The Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative (MRCI) is a broad coalition of partners from research, academia, industry, NGOs, and the US government dedicated to the study, acceleration, acceptance, and deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.
The MRCI combines the expertise of two Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) – the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) led by Battelle and the Midwest Geologic Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) led by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) – which concluded in 2020. From that work, and other commercial and government projects, we have developed vast experience researching CCUS and managing carbon sequestration projects, spending the past 20 years conducting focused research and applying that knowledge to projects in the region.
The project team is co-led by Battelle and the Illinois State Geological Survey, with Dr. Neeraj Gupta and Dr. Sallie Greenberg as respective co-Principal Investigators (each successfully led one of the seven RCSP programs.) They are responsible for the overall technical direction and monitoring of the work with Task Leads, partner relationships, and DOE interactions.
Dr. Gupta, a Senior Research Leader with 25 years of experience in CCUS, including leadership of the MRCSP, provides technical and program development leadership for Battelle’s carbon management and subsurface exploration work.
Dr. Greenberg is Associate Director of the Energy & Minerals Section at ISGS. She was the Principal Investigator (PI) of the MGSC, which led the Phase III Illinois Basin – Decatur Project (IBDP). Dr. Greenberg was the founder of the Sequestration Training and Education Program (STEP).
The primary funding for the MRCI program is from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) under DOE project number DE-FE 0031836 with Mr. William Aljoe as the DOE project manager.
Sponsors

U.S. Department of Energy
(US DOE)

National Energy and Technology Laboratory
(US DOE NETL)
Research Team

Battelle
(Battelle)

Illinois State Geological Survey
(ISGS)

Indiana Geological and Water Survey
(IGWS)

Rutgers University
(Rutgers)

Kentucky Geological Survey
(KGS)

Maryland Geological Survey
MDGS

Ohio Division of Natural Resources
(ODNR/OGS)

Pennsylvania Geological Survey
(DCNR/PAGS)

Western Michigan University
(WMU)

West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
(WVGES)

Iowa Geologic Survey
(IGS)
Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL)

Core Energy LLC
(Core Energy)

CornerPost CO2, LLC
(Cornerpost)

Industrial Economics, Inc
IEc
Industry Partners

Archer Daniels Midland Company
(ADM)

American Electric Power
(AEP)

British Petroleum
(BP)

Babcock and Wilcox
B&W

Consol
(Consol)

Consumers Energy
(Consumers)

DTE Energy
(DTE)

Exxon Mobile
(Exxon)

GeoPetro, LLC
(GeoPetro)

Honda
(Honda)

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
(NRECA)

Peabody Energy
(Peabody)

Southern Company Services, Inc.
(Southern)

Prairie State Generating Company
(PSGC)

Total Group
(Total)

Wabash Valley Resources
(WVR)
Academic Partners

Nebraska Geological Survey
(NGS)

University of Houston’s Center for Carbon Management in Energy
(UH-CCME)

University of Wisconsin
(UW)

Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey
(WGNHS)

Central Michigan University
(CMU)

Deleware Geologic Survey
(DGS)

Massachusetts Geological Survey
(MGS)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT)
NGO Partners

Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
(C2ES)

Clean Air Task Force
(CATF)

ClearPath
(ClearPath)

CO2GeoNet
(CO2GeoNet)

Environmental Defense Fund
(EDF)

Enabling Onshore CO2 Storage in Europe
(ENOS)
