The U.S. Department of Energy says construction has started on a $207.5 million project to capture carbon dioxide produced by an ethanol plant in Illinois and store it underground.

The Energy Department said construction started Tuesday on the project at Archer Daniels Midland's headquarters in Decatur and carbon storage is expected to start in 2013.

The project is intended to capture 1 million tons of carbon dioxide a year and store it 7,000 feet underground. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas linked to climate change.

The government has provided $141 million. The rest of the financing is private.

ADM also has a smaller, existing carbon-capture project at the site.

The new project is 1 of several other government-backed carbon-capture projects being planned or built around the country.