The Illinois Basin – Decatur Project is a large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration project located in Decatur, Illinois, USA. In this project, one million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) was captured from an ethanol production facility and successfully injected into a deep saline reservoir over a period of three years. The scale of this project presented an opportunity to explore emerging technologies for effective long-term monitoring of the carbon capture and storage site. This research documents the application of three emerging monitoring techniques: (1) a prototype “open-path” sensor, a method of continuously monitoring atmospheric CO₂ by applying tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy to provide a warning system for personnel safety along pipelines and at wellheads; (2) the Greenhouse Gas Laser Imaging Tomography Experiment (GreenLITE), an automated system for measuring two-dimensional spatial distribution of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations; and (3) periodic aerial imagery, a method of documenting surface-vegetation dynamics to detect vegetative responses to CO₂ leaks. The goal of this work was to assess the advantages and limitations of these monitoring techniques and quantify their reliability over an extended deployment at an active industrial site. These results will aid in determining viability of long-term monitoring on a commercial scale.

伊利诺伊州盆地–迪凯特项目是位于美国伊利诺伊州迪凯特的大型碳捕集与封存示范项​​目。在该项目中，从乙醇生产设施中捕获了100万吨二氧化碳（CO ₂），并在三年内成功注入了深层盐水储层。该项目的规模为探索新兴技术提供了机会，以对碳捕获和封存地点进行有效的长期监控。这项研究记录了三种新兴监测技术的应用：（1）原型“开放路径”传感器，一种连续监测大气CO _2的方法通过使用可调二极管激光吸收光谱技术，为沿管道和井口的人员安全提供预警系统；（2）温室气体激光成像层析成像实验（GreenLITE），一种用于测量大气中CO ₂浓度的二维空间分布的自动化系统；（3）周期性航空影像，一种记录表面植被动态以检测对CO ₂泄漏的营养反应的方法。这项工作的目的是评估这些监视技术的优点和局限性，并通过在活动的工业现场进行扩展部署来量化其可靠性。这些结果将有助于确定以商业规模进行长期监测的可行性。