@article{27921,
  author = {Hanna Breunig and Jens T Birkholzer and Andrea Borgia and Curtis M Oldenburg and Phillip N Price and Thomas E McKone},
  title = {Regional evaluation of brine management for geologic carbon sequestration},
  abstract = {<p>Large scale deployment of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) capture and sequestration (CCS) has the potential to significantly reduce global CO<sub>2</sub>&nbsp;emissions, but this technology faces social, economic, and environmental challenges that must be managed early on. Carbon capture technology is water-, energy-, and capital-intensive and proposed geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) storage options, if conducted in pressure-constrained formations, may generate large volumes of extracted brine that require costly disposal. In this study, we evaluate brine management in three locations of the United States (US) and assess whether recovered heat, water, and minerals can turn the brine into a resource. Climate and aquifer parameters varied between the three regions and strongly affected technical feasibility. We discovered that the levelized net present value (NPV) of extracted brine can range from −$50 (a cost) to +$10 (a revenue) per ton of CO<sub>2</sub>&nbsp;injected (mt-CO<sub>2</sub>) for a CO<sub>2</sub>&nbsp;point source equivalent to emissions from a 1000&nbsp;MW coal-fired power plant (CFPP), compared to CCS NPV ranging from −$40 to −$70 per mt-CO<sub>2</sub>. Upper bound scenarios reflect assumed advancements in current treatment technologies and a favorable market and regulation landscape for brine products and disposal. A regionally appropriate management strategy may be able to treat the extracted brine as a source of revenue, energy, and water.</p>},
  year = {2013},
  journal = {International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control},
  volume = {14},
  pages = {39 - 48},
  month = {05/2013},
  issn = {17505836},
  doi = {10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.01.003},
}