The CLEAN project in the context of CO2 storage and enhanced gas recovery

Abstract

R&D project CLEAN in the context of CO 2 storage and enhanced gas recovery Michael Kuhn 1,* , Uwe-Jens Gorke 2 , Jens T Birkholzer 3 , Olaf Kolditz 2,4 Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ - German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstrase 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA TU Dresden, Helmholtzstrase 10, 01062 Dresden, Germany *corresponding author Email: michael.kuehn@gfz-potsdam.de Phone +49 331 288 1594 Fax +49 331 288 1502 Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into the atmosphere have a significant impact on the Earth's carbon cycle. While efforts are made to reduce the release of greenhouse gases via reduced energy consumption, more efficient energy production, and a shift to renewable energy supplies, it is generally expected that fossil fuels will continue to provide a major part of the world’s energy portfolio during the 21 st century (IPCC 2005). This is particularly true for coal which is relatively inexpensive and abundantly available in existing or emerging industrial power houses such as the United States, Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been developed as an interim measure to allow energy production from coal without CO 2 emissions. This currently available technology entails capturing CO 2 from large-scale industrial sources such as coal-fired power plants or cement, steel and petrochemical factories. The captured CO 2 gas is then compressed to a smaller volume, hence higher density, transported in pipelines, and eventually injected for long-term storage into deep geologic formations, such as deep saltwater-bearing aquifers or depleted oil and gas fields (IPCC 2005). Extensive research is currently carried out to (1) improve the technology and efficiency of capturing CO 2 and (2) to ensure the long-term safety of storing CO 2 underground. This volume of “Environmental Earth Sciences” is a Thematic Issue (TI) focusing on the geologic storage aspect of CCS. The idea of a TI as a new type of publication within this series is to assemble manuscripts dealing with a specific topic comprising its state-of-the art, providing recent research results, and discussing future work from an international perspective. This TI is dedicated to the recent progress made in Germany’s CO 2 storage R&D programme GEOTECHNOLOGIEN funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG)