Feasibility Study for The Setting Up of a Safety System for Monitoring CO2 Storage at Prinos Field, Greece

Geological storage of CO2 in subsurface geological structures can mitigate global warming. A comprehensive safety and monitoring system for CO2 storage has been undertaken for the Prinos hydrocarbon field, offshore northern Greece; a system which can prevent any possible leakage of CO2. This paper presents various monitoring strategies of CO2 subsurface movement in the Prinos reservoir, the results of a simulation of a CO2 leak through a well, an environmental risk assessment study related to the potential leakage of CO2 from the seafloor and an overall economic insight of the system. The results of the simulation of the CO2 leak have shown that CO2 reaches the seabed in the form of gas approximately 13.7 years, from the beginning of injection. From that point onwards the amount of CO2 reaching the seabed increases until it reaches a peak at around 32.9 years. During the injection period, the CO2 plume develops only within the reservoir. During the post-injection period, the CO2 reaches the seabed and develops side branches. These correspond to preferential lateral flow pathways of the CO2 and are more extensive for the dissolved CO2 than for the saturated CO2 gas. For the environmental risk assessment, we set up a model, using ArcGIS software, based on the use of data regarding the speeds of the winds and currents encountered in the region. We also made assumptions related to the flow rate of CO2. Results show that after a period of 10 days from the start of CO2 leakage the CO2 has reached halfway to the continental shores where the "Natura" protected areas are located. CO2 leakage modelling results show CO2 to be initially flowing along a preferential flow direction, which is towards the NE. However, 5 days after the start of leakage of CO2, the CO2 is also flowing towards the ENE. The consequences of a potential CO2 leak are considered spatially limited and the ecosystem is itself capable of recovering. We have tried to determine the costs necessary for the creation of such an integrated CO2 monitoring program both during the CO2 injection phase as well as during permanent storage. The most prevalent solution consists of purchasing both seismic equipment and Echosounder systems as well as privileging a monitoring system, which uses selected boreholes. The necessary period required for monitoring the study area is at least 20 years after the end of the CO2 storage period at Prinos. To the overall monitoring time, we should also add a further 20 years that are required for the injection phase as well as 12 years for the storage phase. The operating costs for monitoring the CO2 amount to 0,38 $/ton CO2 and the total cost for EOR at Prinos amounts to 0,45$/ton CO2

Optimising European supply chains for carbon capture, transport and sequestration, including uncertainty on geological storage availability

Carbon capture and storage is considered a key option for decarbonising the energy sector. However, both the necessity of deploying large-scale infrastructures between the nodes of production and sequestration of CO2, and the uncertainty related to the effective storage availability of sequestration basins still represent major challenges. Here, a mixed integer linear programming approach is proposed for the optimisation of a European supply chain model for carbon capture, transport, and storage. A quantitative assessment of storage uncertainty is incorporated to represent the volumetric capacity of basins to date considered capable of efficiently trapping the anthropogenic CO2 emissions (i.e., deep saline aquifers, hydrocarbon fields and coal fields). The objective is to minimise the total expected cost required to install and operate, over a 10 years\u2019 time horizon, the overall network for carbon capture, transport and storage, while also taking into account the financial risk that is generated by uncertainty in geological capacity. The model defines economically optimal European supply chains, whilst simultaneously minimising the financial risk generated by uncertainty in local sequestration availability to ensure a robust design

A European Optimisation Tool for Carbon Capture and Storage, accounting for Delays in Public Procurement

The global anthropogenic generation of greenhouse gasses experienced an exponential increase compared to pre-industrial levels and, among these, CO2 is the most abundant, with an emission that rose globally from 2 Gt/year in 1850 to over 35 Gt/year in 2010. Carbon capture and storage has been highlighted among the most promising options to decarbonise the energy sector, especially considering the European context which heavily relies on fossil fuels. When dealing with the strategic design and planning of an international carbon capture and storage infrastructure, the necessity of taking into account the differential behaviour among the European countries in terms of public procurement and assignation delays emerges as a key requirement for attaining an effective implementation of the network. This contribution proposes a mixed integer linear programming modelling framework for the economic optimisation of a multinational European carbon capture and storage supply chain, including the effects of countrywide delays in public procurement. Assignation lags are implemented as an additional cost for the installation of the network. Results show that only minor modifications in the supply chain design should be taken into account with respect to an equivalent non-delayed scenario, with a consequent just moderate increase in transport costs (+ 3 %). Moreover, it is shown that capture and sequestration stages are barely not affected by the introduction of assignation lags among countries

Simulation of CO2 leakages during injection and storage in sub-seabed geological formations: Metal mobilization and biota effects

To assess the potential effects on metal mobilization due to leakages of CO2 during its injection and storage in marine systems, an experimental set-up was devised and operated, using the polychaete Hediste diversicolor as the model organism. The objective was to study the effects of such leakage in the expected scenarios of pH values between 8.0 and 6.0. Polychaetes were exposed for 10days to seawater with sediment samples collected in two different coastal areas, one with relatively uncontaminated sediment as reference (RSP) and the other with known contaminated sediment (ML), under pre-determined pH conditions. Survival and metal accumulation (Al, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, As and Hg) in the whole body of H. diversicolor were employed as endpoints. Mortality was significant at the lowest pH level in the sediment with highest metal concentrations. In general, metal concentrations in tissues of individuals exposed to the contaminated sediment were influenced by pH. These results indicate that ocean acidification due to CO2 leakages would provoke increased metal mobilization, causing adverse side effects in sediment toxicity. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.This work was supported by the Junta de Andalucía (Regional Government) under grant reference RNM-3924, and by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under grant reference CTM 2011-2843-CO2-02.Peer Reviewe