Ghanaian Petroleum Engineer Wins $17.5 million Grant from the US Department of Energy

A Ghanaian Petroleum Engineering researcher, at the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology (NMT) in the US has been awarded a $17.5 million grant by the US Department of Energy to study carbon storage in a geological complex in Northwest New Mexico. Dr Ampomah, the project’s lead investigator received his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from KNUST, Ghana and his masters/PhD in petroleum engineering from NMT.

Speaking on the award of the grant, Dr Ampomah who is also a section head at the Petroleum Recovery Research Centre (PRRC) said, “It is exciting for me personally and for the team to successfully secure this funding”. “It’s a great news for the team to work and contribute to the sustainability of the San Juan Generating Station, a nearby 847 MW coal-fired electricity generation plant. This funding opportunity will assist researchers at New Mexico Tech to support staff and student research. The award was very competitive considering we were coming late in the game. It wouldn’t have been possible without the supporting letters we received from many local entities in the San Juan area and industrial partners.” He expressed his sincere gratitude to all the partners on the application.

The grant will be utilized to complete the detailed site characterization and CO2 capture assessment needed to obtain permits for a planned integrated carbon capture and storage program at the San Juan Generating Station. It is part of the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) initiative. The goal of the CarbonSAFE program is to accelerate commercial-scale use of carbon capture and storage technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere from industrial and power generation sources such as this power plant. The data and analyses produced under the agreement will be used to prepare, submit and attain a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency to potentially construct a CO2 injection well that would allow for geologic sequestration of 50 million metric tons of CO2 at a site near the power plant. The grant was awarded under the Department of Energy Funding Opportunity Announcement.

In 2019, he championed NMT’s collaboration project with KNUST-Kumasi and UENR-Sunyani. His team made an official trip to Ghana in April, 2019 to visit these universities.