Carbon Dioxide Storage with Impurities in the UK Southern North Sea (original) (raw)

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is widely accepted as an essential technology for reducing significant quantities of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions from the industrial and energy sectors. The effective implementation of CCS technology would substantially help to mitigate climate change due to the effects of these emissions 1. Currently, there are sets of technologies that are being developed to enhance the capture, transport, storage, and utilisation of CO 2. These technologies will typically advance in a sequence of scaled-up steps, which are basically: (i) bench and laboratory scale, (ii) pilot-scale, (iii) demonstration scale, and finally, (iv) commercial scale 2,3. In the United Kingdom, a significant reduction of emissions is possible if CCS is applied to industrial plants. In 2013, CO 2 accounted for 84.4% of total emissions of greenhouse gas in the UK; with the energy supply, water and waste sector emitting the largest amount, representing 29.5% of total emissions 4. The major potential for long-term storage of CO 2 in the UK is in offshore oil and gas fields; and offshore saline water-bearing aquifers. While the storage of CO 2 in offshore depleted oil and gas reservoirs is viable as such reservoirs guarantee low leakage risk and adequate storage capacity, there are a few concerns that ought to be addressed to encourage commercial scale storage. Most of these concerns are related to site specific issues and they may include: (i) field availability, (ii) suitability of timing for abandonment and storage, (iii) possibility of reusing the infrastructure such as wells and facilities, and (iv) well integrity 5 , etc. On the other hand, generally, saline aquifers are still the most viable amongst all storage options, particularly because of their widespread geographic distribution and they also offer the potential for large scale CO 2 containment 6. However, there are still many issues that need to be addressed to resolve several generic, regional, and site-specific concerns. In the