National Physical Properties and Processes Laboratories
Carbon storage
The contribution of fossil-fuel combustion to climate change is one of the most significant environmental issues of our time. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a developing technology aimed at mitigating the impacts of carbon emissions by capturing the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from combustion and storing it long-term in deep geological formations. Geological storage involves injecting CO2, generally in supercritical form, into suitable geological strata such as oil or gas formations, saline aquifers or unminable coal seams, all with requisite impermeable caprocks.
BGS is an international leader in carbon storage research, including:
- characterisation of underground geological reservoirs and caprocks
- experimentation in chemical interactions of CO2 with host rocks
- site monitoring technology and strategies
- technical guidance on carbon storage policy and regulation
The BGS National Physical Properties & Processes Laboratory and National GeoEnvironmental Laboratory provide state-of-the-art facilities for all aspects of carbon storage research.
Selected research
The super-critical CO2 experimental rigDevelopment of the state-of-the-art BGS CO2 experimental rig.
Super-critical CO2 experiments Latest experiments designed to simulate the behaviour of CO2 stored in deep geological reservoirs.
Experiments in fluid-rock interaction Latest BGS laboratory experiments to simulate the behaviour of a deep saline aquifer injected with super-critical CO2.
British CCS researchers present at SET for Britain exhibition Presentations by research scientists from the Nottingham Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage at a House of Commons exhibition.
