- Scottish Carbon Capture Storage (SCCS)
- Geosciences
- University of Edinburgh
- Grant Institute
- King's Buildings
- Edinburgh
- EH9 3JW
- UK
- +44 (0) 131 650 4918
CO2 storage security and natural analogues
World wide power generation from the combustion of fossil fuels currently discharges in excess of 11.4 billion tonnes of CO2 per year into the Earth’s atmosphere. Because of the expanded use of fossil fuels, atmospheric CO2 has risen from pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm to a present day value of ~ 365 ppm. This rise in atmospheric CO2 over the last 100 years has also coincided with a warming of the Earth’s surface by ~0.6°C. To help stabilise climate change global emissions of CO2 must be significantly reduced towards pre-industrial levels. In order to achieve this whilst maintaining our current dependence on fossil fuels, mitigating technologies such as CO2 capture and storage must be utilised.
One of the major barriers to the roll out of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is the uncertainty associated with secure geological storage in the earth’s subsurface. To compliment this my main interests in CCS are as follows:
1. Identifying the efficiency of geological trapping mechanisms
2. Investigate migration of CO2 in both the reservoir and overburden
3. Identify potential leakage pathways and rates of leakage
These three areas are intrinsically linked as trapping mechanism efficiency will dictate how much CO2 is available for leakage, whilst migration of CO2 outwith the storage reservoir may be secured by trapping mechanisms or attenuated within structures present in the overburden. The findings of my work have important implications for predictive modelling and monitoring of injected CO2.