Subsurface carbon dioxide and hydrogen storage for a sustainable energy future

Abstract

Limiting climate change to less than 1.5 o C would require vast quantities of CO2 storage in subsurface geological formations. Global injection rates projected by integrated assessment models synthesised in IPCC reports are on the order of ten gigatonnes per year by 2050. Industrial experience with megatonne per year storage projects allows us to evaluate the feasibility and potential limitations of a transition to the gigatonne scale. The successes with CO2 have also led to interest in new energy technologies using subsurface fluids, including hydrogen storage underground. We review the role of subsurface CO2 and H2 storage in a sustainable energy transition. We have found that current deployment demonstrates the viability of CO2 storage in a variety of geological, social, economic, and technological contexts, and is making contributions to climate change mitigation today commensurate with the impact of solar photovoltaics in the USA market. The implications of this are that CO2 storage is well positioned to play an important role in the energy transition, and H2 storage may benefit from this experience. However, these are not certain outcomes, with many hurdles -the development of multi-site regional scale storage, viable business models for accelerated deployment, demonstrating environmental sustainability and achieving societal acceptability -yet to be addressed.

Lab on a chip for a low-carbon future

“…1A). [6][7][8][9] Here we outline ways in which LoC systems have provided, and continue to provide, scientific insights to inform effective approaches to geological carbon storage.…”

“…Similar to CO 2 sequestration, subsurface, porous, geological formations like saline aquifers and depleted natural gas reservoirs represent widely available large-scale H 2 storage capacity. 9 Such subsurface porous formations offer large working gas capacities, worldwide distribution, and were therefore recently identified as the most cost-effective H 2 subsurface storage option. 94 However, storage in porous geological formations will cause a variety of effects that impact storage capacity including H 2 migration, leakage, trapping and activation of indigenous microbial metabolic groups (Fig.…”

“…Similar to CO 2 sequestration, subsurface, porous, geological formations like saline aquifers and depleted natural gas reservoirs represent widely available large-scale H 2 storage capacity. 9…”

Environmental risks and opportunities of orphaned oil and gas wells in the United States

“…Analyses of orphaned wells leakage risk and the potential for repurposing orphaned wells as observation or injection/production wells are also needed. Overall, for future geologic storage projects [58], it may be beneficial to prioritize plugging wells close to potential geologic storage formations.…”

Disposal From In Situ Bitumen Recovery Induced the ML 5.6 Peace River Earthquake

“…Thus, induced earthquakes raise questions for effective risk management (Schultz et al, 2021a(Schultz et al, , 2021b. Especially since a climate conscious energy transition requires subsurface injection of CO 2 at scale (Krevor et al, 2023). Therefore, a detailed analysis of the Peace River earthquakes is important for ensuring safe subsurface injection practices moving forward-especially considering the potential for CO 2 storage in Alberta (Zhang et al, 2022).…”