Thursday, July 27, 2023

CO₂ Injection in Deep Coal: A New Understanding

MONTREAL (Quebec), July 27, 2023 – An article interpreting a set of results of the EHR™ proof-of-concept field trial involving reservoir simulation to evaluate processes controlling CO₂ injection and associated in-situ fluid migration in deep coal has generated strong interest in the scientific and investor community after publication in the International Journal of Coal Geology.

The recent field pilot, which was conducted by Ergo Exergy’s licensee Cv̄ictus Inc. at their site in the Mannville coal in Alberta, Canada, showed promising results for using deep, unmineable coal seams as potentially large, strategic targets for CO₂ injection and storage. Injection of supercritical CO₂ into deep virgin coal seam is an integral part of the Enhanced Hydrogen Recovery (EHR™) process.

The results of the pilot showed that permeability increases caused by the natural fracture dilation in coal during CO₂ injection outweighed the permeability decreases caused by CO₂ adsorption-induced coal swelling. This led to an increase in injectivity with rising CO₂ injection rate, contradicting the generally accepted paradigm of injectivity drop due to coal swelling induced by CO₂ adsorption and indicating that CO2 storage in deep coal seams could be much more viable than previously thought.

The findings from the field pilot and subsequent analysis suggest that the deep Mannville coal seams hold promise as a potential target for CO₂ storage. This research contributes valuable insights into the feasibility of geologic sequestration of CO₂ and opens new avenues in the global fight against climate change.

The field pilot is a significant step forward in the development of CO₂ sequestration and the ultra-clean EHR™ technology. In the near future, we expect to have an opportunity to prove that the reported findings are replicated in other deep coal seams, and open the gateway for a large-scale global deployment of EHR™ technology and CO₂ sequestration in deep coal seams.