Utah carbon experts in Bejing for tech summit

SALT LAKE CITY — Experts in carbon capture and storage from Utah and China are meeting Tuesday in Beijing for the first Sino-U.S. summit on the emerging technology.

The one-day conference is organized by the University of Utah's Energy and Geoscience Institute, the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative, Brigham Young University, Sustainable Energy Solutions and Beijing Jiaotong University.

Carbon capture and storage is a methodology for capturing and permanently isolating gases that otherwise may contribute to global climate change.

Advances in sequestration approaches could offer a way to stabilize atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide while allowing the U.S. and other countries to extend the use of current energy infrastructure, a news release stated.

Representatives from EGI, BYU and USTAR will make presentations on topics ranging from the technology of carbon dioxide capture to the modeling, monitoring and risk control of storage. Counterparts from the China Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Energy Bureau, Engineering Academy and several Chinese universities will also make presentations at the conference.

"The U.S. and China produce the largest emissions of carbon dioxide worldwide, and we can benefit from further collaboration to make large-scale capture and sequestration viable on a global basis," said Brian J. McPherson, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah and a USTAR researcher.

Other Utah experts speaking at the conference include Larry Baxter, BYU professor of chemical engineering, and Alan Walker, USTAR eastern region technology outreach director.

"In Utah, we've got best practices to share in modeling, risk assessment and other areas, and this conference will provide better visibility into the current state of Chinese science and technology," Walker said.

The organizations involved in this summit have tremendous capabilities that will be significantly enhanced through joint research and by a collaborative approach, said Baxter.

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com