Final Environmental Assessment - Industrial Carbon Capture and Sequestration (ICCS) Area 1 Project - "CO2 Capture from Biofuels Production and ... Company, Decatur Illinois (DOE/EA-1828)

DOE prepared this EA to evaluate the potential environmental consequences of providing a financial assistance grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) in a cooperative agreement with Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM). If ADM received the funding, the company would demonstrate an integrated system of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture in an industrial setting and geologic sequestration in a sandstone reservoir. The CO2 that would be sequestered is currently a by-product of ADM’s Decatur fuel-grade ethanol production facility. ADM would capture approximately one million short tons of CO2 per year using dehydration and compression. The compressed CO2 would be piped approximately one mile to an injection well and sequestered in the Mount (Mt.) Simon Sandstone Formation, a saline reservoir. The project team members include ADM, the Illinois State Geological Survey, Schlumberger Carbon Services, and Richland Community College. DOE’s proposed action would provide approximately $141.4 million in financial assistance in a cost-sharing arrangement to ADM. The cost of the proposed project would be approximately $207.9 million. This EA evaluates the environmental resource areas DOE commonly addresses in its EAs and identifies no significant adverse environmental impacts for the proposed project. The proposed project could result in beneficial impacts to the nation’s energy efficiency and the local economy, and could contribute to a minor reduction of greenhouse gases.