New study shows benefits of using CO2 for enhanced oil recovery

North Dakota’s lignite industry has been a stable employer at current levels since the 1980s when the last large mine expansion and power plant were constructed. Roughly 14,000 jobs are directly or indirectly tied to the industry, but that number could double in the future and from an unlikely source…the capture and sale of what is now considered a byproduct of the industry – carbon dioxide.

A recent economic impact study completed by the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, shows the lignite industry could grow significantly.  If, for example, carbon dioxide from North Dakota’s five largest lignite-based power plants were captured at a 90 percent rate and used for enhanced oil recovery, the employment numbers could double.

“The EERC partnered with economists at North Dakota State University to evaluate the potential economic impact to North Dakota of capturing CO2 from existing power plants and using this gas for enhanced oil recovery in traditional oil wells,” said Jason Bohrer, president and CEO of the Lignite Energy Council.

NDSU has years of experience in evaluating the economic impact as they perform a similar study for the LEC every two years. What the study show is that jobs could grow by 15,000 employees and another $3 billion could be injected into the state’s economy annually by using CO2 for enhanced oil recovery.

The Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota, currently gasifies coal to make synthetic natural gas, fertilizers and chemicals from lignite. A byproduct of the gasification process is CO2, which has been sold to Canadian oil fields since 2000 where it has been used for enhanced oil recovery. In the last couple of years, SaskPower has been capturing CO2 from an existing power plant near Estevan, Saskatchewan, and sells it for EOR as well.

In North Dakota, none of the seven lignite-based power plants currently capture CO2; however, funding is now underway for a Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study to look at capturing CO2 from the second unit of the Milton R. Young Station. That effort is known as Project Tundra. Last year, the North Dakota Industrial Commission pledged $15 million to a study if the sum would be matched by the U.S. Department of Energy.

“Members of the Lignite Energy Council and the North Dakota Petroleum Council are working with researchers at the EERC to turn this dream of EOR into a reality,” Bohrer added. “The CO2 would enable oil companies, mineral owners and the state to benefit from otherwise stranded oil reserves.”

The study was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Lignite Energy Council through the North Dakota Industrial Commission.