Method puts carbon-capture and storage 'leaks' to test

Researchers at Edinburgh University said they have used the technique to rule out a suspected leak from a CCS storage site in Canada.

It could provide added assurance for future plants and eventually be integrated into plant architecture as part of a remote, closed-loop monitoring system.

‘Geologically speaking, if it [CO₂] is put in the right place, we’re convinced we can keep it there. We’ve got evidence from previous work for 40–60 million years storage from CO₂-rich oil and gas fields,’ said project collaborator Dr Stuart Gilfillan of Edinburgh.

‘There’s always going to be a risk that a small amount of leakage could occur, but it’s a risk that can be managed; what we’re doing with this test is producing a way that you would be able to detect that leakage very early to take steps to remediate it.’

The team’s method is based on the analysis of noble gases such as helium, neon and xenon, which naturally co-occur with CO₂ in defined proportions depending on the original source of the gas.