A techno-economic approach for capacity assessment and ranking of potential options for geological storage of CO2 in Austria

© 2016, Geologica Belgica. All rights reserved. Carbon dioxide capture and geological storage (CCS) is a means to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper shows an application to the Austrian context of a newly developed methodology for the assessment of geological reservoirs, based on expert opinions on the Schönkirchen Tief, Höflein, Schönkirchen Übertief, Reyersdorfer Dolomite, Aderklaa, Atzbach-Schwanenstadt and Voitsdorf reservoirs. Because of a lack in reservoir-specific research for the storage of CO, large uncertainties on the behaviour and use of the Austrian reservoirs exist. Therefore the potential of the reservoirs remains unknown. 2 Geological, technological and economic simulations are performed which integrate different uncertainties. The results show that there is a significant potential for CO storage in Austria. The total practical and matched capacity for Austria is assessed at about 120 and 40 MtCO respectively. An exploration 2 priority ranking, based on reservoir development probability, shows that the Schönkirchen Übertief reservoir 2 has the highest potential for storage and should be a primary target for further exploration.status: publishe