to work, we can unlock a lot of real estate for carbon storage and take a critical step towards Virginia Tech becoming a destination for the kind of interdisciplinary research, innovation, and talent development needed to advance the control of carbon emissions,\u201d Pollyea said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n