Evaluation of Geologic CO2 Storage Potential at LG&E and Kentucky Utilities Cane Run Generating Station, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Introduction

A preliminary assessment of the geologic CO₂ sequestration potential was made for an area surrounding the LG&E-KU Cane Run Generation Station in Jefferson County, Kentucky. A circular area with a 20-km radius around the plant was defined as the primary focus of the evaluation, but data from beyond 20 km were also used because of limited data from the primary area (Figure 1).

The following data were compiled for the evaluation:

1. Locations of all petroleum-exploration and waste-disposal wells penetrating the Cambrian-Ordovician Knox Group or deeper formations (Kentucky and Indiana Geological Surveys)
2. Formation tops for geologic units from the top of the Ordovician to the Precambrian
3. Available digital geophysical logs for Knox and deeper wells (Kentucky and Indiana Geological Surveys)
4. Core analyses (porosity and permeability) for Mount Simon Sandstone and Eau Claire Formation

The data extracted or interpreted from these sources were input into National Energy Technology Laboratory’s CO₂-SCREEN modeling software package for subsurface volumetric calculations (Haeri et al., 2024). See the Executive Summary for detailed modeling results.

Geologic Setting Surface Technology

The Cane Run Generation Station lies on the west flank of the Cincinnati Arch, a broad anticline that separates the deep Illinois Basin in western Kentucky from the Appalachian Basin in eastern Kentucky. The arch developed in Middle Ordovician time, and rock units deposited prior to this time have been tilted to the west toward the Illinois Basin. In general, subsurface data dips westward in the study area on the arch, deepening to the west and shallowing to the east.

The Cane Run facility is located on unconsolidated sediments deposited along the Ohio River in the West Louisville 7.5’ Quadrangle (Kepferle, 1974). These sediments are Quaternary (Pleistocene) in age and are interpreted to be glacial outwash deposits (Wisconsin age). The Quaternary outwash was deposited unconformably onto the Mississippian bedrock (siltstones and shales of the Borden Formation), which is exposed in the hills and bluffs to the SSE of the station (Figure 2).

Surface geology does not have a direct impact on carbon sequestration potential, since CO₂ injection will occur at much deeper depths. However, the abundance of low-permeability shales in the near-surface Upper Devonian and Lower Mississippian rocks could serve as secondary confining layers (where unfractured) in the unlikely event CO₂ was to migrate through the deeper primary seals.

Only one pre-existing well penetrates the reservoir interval within a 12.4-mi (20-km) radius of the Cane Run facility, the nearby (~ 3.5 mi NE) DuPont #1WAD DuPont Fee well (Figure 1). Fortunately, extensive data exists for this 1971 waste-disposal well, including high-quality geophysical logs and lab analyses from core samples extracted during drilling. Although the mapped surfaces in this report were 8 produced using all the available wells in the region (~ 80-mi radius around Cane Run), the reservoir properties utilized in modeling were all based upon the DuPont #1WAD well.

Stratigraphy and Structure

In this part of the central US, efficient geologic storage of CO₂ is generally confined to depths greater than 2,600 ft below the surface, where the temperatures and pressures are such that CO₂ should be in the supercritical, or dense, phase (Frailey et al., 2005; Wickstrom et al., 2003; Parris et al., 2010). Supercritical CO₂ has properties of both a liquid and a gas but much higher density than gaseous CO₂, which dramatically reduces the pore volume needed to contain the injected gas (i.e., more CO2 fits into a smaller volume). In western Jefferson County, this 2,600-ft depth would likely occur within the Cambrian Eminence Dolomite of the lower Knox Supergroup. Geologic formations in this area below 2,600 ft include the basal part of the Knox, the Upper/Middle Cambrian Eau Claire Formation, the Middle Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone, and Precambrian Eastern Granite-Rhyolite Province basement (Figure 2). These formations are briefly described below, from oldest to youngest.

Precambrian Basement (Low-Permeability Lower Sealing Unit)

The Precambrian basement in the study area consists of mostly igneous rocks (felsic plutonic rocks with scattered mafic intrusions) assigned to the Eastern Granite-Rhyolite Province (1.42–1.50 Ga) (Bickford et al., 1986; Van Schmus et al., 1996). However, some wells in the region have penetrated clastic deposits of the 1.0-Ga-old Middle Run sandstones (Drahovzal et al., 1992). The Middle Run was deposited in nonmarine fluvial environments and consists of fine-grained, red lithic sandstones and minor siltstone and shale (Drahovzal et al., 1992). However, due to about 1.0 billion years of compaction and diagenesis, the sandstone (where present) is well cemented and lacks any measurable porosity or permeability and therefore is unlikely to have any potential for carbon storage in the study area. In practical terms, regardless of whether the Precambrian lithology is a lithic arenite or igneous crystalline rock, it forms the lower confining layer for potential injection into the overlying Mount Simon Sandstone.

Precambrian strata are overlain by Cambrian strata above an erosional surface called the Precambrian unconformity. The Precambrian unconformity surface dips to the southwest in the study area (~ 0.7° at an azimuth of 250°), consistent with the trend of the Cincinnati Arch (Figure 3). This structure map is based on the few wells that penetrate the Precambrian surface in the area. As such, it should be considered a general representation of the structure of the area. Drilling would be needed to confirm the actual depth to Precambrian basement. The estimated depth to basement at Cane Run is approximately 5,950 ft.

Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone (Primary Injection Zone)

The Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone unconformably overlies the Precambrian basement in most of the study area. The quartz-rich Mount Simon Sandstone is the primary CO₂ injection zone in the study because of its depth and porosity. The Mount Simon is the primary reservoir target in much of the Illinois Basin to the west (Frailey et al., 2005; Leetaru and McBride, 2009; Gray, 2015; Greenberg, 2017) and was the target of a carbon storage demonstration well to the east at Duke Energy’s East Bend Generating Station (Battelle, 2011; Sminchak, 2012). The Mount Simon has been encountered in five wells in the study area. Cores from the Mount Simon Sandstone are available from two of these wells: the Battelle Duke Energy well and the DuPont #1WAD waste-injection well in Louisville. Porosity and permeability data measured in these cores are described further in the Reservoir Quality section.

Using well data from the area, structure and thickness maps for the Mount Simon were constructed. Other studies have used data from seismic lines outside this study area to map the extent of the Mount Simon Sandstone across Kentucky. The broader regional data show the Mount Simon thickens to the north and northwest and pinches out toward the southeast (Figure 4). The Mount Simon is known to be absent in several wells in central Kentucky, but the exact southern limit of the pinchout is uncertain, and the limit shown in the map should be considered a preliminary boundary that may be revised with more data in the future.

The top of the Mount Simon is at 5,103-ft depth in the DuPont well in Louisville (Figure 5), and ranges in thickness from ~ 400 to 750 ft across the radius of the study area (Figure 4). Approximately 78 mi to the northeast in Boone County, Kentucky, Duke Energy was able to successfully inject 1,000 tons of CO₂ into the Mount Simon Sandstone at their East Bend facility in 2009 (Battelle, 2011; Dillon et al., 2020). At the Cane Run Facility, the top of the Mount Simon is estimated to be at a subsea elevation of 12 approximately −4,770 ft with an estimated thickness of approximately 820 ft. Drilling would be needed to confirm thicknesses and depths.

The Eau Claire Formation directly overlies the Mount Simon Sandstone. The Eau Claire Formation was cored in the DuPont #1WAD well, at depths ranging from 4,409 to 4,459 ft and 4,842 to 4,871 ft. In core, the Eau Claire is composed of green and gray marine shale, thin siltstones, and interbedded dolomite. Based on regional data, the Eau Claire should be 600 to 700 ft thick (Figure 6) in the study area, and the top of the unit should be from approximately 3,700 to 4,700 ft below sea level (Figure 7). The Eau Claire deepens to the southwest into the southern Illinois Basin and the Rough Creek Graben (Hickman, 2011). The top of Eau Claire Formation at Cane Run is at a subsea elevation of approximately -4,160 ft at Cane Run.

Thick shales in the Eau Claire Formation are generally considered the primary confining layer (seal) for gas and liquid injection into underlying Mount Simon Sandstone reservoirs in the region (Frailey et al., 2005; Wickstrom et al., 2005; Leetaru and McBride, 2009; Battelle, 2011). Where the formation contains thick shales, shaly facies commonly exhibit permeabilities of 10-5 mD (Sminchak, 2012), which is adequate for the unit to be considered a primary confining layer (seal). The top of this confining layer is 2,000 ft deeper than the minimum depth required for stable supercritical CO₂ conditions in the study area.

Cambrian-Ordovician Knox Supergroup

The Knox Supergroup overlies the Eau Claire Formation. In this part of the Illinois Basin, the Knox is divided into a series of dolomite units, from top to bottom: the Shakopee Dolomite, Oneota Dolomite, and Potosi Dolomite (Treworgy and Whitaker, 1990; Greb and Solis, 2009; Greb, 2017). A sandstone or quartzose dolomite unit equivalent to the Gunter Sandstone or an unnamed Shakopee sandstone occurs locally at or near the base of the Shakopee Dolomite but is generally thin. This sandstone was 16 encountered in the East Bend Duke Energy well (Battelle, 2011). The top of the Knox is a regional erosional unconformity that formed when the region was uplifted above sea level during the Early Ordovician. Hence, the upper part of the Shakopee Dolomite is progressively truncated eastward in the study area. The Knox is approximately 2,800 ft thick in the study area (Figure 10).

Knox dolomites are commonly tight, low-permeability units. However, they may also contain thin intervals with fracture and/or vuggy porosity which can act as local reservoirs (Greb and Solis, 2009; Lasemi and Askari, 2024; Leetaru et al., 2014). The Knox is used in other parts of the basin for brine disposal (Keller and Abdulkareem, 1980; Greb et al., 2009). Also, sandstones in the Knox can have reservoir potential. The Gunter or Shakopee sandstone near the base of the Shakopee Dolomite was successfully tested for CO₂ injection at the KGS No. 1 Blan well in Hancock County, Kentucky, approximately 52 mi west of Cane Run (Bowersox et al., 2016).

Porous zones in the Knox have also been used for natural-gas storage by LG&E near the study area, in the Ballardsville and Eagle Creek storage fields in Grant and Oldham Counties, respectively (Greb and Solis, 2009). These storage fields are now abandoned but are too shallow for CO₂ storage.

In the study area, the upper limit for CO₂ in a supercritical phase (2,600-ft depth) lies within the Shakopee Dolomite of the Knox Supergroup. The unit would have to be cored and tested to determine if it would be a secondary confining interval above the Eau Claire or if it has local reservoirs. For this preliminary assessment, we did not consider the lower part of the Knox (below 2,600-ft depth) to be a viable injection target, because there is not a thick shale that would be considered a reliable sealing interval (containment zone) above the Eau Claire that is also below the 2,600-ft depth limit (although low-permeability Knox carbonates could offer secondary confining properties).

Because the elevations at the top of the Knox Supergroup are well above the minimum depth limit, it is the shallowest interval mapped in this evaluation. Many more wells have been drilled to the top of the Knox than to the deeper horizons, and thus more data are available for the Knox structure map (Figure 8). The Knox dips to the west, with the projected top of the Knox at about −1,350 ft subsea (1,770-ft depth) at the Cane Run facility.

The Knox isopach map (Figure 9) shows that the unit thins by more than 300 ft from southwest to northeast across the radius of the study-area. This thinning is primarily caused by erosional truncation at the top of the Knox section (sub-St. Peter Sandstone unconformity). This thinning is also illustrated in the regional cross section (Figure 11). The Knox Supergroup is interpreted to be around 2,820 ft thick at Cane Run.

Near-surface Formations

A series of Ordovician through Mississippian strata lie above the Knox Supergroup rocks at Cane Run. The Ordovician Black River Group (Kepferle, 1974) consists of limestones, minor dolomite, and interbedded shales that generally have low permeability (unless fractured) and could form a shallow secondary confining zone for CO2 injected into the deeper Mount Simon Sandstone (Harris and Hickman, 2013). However, all are above the 2,600-ft CO₂ storage depth. In addition, above the Lexington Limestone lies ~ 250 ft of Upper Ordovician shale and 37 ft of Devonian shale (Figure 11). These clayrich shales have low porosity and permeability, creating shallow, tertiary seals for any potentially leaked CO₂, although shallow units may fall within the zone of near-surface fracturing.

Deep Faults and Available Seismic Data

The only seismic data in the Kentucky Geological Survey inventory for the study area is one proprietary line running east-west in Floyd and Harrison Counties, Indiana, which was acquired by Vastar Energy in 1994 (Figure 1). This line shows flat-lying strata with no resolvable faults in the study area around Cane Run. Three faults have been mapped at the surface within the radius of the study area: one in Bullitt County, Kentucky, one in Floyd County, Indiana, and one in Harrison County, Indiana (Figure 10, Figure 11). All three of these unnamed faults are located near the edge of the study area and are all less than 4.6 mi in length. Because of these short lateral lengths, it is highly unlikely that their fault offsets or deformations penetrate either the seal (Eau Claire Formation shale) or the intended reservoir interval (Mount Simon Sandstone). Seismic data would likely have to be obtained at any future injection site to confirm that there are not unmapped faults in the study area.

Reservoir Quality and Injection Zone Thickness

In order to estimate an initial potential carbon sequestration capacity for the study area, average porosity and thickness of the storage zone need to be estimated. Reasonable estimates for porosity and net injection zone thickness were calculated from nearby wells. Data from the DuPont #1WAD well were especially helpful, since quality well logs and core data are available from this well, which was drilled just 3.5 mi northeast of the Cane Run facility.

The reservoir zone (Mount Simon Sandstone) below the Cane Run facility is estimated to be about 847 ft thick, laying at a depth of 5,088–5,935 ft below the surface (Figure 12, Figure 13). On the eastern edge of the Illinois Basin, along the Ohio River, the Mount Simon directly overlies the Precambrian Basement, (e.g., Greb and Solis, 2009). Although the entire Mount Simon 843-ft-thick interval appears to be mostly sandstone on available well logs, minor variabilities in porosity and permeability (related to grain size and facies changes) can exist at a local scale and are evident in the geophysical well logs acquired from the DuPont well. As in many sandstones, in addition to porosity variations due to local facies changes, porosity in the Mount Simon Sandstone also decreases with increasing burial depth. This is primarily because of cementation and compaction and is a result of increased temperature, pressure, and the amount of time the rocks have been buried. A substantial set of Mount Simon porosity and permeability data from across the Midwest was published by Medina et al. (2011), in which they reported a dramatic decrease in porosity at depths greater than 7,000 ft. Fortunately for the Cane Run location, the entire reservoir is at depths less than 6,000 ft, so these effects should be minimal. Site-specific data would be needed to confirm porosity and permeability for the reservoir.

This reservoir is capped by an estimated 589 ft of low permeability, clay-rich marine shale and siltstones of the Eau Claire Formation (Figure 12). Although only sampling 34 ft within the upper Eau Claire Formation interval, all 36 core plugs in this unit resulted in < 0.1 millidarcies of vertical permeability, indicating quality sealing properties (KGS Well Record #11169). The high percentage of clays in the Eau Claire Formation also make through-going fractures (breaching the seal) highly unlikely, so the ~ 70% seal-to-reservoir thickness ratio estimated to be present at the Cane Run location based on available data should be more than sufficient for an adequate seal of a potential Mount Simon Sandstone CO₂ reservoir. Site-specific data would be needed to confirm the Eau Claire’s confining properties.

Core measurements are the most accurate method of determining porosity and permeability for a subsurface rock unit, but geophysical porosity logs can also provide a continuous estimate of porosity for a unit. Then, permeability can be estimated from log porosity based on porosity vs. permeability relationships developed from known core data from the Mount Simon Sandstone. Core-derived porosity and permeability data for the Mount Simon are available from cores of the DuPont #1WAD well, but unfortunately, only 35 ft of the 843-ft-thick Mount Simon were cored by DuPont in 1971. Therefore, both well log and core porosity data were used to estimate porosity at Cane Run.

The log-based average porosity of the Mount Simon was calculated using both bulk-density logs and neutron-porosity logs. After correcting for a sandstone lithology with an elevated percentage of potassium feldspar silt content found in the Mount Simon (which reduces bulk-density measurements and elevates gamma-ray responses relative to a pure quartz sandstone), porosities from each method were calculated for every 0.5 ft of the Mount Simon interval using IHS Petra petrophysical software. This resulted in an average porosity across the 847-ft-thick interval of 7.4%, with the majority of the results within range of 3–12%. DuPont drilled one core in the Mount Simon interval (Core #15, 5,718–5,748-ft depth). There is some variation in the porosity measurements from the #1WAD core (< 3 to 9.4%), but they are within the same range and appear to agree with the calculated values from the log responses. Therefore, for the initial capacity calculations (Table 1) made herein, an average porosity of 7.4% with a standard deviation of 3.5% was used.

CO₂ Capacity Calculations

Carbon dioxide capacity calculations in this study utilize the methods described by Goodman et al. (2016). Specifically, the software CO₂-SCREEN (v.5.0) from the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory was used.

The potential Mount Simon reservoir is not confined laterally within the study area and so is considered an “open system,” in that injection pressure can dissipate as injected liquid migrates away from the borehole. In a gross sense, the unit is fairly homogenous with no dramatic lithology changes or internal baffles, so it was treated as a single volume. No oil shows have been reported within the Mount Simon in the region, so the pore fluids within Mount Simon porosity will be modeled as saline brine. Therefore, in CO₂-SCREEN, an “open system, saline 1-grid” model was run. Analyses of the Mount Simon from deeper in the Illinois Basin to the west (Freiburg et al., 2022) indicate that the Mount Simon deposition occurred in both shallow marine (beach) and fluvial (river) environments. Because of this, calculations within CO2-SCREEN were performed for both modeled situations. See Tables 1 and 2 for more information.

A center depth of 5,500 ft was used to calculate physical parameters for the Mount Simon. Using geothermal and pressure gradients appropriate for central Kentucky (Bowersox et al., 2016), a reservoir temperature of 118°F (48°C) and a reservoir pressure of 3,190 psi (22 MPa) were calculated. Due to variations in depth, lithology, etc., for the model inputs, we estimated standard deviations of 9°F (5°C) and 290 psi (2 MPa), respectively.

Volumetric calculations were performed using CO₂-SCREEN for two different areal extents (local and regional scales) and five different injection durations (1, 5, 10, 20, and 30 years). For the regional scale evaluation, a study area with a 12.4-mi (20-km) radius centered on the Cane Run facility was used (see blue circle in Figure 1). Because of the larger study area (485 mi2 ), the anticipated uncertainty in the reservoir gross thickness and net-to-total area values are higher than for the smaller, local area assessment, but all other input values remained equal (Table 1). Note that the larger regional area includes parts of two Kentucky counties and three Indiana counties, possibly complicating pore-space ownership issues. This study did not evaluate any legal or financial aspects of utilizing this site for either a local or regional scale scenario.

The local area assessment estimated the capacity for carbon sequestration within the Cane Run Station’s property footprint. For its calculations, the CO₂-SCREEN software assumes a simple, right cylinder reservoir shape. To approximate such a volume within the boundaries of the Cane Run property, a circular 26 area with a radius of ~ 2,297 ft (0.7 km) was defined to maximize the useable area without crossing surface-owner property, county, or state boundaries (Figure 14).

The storage capacity equations used in CO₂-SCREEN include efficiency factors, which reduce the CO₂ storage capacity. This factor is applied because the available pore volume is never completely saturated with CO₂ because of fluid characteristics and geologic variability within the reservoir. The software uses P10 and P90 values to define the statistical envelope of values for a Monte Carlo simulation. The P10 and P90 values are entered as a value between zero and one (where 0.01 represents 0%, and 0.99 represents a 100% value). Although there is limited data available at reservoir depths, geologically realistic values were interpreted for this interval and are displayed in Table 2. The application of efficiency factors 27 significantly reduces the calculated storage capacities but is necessary to determine reasonable volume estimates. The results for multiple scenarios are displayed in Figure 15, Figure 16, Table 3 and in the Executive Summary. Values range from only 670,000 tons of CO₂ (P10 after 1 year of injection into shallow marine sandstones under the Cane Run facility’s 0.6-mi2 (1.54-km2) property footprint) to 4,616,000,000 tons (P90 after 30 years of injection into fluvial sandstones with 485 mi2 (1,256 km2). This range of nearly four orders of magnitude in predicted storage resource volumes is partly due to the lack of deep well data needed to accurately model the stratigraphic variability of the Mount Simon reservoir.

The potential for induced seismicity from large-scale injections must also be considered in estimations of carbon storage potential in Mount Simon sandstone reservoirs in the region. Induced seismicity is a concern in any carbon storage project. In recent Illinois Basin Mount Simon injections near Decatur, Illinois, the potential for induced seismicity was mitigated by not using the lower Mount Simon Sandstone that was in direct contact with underlying Precambrian rocks as a reservoir (Williams-Stroud et al., 2020). Injecting into only the upper part of the Mount Simon at the Cane Run study site would decrease the overall potential storage volume, but may reduce the risk of induced seismicity. Acquiring a 3D seismic survey of the reservoir at and around Cane Run to identify possible unknown and unmapped subsurface faults is recommended prior to industrial-scale injection activities to alleviate the concern for induced seismicity.

Conclusions

Cane Run Station has potential for geologic storage of CO₂ beneath the property. The Mount Simon Sandstone is likely the only formation beneath the surface in the study area that would have suitable porosity and permeability at the depths required for supercritical-phase sequestration. Excellent confinement for injected CO₂ would likely be provided by the Eau Claire Formation, which is more than 500 ft thick and contains thick shale intervals in available downhole logs in the region. However, local geologic data control for the reservoir is limited, with only one well penetrating the reservoir interval within a 20-km radius (the DuPont #1WAD well). Because of the limited data, the estimates provided herein should be regarded as very preliminary. Site-specific downhole well data would be needed for more accurate assessments of the reservoirs and seals.

Volumetric statistics calculated by the CO₂-SCREEN software for the two Cane Run Station study areas are listed in Table 2. Although the Mount Simon thins to the northeast towards Cincinnati (Figure 4), the unit is also closer to the surface at the top of the Cincinnati Arch. There is less overburden compressing 30 the reservoir at shallow depths, so average porosities will be higher, increasing injection potential. Because of this aspect, it may be possible to move upstream along the Ohio River towards Cincinnati and find alternate sites to drill injection wells down to the Mount Simon that would result in increased storage volumes from the increased porosity, despite the thinner interval of Mount Simon located in the region.

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Executive Summary - Geologic CO₂ Sequestration

Power Plant: Cane Run

County: Jefferson, Kentucky

Geologic Basin: Cincinnati Arch

Data Quality:

Distance to nearest well control in reservoir: 3.5 mi

Wells to primary injection zone within 12.4-mi radius: 1

Distance to nearest core in injection zone: 3.5 mi

Reservoirs:

Primary injection zone: Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone

Rock lithology: sandstone (quartz arenite)

Drilling depth at plant site: 5,088 ft

Trapping mechanism: regional dip (capillary and solution trapping)

Maximum reservoir pressure: 3,190 psi

Reservoir temperature: 48°C

Salinity of reservoir fluid: 200,000 ppm (estimated)

Reservoir thickness: 847 ft

Average porosity: 7.4 percent

Secondary injection zone: none at this site

Confinement and Integrity:

Primary confining zone: Cambrian Eau Claire Shale

Rock type: shale and dolomitic siltstone

Thickness of primary confining zone: 589 ft

Height above primary injection zone: 0 (overlies injection zone)

Penetrations of primary seal within 12.4-mi radius: 1

Secondary confining zone: Ordovician Black River Group

Rock lithology: micritic limestone

Thickness of secondary confining zone: 604 ft

Height above primary injection zone: 3,366 ft

Penetrations of secondary seal within 12.4-mi radius: 10

Number of faults cutting primary seal within 12.4-mi radius: 0

Distance to nearest mapped fault: 9.3 mi

Storage Capacity:

Calculated CO2 storage capacity, primary injection zone: Table 3

Data compiled and interpreted from well records maintained by the Kentucky Geological Survey.