Storing CO2 in buried volcanoes
Simon Holford A D , Nick Schofield B , Mark Bunch A , Alan Bischoff C and Ernest Swierczek AA Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
B Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, Scotland.
C School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
D Corresponding author. Email: simon.holford@adelaide.edu.au
The APPEA Journal 61(2) 626-631 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20056
Accepted: 4 March 2021 Published: 2 July 2021
Abstract
Australia contains rich natural gas resources, but many of Australia’s currently producing and undeveloped gas fields contain relatively high CO2 contents; if not captured and stored, the venting of co-produced CO2 could hinder efforts to meet Australia’s emission reduction targets. The most mature technology for isolating produced CO2 from the atmosphere is by containing it in deep sedimentary formations (e.g. saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas reservoirs). The effectiveness of this approach is dependent on factors such as reservoir capacity, the presence of low-permeability seals that physically impede vertical migration of injected CO2, the chemical reactivity of both reservoir and seal minerals, the risk for leakage, and a gas-entrapping structure. An alternative and attractive mechanism for permanent storage of CO2 is geochemical or mineral trapping, which involves long-term reactions of CO2 with host rocks and the formation of stable carbonate minerals that fill the porosity of the host rock reservoir. Natural mineral carbonation is most efficient in mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks, due to their high reactivity with CO2. Here we review the outcomes from a series of recent pilot projects in Iceland and the United States that have demonstrated high potential for rapid, permanent storage of CO2 in basalt reservoirs, and explore the practicalities of geochemical trapping of CO2 in deeply buried basaltic volcanoes and lava fields, which are found in many basins along the southern (e.g. Gippsland Basin) and northwestern (e.g. Browse Basin) Australian margins, often in close proximity to natural gas fields with high CO2 content.
Keywords: CCS, CO2, reservoirs, basalts, buried volcanoes.
Simon Holford is an associate professor of petroleum geoscience at the University of Adelaide’s Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources. He has published ~100 papers on the prospectivity and tectonics of rifted margins, petroleum geomechanics, and magmatism in basins. He has successfully supervised ~15 PhD students and ~60 Honours and Masters students. He has a PhD from the University of Birmingham and a BSc(Hons) from Keele University. He has won multiple awards, including Best Paper prizes at APPEA 2012 and AEGC 2019, and the Geological Society of Australia’s Walter Howchin and ES Hills medals. |
Nick Schofield is a Reader in Igneous and Petroleum Geology at the University of Aberdeen. He gained his undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Edinburgh, before undertaking a PhD at the University of Birmingham investigating the emplacement of sill intrusions. He has worked and published extensively on intrusive and extrusive volcanism within sedimentary basins globally and works closely with the petroleum industry on igneous-related aspects of the subsurface. |
Mark Bunch is a senior lecturer in petroleum geoscience at the Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources, University of Adelaide. He graduated with a BSc-Hons from Durham University in 2000, before completing an MSc in 2001 and then a PhD in 2006 at the University of Birmingham. His research interests include the application of AI and machine learning to petroleum industry problems, formation evaluation, and seismic geomorphology. He is a member of AAPG, ASEG, and PESA. |
Alan Bischoff is an energy geoscientist in the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research spans a set of complementary disciplines including seismic reflection interpretation, basin analysis, stratigraphy, sedimentology, volcanology, and tectonics. Since completing his geology course in 2004, Alan has been undertaking research with both industry and academic institutions to promote cutting-edge technology in the field of geoenergy. For the past 6 years, Alan has been studying the impacts of magmatism on sedimentary basins and the potential of volcanic systems to form and host geoenergy resources such as geothermal heat, oil and gas, CO2, and hydrogen in volcanic and sedimentary rocks. |
Ernest Swierczek is a geoscientist with research interests in the integration of geological and geophysical data to build valid structural models. He holds an MSc in petroleum geoscience from the AGH University of Science and Technology (Poland) and is working towards his PhD from the University of Adelaide. He has broad experience working in geophysical consultancy for carbon capture and storage, and conventional and unconventional resources. Between 2018 and 2020 he worked as a Research Scientist at the CSIRO Energy team, and now currently works as structural modelling geologist at BHP in Brisbane. |
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