Study: Iowa State researchers look at using ag waste to plug orphan wells, sequester carbon

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In what they are calling a “two-birds-one-stone” approach, researchers at Iowa State University have been exploring whether filling abandoned fossil fuel wells with a “bio-oil” produced from organic material could remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Mark Mba-Wright, professor of mechanical engineering at ISU, said filling old oil and gas wells with oil produced from plant residue like cornstalks and forest debris can help remove carbon from the atmosphere by returning the leftover plants — which contain carbon — to the deep, underground shafts of the wells.

“On the one hand, you have these underutilized waste products. On the other hand, you have abandoned oil wells that need to be plu