Simulation of bench-scale CO injection using a coupled continuum-discrete approach.

Unintended releases of CO from carbon capture and storage operations presents the risk of atmospheric emissions and groundwater or surface water quality impacts. Given the potential impacts, it is valuable to have tools capable of predicting groundwater concentrations and likely pathways of CO migration in the subsurface. Traditional multiphase flow models struggle to simulate the discontinuous flow expected at leakage sites.

Constraining the effectiveness of inherent tracers of captured CO for tracing CO leakage: Demonstration in a controlled release site.

Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO) is an integral component of cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reduction scenarios. However, a robust monitoring regime is necessary for public and regulatory assurance that any leakage from a storage site can be detected. Here, we present the results from a controlled CO release experiment undertaken at the K-COSEM test site (South Korea) with the aim of demonstrating the effectiveness of the inherent tracer fingerprints (noble gases, δC) in monitoring CO leakage.

Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Saline Aquifers: Physicochemical Processes, Key Constraints, and Scale-Up Potential.

CO storage in saline aquifers offers a realistic means of achieving globally significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at the scale of billions of tonnes per year. We review insights into the processes involved using well-documented industrial-scale projects, supported by a range of laboratory analyses, field studies, and flow simulations. The main topics we address are () the significant physicochemical processes, () the factors limiting CO storage capacity, and () the requirements for global scale-up.

Author Correction: 420,000 year assessment of fault leakage rates shows geological carbon storage is secure.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

420,000 year assessment of fault leakage rates shows geological carbon storage is secure.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is routinely cited as a cost effective tool for climate change mitigation. CCS can directly reduce industrial CO emissions and is essential for the retention of CO extracted from the atmosphere. To be effective as a climate change mitigation tool, CO must be securely retained for 10,000 years (10 ka) with a leakage rate of below 0.

Estimating geological CO storage security to deliver on climate mitigation.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) can help nations meet their Paris CO reduction commitments cost-effectively. However, lack of confidence in geologic CO storage security remains a barrier to CCS implementation. Here we present a numerical program that calculates CO storage security and leakage to the atmosphere over 10,000 years.

Inherent Tracers for Carbon Capture and Storage in Sedimentary Formations: Composition and Applications.

Inherent tracers-the "natural" isotopic and trace gas composition of captured CO2 streams-are potentially powerful tracers for use in CCS technology. This review outlines for the first time the expected carbon isotope and noble gas compositions of captured CO2 streams from a range of feedstocks, CO2-generating processes, and carbon capture techniques. The C-isotope composition of captured CO2 will be most strongly controlled by the feedstock, but significant isotope fractionation is possible during capture; noble gas concentrations will be controlled by the capture technique employed.

Solubility trapping in formation water as dominant CO(2) sink in natural gas fields.

Injecting CO(2) into deep geological strata is proposed as a safe and economically favourable means of storing CO(2) captured from industrial point sources. It is difficult, however, to assess the long-term consequences of CO(2) flooding in the subsurface from decadal observations of existing disposal sites. Both the site design and long-term safety modelling critically depend on how and where CO(2) will be stored in the site over its lifetime.