PNNL Scientist Charlotte Sullivan teaches students about geologic carbon dioxide sequestration at a test site near Wallula, Wash.

A trio of organizations in the Seattle area is gearing up to offer advanced training and certification in burying and permanently storing carbon dioxide underground.

With $1 million in funding from the DOE, the Pacific Northwest National Lab, the Environmental Outreach and Stewardship Alliance and the Washington Society of Professional Engineers are developing a carbon capture and sequestration curriculum, with the goal of having a regional CCS technology training and certification program in place by 2012, although the groups are saying the first students could begin training in 2010.

“We will need substantially more trained personnel – scientists, engineers, technicians, operators, regulators and others in this field – to maximize the promise of carbon capture and storage technology and address climate change,” said Mike Davis, associate laboratory director for Energy and Environment at PNNL.

Shafts of calcite mineral grow rapidly on basalt after exposure to supercritical CO2 for 30 days. Credit: PNNL

Shafts of calcite mineral grow rapidly on basalt after exposure to supercritical CO2 for 30 days. Credit: PNNL.

The current thinking is that the curriculum will offer:

  • Lectures on approximately 14 CCS-related topics;
  • Several three-day CCS combined short courses; and
  • Tours of CCS research laboratories, including an active sequestration test site near PNNL’s Richland headquarters.

The lectures and other relevant course material are also supposed to be available online.

PNNL is already studying the permanent storage of carbon dioxide in various types of geologic formations, such as basalt. Organizers hope to leverage PNNL’s research to give trainees real-world experiences with challenges of geologic carbon sequestration.


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