The research and activities of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership are interdisciplinary in nature and take a stepwise approach that scales up in scope of work. This approach allows the researchers to learn from the early projects and apply lessons learned to future projects. The research is divided into 3 phases which are described below.

Phase I:

Characterization Phase (2003 - 2005) – the focus of this phase was on identifying regional carbon sources and sinks, researching CCS technologies and studying the nation’s current infrastructure and regulations with respect to carbon sequestration.

Phase II:

Validation Phase (2005-2009) – the second phase has focused on determining the best approaches for storing CO₂ in both geologic and terrestrial systems. Small scale terrestrial and geologic field tests are currently under way to: test CO₂ storage formations; validate injectivity, capacity, and containment; establish monitoring, mitigation, and verification (MM&V) technologies and work on regulatory frameworks, economics and public outreach and education.

Phase III:

Deployment Phase (2008 - 2016) – the focus of this phase is to demonstrate at large (commercial) scale that CO₂ injection, and storage can be achieved safely, permanently, and economically. During this phase, each partnership will have one large-scale project, where large volumes of CO₂ will be injected into a geologic formation. The injection will continue over several years. The Deployment Phase tests will be implemented in three stages which will test key technologies during the demonstration and deployment. The first 3 years will be devoted to: site selection and characterization, permitting and NEPA compliance, well completion and testing and infrastructure development. The next three years will include CO₂ procurement and transportation, injection operations and monitoring activities. The last three years of this phase will be devoted to site closure, post-injection monitoring and project assessment.

To learn more about the specific studies and pilot projects, click on the links below to access information about each field of research.

• Geologic Activities
• Terrestrial Activities
• Economic Activities
• Regulatory Activities