Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, have received funding for a four-year study of the leakage potential of CO2 storage sites in the North Sea, Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage announced Wednesday. “Their findings will help to provide the tools for selecting the most suitable CO₂ storage sites as part of the large-scale development of carbon capture and storage, a key climate change technology. These tools could also greatly expand the potential for CO₂ storage worldwide,” according to an SCCS release.
The research team will look specifically at fault zones and how they might affect the pathways in which CO2 flows. “We will construct simplified models of flow along layered strata with cross-cutting faults, alongside our partners’ laboratory analogue experiments, in order to constrain the effect of geological complexity on the fate of CO₂ leaking from a subsurface storage site,” geological engineer Zoe Shipton, who will lead the study, said in the release.
The University of Strathclyde scientists are teaming up with colleagues from the University of Cambridge, Imperial College, and the British Geological Survey.
The funding, totaling £221,199, was awarded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
