Estimating geological CO2 storage security to deliver on climate mitigation

Alcalde, Juan; Flude, Stephanie; Wilkinson, Mark; Johnson, Gareth; Edlmann, Katriona; Bond, Clare E.; Scott, Vivian; Gilfillan, Stuart; Ogaya, Xènia; Haszeldine, R.

doi:10.31223/osf.io/x59qg

Cited by 25 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…1): the lithosphere, by geological sequestration into reservoirs such as saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas reservoirs, or by mineralization into rocks; the biosphere, in trees, soils and the human-built environment; or the hydrosphere, with storage in the deep oceans. Geological storage, when executed correctly, is considered to be more permanent 22 than storage in the biosphere, which is shorter and subject to human and natural disturbances 23 such as wildfires and pests, as well as changes in climate 24 . However, even 'closed' pathways do not offer completely permanent storage over geological timescales (more than 100,000 years 25 ), which gives rise to intergenerational ethical questions 26 .…”

Section: Co 2 Utilization and The Carbon Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

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The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal

Hepburn

Adlen

Beddington

et al. 2019

Nature

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processes. Biological or land-based forms of CO 2 utilization can generate economic value in the form of, for example, wood products for buildings, increased plant yields from enhanced soil carbon uptake, and even the production of biofuel and bio-derived chemicals. We use this broader definition deliberately; by thinking functionally, rather than narrowly about specific processes, we hope to promote dialogue across scientific fields, compare costs and benefits across pathways, and consider common techno-economic characteristics across pathways that could potentially assist in the identification of routes towards the mitigation of climate change. In this Perspective, we consider a non-exhaustive selection of ten CO 2 utilization pathways and provide a transparent assessment of the potential scale and cost for each one. The ten pathways are as follows: (1) CO 2-based chemical products, including polymers; (2) CO 2-based fuels; (3) microalgae fuels and other microalgae products; (4) concrete building materials; (5) CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (CO 2-EOR); (6) bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS); (7) enhanced weathering; (8) forestry techniques, including afforestation/reforestation, forest management and wood products; (9) land management via soil carbon sequestration techniques; and (10) biochar. These ten CO 2 utilization pathways can also be characterized as 'cycling', 'closed' and 'open' utilization pathways (Fig. 1, Table 1, Supplementary Materials). For instance, many (but not all) conventional industrial utilization pathways-such as CO 2-based fuels and chemicals-tend to be 'cycling': they move carbon through industrial systems over timescales of days, weeks or months. Such pathways do not provide net CO 2 removal from the atmosphere, but they can reduce emissions via industrial CO 2 capture that displaces fossil fuel use. By contrast, 'closed' pathways involve utilization and nearpermanent CO 2 storage, such as in the lithosphere (via CO 2-EOR or BECCS), in the deep ocean (via terrestrial enhanced weathering) or in mineralized carbon in the built and natural environments. Finally, 'open' pathways tend to be based in biological systems,

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Section: Co 2 Utilization and The Carbon Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Storage durations represent best-case scenarios. For instance, in CO 2 -EOR, if the well is operated with complete recycle, the CO 2 is trapped and can be stored on a timescale of centuries or more22 . This is also relevant only for conventional operations.…”

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confidence: 99%

The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal

Hepburn

Adlen

Beddington

et al. 2019

Nature

1,424

813

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“…The injection and storage of CO2 into deep saline aquifers could make a significant contribution to reducing global greenhouse emissions (Bachu and Adams, 2003;Benson and Cole, 2008;Edlmann et al, 2015;Heinemann et al, 2018;IEA, 2004;Koide et al, 1992;Metz, Davidson, de Coninck, 2005). Current field experience (Alcalde et al, 2017;Hosa et al, 2011) suggests that a single well can inject in excess of 1MT of CO2 per year with numerical simulations indicating that during constant CO2 injection, these injectivity rates can be maintained (Heath et al, 2014;Jikich et al, 2003;Rutqvist et al, 2008;Zoback and Gorelick, 2012). However, due to multiple input sources of CO2, alternating CO2 / brine injection strategies, periodic injection and varying injection rates along with well maintenance and workovers, a constant maintained injection strategy over a ~30 year project lifetime is unlikely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cyclic CO2 – H2O injection and residual trapping: Implications for CO2 injection efficiency and storage security

Edlmann

Hinchliffe

Heinemann

et al. 2019

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

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To meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 2ºC or below it is widely accepted that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will have to be deployed at scale. For the first time, experiments have been undertaken over six cycles of water and supercritical CO2 injection using a state of the art high flow rig recreating in-situ conditions of near wellbore injection into analogue storage reservoir rocks. The results show that differential pressure continuously increases over multiple injection cycles. Our interpretation is that multiple cycles of injection result in a reduced effective permeability due to increased residual trapping acting as a barrier to flow resulting in reduced injectivity. This is supported by numerical modelling and field observations that show CO2 injectivity and its variation over time will be affected by multiple cycles of injection. These results suggest that loss of injectivity must be incorporated into the injection strategy and that careful management of cyclic injection will create the opportunity to increase residual trapping.

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“…That is, we assume that 100% of the leaked CO2 seeps to surface. However CO2 will be attenuated during ascent to surface, through processes such as residual trapping, mineralization and dissolution, and the degree of attenuation will depend on a number of factors including the CO2 leak pathway, the medium the CO2 encounters, presence of secondary reservoirs, the flow rate and flow baffles [4]. Even in the near surface, significant CO2 dispersion and loss can occur, as CO2 release experiments have demonstrated [33].…”

Section: Seep Rates In the Context Of Ccsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…cement, steel), or for bioenergy and CCS (BECCS) which offers sustained net negative emissions. Concerns about leakage of CO2, either as a free phase or as a dissolved constituent of formation waters, threaten the viability of CCS as an effective climate mitigation technology, despite significant leakage being very unlikely [4]. However, given the scale of geological uncertainty in the nature of and location of potential leakage pathways and the required performance lifetime of a CO2 store (thousands of years), it is not possible to eradicate the risk of leakage altogether [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Have We Learnt About CO2 Leakage in the Context of Commercial-Scale CCS?

et al. 2018

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The viability of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) depends on the reliable containment of injected CO2 in the subsurface. Robust and cost-effective approaches to measure monitor and verify CO2 containment are required to demonstrate that CO2 has not breached the reservoir, and to comply with CCS regulations. This includes capability to detect and quantify any potential leakage to surface. It is useful to consider the range of possible leak rates for potential CO2 leak pathways from an intended storage reservoir to surface to inform the design of effective monitoring approaches. However, in the absence of a portfolio of leakage from engineered CO2 stores we must instead learn from industrial and natural analogues, numerical models, and laboratory and field experiments that have intentionally released CO2 into the shallow subsurface to simulate a CO2 leak to surface. We collated a global dataset of measured or estimated CO2 flux (CO2 emission per unit area) and CO2 leak rate from industrial and natural analogues and field experiments. We then examined the dataset to compare emission and flux rates and seep style, and consider the measured emission rates in the context of commercial scale CCS operations. We find that natural and industrial analogues show very wide variation in the scale of CO2 emissions, and tend to be larger than leaks simulated by CO2 release experiments. For all analogue types (natural, industrial, or experiment) the emission rates show greater variation between sites than CO2 flux rates. Quantitation approaches are non-standardized, and that measuring and reporting both the CO2 flux and seep rate is rare as it remains challenging, particularly in marine environments. Finally, we observe that CO2 fluxes tend to be associated with particular emission characteristics (vent, diffuse, or water-associated). We propose that characteristics could inform the design and performance requirements for CO2 leak monitoring approaches tailored to detect specific emission styles.

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Estimating geological CO2 storage security to deliver on climate mitigation

Cited by 25 publications

References 34 publications

The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal

The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal

Cyclic CO2 – H2O injection and residual trapping: Implications for CO2 injection efficiency and storage security

What Have We Learnt About CO2 Leakage in the Context of Commercial-Scale CCS?

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