As of September 30, 2016, the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies program at MIT has closed. The website is being kept online as a reference but will not be updated.

LaBarge Fact Sheet: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Project

Company/Alliance: ExxonMobil

Location: Shute Creek Treating Facility, LaBarge, Wyoming, USA

Start Date: 1986. 2008 (4 Mt/yr); 2010 (6 Mt/yr)

Size: 7 Mt/yr (365m cubic feet/day)

CO2 Source: Natural gas stream from fields in Wyoming

Storage: Pipeline to EOR sites in the surrounding area

Motivation/Economics:

The produced CO2 is sold to companies for EOR in nearby areas. The cost to expand capture facility was $86 million dollars.

Comments:

Production of natural gas from the LaBarge field in southwest Wyoming began in 1986. This gas contains high concentrations of CO2. The Shute Creek Treating Facility (SCTF) processes the gas produced from the LaBarge field. The gas composition entering Shute Creek is 65% CO2, 21% methane, 7% nitrogen, 5% hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and 0.6% helium. The SCTF separates CO2, methane, and helium for sale and removes hydrogen sulfide for disposal. A concentrated acid gas stream of about 60% hydrogen sulfide and 40% CO2 is injected into a carefully selected section of the same reservoir from which it was produced, safely disposing of the hydrogen sulfide along with approximately 400,000 tons of CO2 per year.

ExxonMobil completed the demonstration of its Controlled Freeze Zone™ technology, also known as CFZ™, at this site. An extensive test program was conducted at the CFZ™ Commercial Demonstration Plant from March 2012 to November 2013. CFZ™ is a single-step cryogenic separation process that freezes out and then melts the carbon dioxide and removes other components including hydrogen sulfide, which is found in sour gas.

The Shute Creek plant in southern Lincoln County was constructed in the early 1980s. The plant receives natural gas from the LaBarge gas field in neighboring Sublette County. In 2008, Oil and Gas Conservation Commission took a look at possibly modifying ExxonMobil's permit to vent CO2. The commission questioned ExxonMobil's efforts to market the CO2. At the time, ExxonMobil was venting about 180 million cubic feet of CO2 per day at the plant. The company was selling another 225 million cubic feet per day to enhanced oil recovery operations in Colorado and Wyoming.

But in June 2008, ExxonMobil was ordered by the commission to curb carbon dioxide emissions at Shute Creek and redirect the greenhouse gas into pipelines for enhanced oil recovery. This resulted in an $86 million expansion facility to send additional CO2 for enhanced oil recovery use. In addition, $100 million were directed to research CCS technologies that included the CFZ™ Commercial Demonstration Plant at Shute Creek.

ExxonMobil completed its expansion of the CO2 capture facility in December 2010. This has resulted in 50% more CO2 capture than the previous plant.

Other Sources and Press Releases:
ExxonMobil website
Expansion of world's largest CO2 capture plant near LaBarge is complete (December 2010)
ExxonMobil to Spend $170M on carbon capture, storage technology (December 2008)
ExxonMobil plans CO2 separation plant near LaBarge (May 2008)