Name and Location
Pilot carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage project (PCSP), South Africa.

Client
The South African Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage, a division of the South African National Energy Development Institute, which reports to the Department of Energy.

Project Description
The project entails the development of a PCSP that will demonstrate the potential viability of long-term CO₂ storage in deep underground geological basins.

Significant financial resources have been set aside for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and will increase as the scope of the PCSP develops.

If successful, the 10 000 t to 50 000 t PCSP will be followed by a larger-scale 100 000 t CO₂ CCS demonstration plant in 2020, which will be in preparation of a full-scale one-million-ton CO₂ commercial CCS plant by 2025.

The stored CO₂ will be monitored to determine if there is any migration of CO₂ through the sandstone in the basins or leaking through the caprock.

Porous sandstone, overlain with nonporous caprock, such as shale, both of which are sedimentary rocks, is the required criterion for a potential CO₂ storage pilot site.

Value
The project has been granted R197-million over three years.

Duration
The pilot project aims to start injection by 2017.

Latest Developments
The current sites under investigation for the PCSP are onshore portions of the Zululand basin, in KwaZulu-Natal, and the Algoa basin, in the Eastern Cape.

Although the site for the PCSP is onshore, it is expected that the demonstration and full-scale plant will need to store the CO2 in an offshore geological basin.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
South African National Energy Development Institute, tel +27 10 201 4800, fax +27 10 201 4820 or email information@sanedi.org.za.