Oil Recovery and CO2 Sequestration
Western Michigan University is one of 40 partners in an eight state research partnership led by Battelle Memorial Institute. This consortium, the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, is part of a larger scale strategy to reduce CO2 emissions. The MRCSP is one of seven regional partnerships nationwide. The Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education's industry partner in this research is Core Energy, LLC.
MGRRE's role in the partnership involved examining sampling cores archived here to determine their reservoir characteristics, such as porosity and permeability. This role also involved using said data in modeling to better understand the geology and fluid-flow characteristics of the rocks. By injecting CO2 deep underground and recovering previously stranded oil, this project not only helps by reducing the amount of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere, but it also results in the production of more domestic energy.