A review of continuous soil gas monitoring related to CCS – Technical advances and lessons learned

Schloemer, Stefan; Furche, Markus; Dumke, Ingolf; Poggenburg, J.; Bahr, Andreas; Seeger, Christian; Vidal, Angelika; Faber, Eckhard

doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2012.08.002

Cited by 44 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…This is a difficult problem as both controlled releases, and natural analogues, indicate that leakage sites might be small and dispersed and so the probability of finding these sites might be very low. Implementing a soil gas survey, for example, may also involve complex negotiations with landowners and be costly and labour-intensive; for this reason, automation has been considered (Schloemer et al, 2013). Atmospheric sensing methods can survey wider areas, although of course signals decline with distance from a source.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large campaigns have been undertaken, and instrumentation and understanding has been refined Bernardo and de Vries, 2011;Klusman, 2003;Risk et al, 2013;Romanak et al, 2013Romanak et al, , 2014Schacht and Jenkins, 2014;Schloemer et al, 2013;Strazisar et al, 2009). Soil gas measurements were important during the "Kerr Affair" at Weyburn.…”

Section: Shallow Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Soil gas sampling instrumentation has been refined to deal with some of these issues, but is hampered by mundane matters such as seasonal flooding by groundwater, or cost of sensors (Bernardo and de Vries, 2011;Schloemer et al, 2013). The wide levels of variability can to some extent be calibrated out by baseline observations that are used to Fig.…”

Section: Shallow Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Groundwater monitoring is described by, amongst others, de Caritat et al (2013), Hortle et al (2011) andIranmanesh et al (2014a,b). The use of soil gas in monitoring various projects is described in Beaubien et al (2013), Romanak et al (2013Romanak et al ( , 2012a, Schacht and Jenkins (2014); Schloemer et al (2013). A very useful review of near-surface gas-based methods is in Klusman (2011).…”

Section: Shallow-focussed Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The state of the art in monitoring and verification—Ten years on

Jenkins

Chadwick

Hovorka

2015

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

182

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a b s t r a c tIn the ten years since publication of the IPCC Special Report on CCS, there has been considerable progress in monitoring and verification (M&V). Numerous injection projects, ranging from small injection pilots to much larger longer-term commercial operations, have been successfully monitored to the satisfaction of regulatory agencies, and technologies have been adapted and implemented to demonstrate containment, conformance, and no environmental impact. In this review we consider M&V chiefly from the perspective of its ability to satisfy stakeholders that these three key requirements are being met. From selected project examples, we show how this was done, and reflect particularly on the nature of the verification process. It is clear that deep-focussed monitoring will deliver the primary requirement to demonstrate conformance and containment and to provide early warning of any deviations from predicted storage behaviour. Progress in seismic imaging, especially offshore, and the remarkable results with InSAR from In Salah are highlights of the past decade. A wide range of shallow monitoring techniques has been tested at many sites, focussing especially on the monitoring of soil gas and groundwater. Quantification of any detected emissions would be required in some jurisdictions to satisfy carbon mitigation targets in the event of leakage to surface: however, given the likely high security of foreseeable storage sites, we suggest that shallow monitoring should focus mainly on assuring against environmental impacts. This reflects the low risk profile of well selected and well operated storage sites and recognizes the over-arching need for monitoring to be directed to specific, measureable risks. In particular, regulatory compliance might usefully involve clearer articulation of leakage scenarios, with this specificity making it possible to demonstrate "no leakage" in a more objective way than is currently the case. We also consider the monitoring issues for CO 2 -EOR, and argue that there are few technical problems in providing assurance that EOR sites are successfully sequestering CO 2 ; the issues lie largely in linking existing oil and gas regulations to new greenhouse gas policy. We foresee that, overall, monitoring technologies will continue to benefit from synergies with oil and gas operations, but that the distinctive regulatory and certification environments for CCS may pose new questions. Overall, while there is clearly scope for technical improvements, more clearly posed requirements, and better communication of monitoring results, we reiterate that this has been a decade of significant achievement that leaves monitoring and verification well placed to serve the wider CCS enterprise.Crown

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shallow Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Shallow Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shallow-focussed Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The state of the art in monitoring and verification—Ten years on

Jenkins

Chadwick

Hovorka

2015

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

182

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In addition, focused sampling strategies (such as at representative or high risk sites), combined with recent developments of autonomous monitoring systems for long-term deployment (Beaubien et al, 2013;Lewicki et al, 2010;Schloemer et al, 2012), have decreased the time and costs of conducting these surveys.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Baseline Surveys of Near-Surface Gas Geochemistry for CCS Monitoring, as Shown from Onshore Case Studies in Northern and Southern Europe

Beaubien

Ruggiero

Annunziatellis

et al. 2014

Oil Gas Sci. Technol. – Rev. IFP Energies nouvelles

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-The monitoring of the integrity of onshore geological carbon capture and storage projects will require an approach that integrates various methods with different spatial and temporal resolutions. One method proven to be quite effective for site assessment, leakage monitoring, and leakage verification is near-surface gas geochemistry, which includes soil gas concentration and gas flux measurements. Anomalous concentrations or fluxes, relative to the natural background values, can indicate the potential occurrence of a leak. However the natural background can be quite variable, especially for CO 2 , due to biological production and accumulation in the soil that changes as a function of soil type, land use, geology, temperature, water content, and various other parameters. To better understand how these parameters influence natural, near-surface background values, and to examine the potential of different sampling strategies as a function of the survey goals, this paper reports results from two highly different case studies, one from northern Europe (Voulund, Denmark) and one from southern Europe (Sulcis, Sardinia, Italy). The small Voulund site, with its homogeneous soil, climate, and topography, was surveyed twice (in fall and in spring) within the EU-funded SiteChar project to examine the effects of different land use practices and seasons on baseline values. Forested land was found to have lower CO 2 concentrations during both campaigns compared to cultivated and heath land, and higher CH 4 values during the spring sampling campaign. Continuous monitoring probes showed much more detail, highlighting seasonal changes in soil gas CO 2 concentrations linked primarily to temperature variations. The much larger Sulcis site, studied within an ENEAfunded project on potential CO 2 -ECBM (Enhanced Coal Bed Methane) deployment, was surveyed at the regional scale and on detailed grids and transects for site assessment purposes. Despite the completely different soil and climate conditions, the statistical distribution of the Sulcis data was similar to that of Voulund. Much higher soil gas CO 2 anomalies were found at this site, however, due to the less permeable sediments (i.e., better water retention and greater gas accumulation) and the warmer temperatures. Detailed surveys at this site highlighted various 2014 DOI: 10.2516 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Oil & Gas Science and Technology -Rev. IFP Energies nouvelles, Vol. 70 (2015), No. 4, pp. 615-633 Ó S.E. Beaubien et al., published by IFP Energies nouvelles,significant anomalies, some of which can be explained by near surface biological processes, whereas others, especially helium anomalies, were more difficult to explain. These results show the utility of baseline surveys, and highlight the need for follow-up studies to...

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