Look Who it Was Random video

CICCS - Investigating the Effects of Carbon Sepage

127 views · Published 3 November 2011 · 4:14 · Indexed 3 October 2026

Channel: University of Nottingham · 2011 · Science & Technology

Watch on YouTube

Study the impact of CO2 on the environment is one of the key factors for the reliable future development of geological storage. 

At the Centre for Innovation in Carbon Capture and Storage (CICCS) a team of researchers are working on laboratory simulation of interaction  between CO2 and hosting rocks and in particular on the rates of the natural conversion of CO2 in minerals. This process is very important allowing a definitive storage of CO2 as solid rock; one of the drawbacks of such reaction is that it is extremely slow requiring from hundreds to thousands of year to convert CO2 in carbonates. Some of the experiments are therefore focused on the use of additives to enhance and speed up the CO2 mineralisation.

In the unlikely case of seepage from a CO2 geological storage site it is mandatory to quickly detect the presence of CO2 and to understand its impact on the environment. For this reason a controlled laboratory experiment has been developed where CO2 interacts with sediments and water; the results of this small-scale experiment are validated by the study of natural areas where CO2 is emitted.

All the efforts of the team are aimed to develop reliable techniques to assure a tight control of the CO2 geological storage sites and a prompt detection of any potential seepage.

More from this channel