Imperial and partners forge ahead with major carbon cutting project

Scientists talk about $US70 million project to store carbon underground <em>- News</em>

Monday 29 November 2010
By Colin Smith

From carrying out field work in the deserts of Oman to performing complex numerical modelling in the lab, scientists are progressing with a major $US70 million project to reduce carbon emissions by storing carbon dioxide underground.

A team from Imperial College London, Qatar Petroleum and Shell is working on a 10-year Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research (QCCSR) project to store carbon dioxide (CO₂) underground in Qatar in the Middle East. The partners are working to understand the complex geology of carbonate rocks, which hold approximately 50% of the world’s oil and gas reserves.

The QCCSR researchers are devising new methods for storing CO₂safely back in these reservoirs, when the reservoirs become depleted.

In the videos (right), the team discuss the work that they are carrying out and why it is so significant for reducing the environmental impact of fossil fuels.

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At the start of the partnership in 2008, a new facility called the Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre (QCCSRC) was established at Imperial. Since then, researchers at the Centre have been busy working on a range of projects including building state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and complex numerical models to improve their understanding of the behaviour of CO₂ under the extreme pressures and temperatures that it will undergo when it is injected into carbonate rock. The researchers have also been studying the geology of carbonate rocks in the region to understand their formation and structure in more detail in order to determine how they can store CO₂ safely in the future.

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