Safety in the Plant
The US National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is using a range of techniques including near IR and thermal IR to detect and monitor fugitive emissions of carbon dioxide stored in geologic formations. By providing an accurate accounting of stored carbon
dioxide and a high level of confidence that the carbon dioxide will permanently remain in storage, these efforts can help ensure the technical soundness and economic viability of carbon sequestration, a technology that is critical to meeting the national goal of reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Migration pathways
To identify possible carbon dioxide migration pathways, NETL scientists are investigating surface and near-surface characteristics by combining satellite and aerial photography with remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar, and ground- based measurements. In co-operation with regional sequestration partnerships,
long- and short-term carbon dioxide monitoring is being conducted at depleted oil wells, saline aquifers, and coal-bed methane test sites. For example, using ground-penetrating radar, NETL
found extremely low levels of carbon dioxide leakage associated with subsurface thinning and faulting under the
Fig. 1. LyondellBasell pioneered the use of infrared cameras for detecting fugitive emissions on its sites.
sandy soil at the West Pearl Queen, New Mexico, depleted oil well sequestration test site. NETL registered similar low levels of leakage using several
techniques to monitor the Frio saline aquifer sequestration test site near Houston, Texas.
Tracer compounds
A novel technique NETL used at both the West Pearl Queen and Frio sites to monitor sequestered carbon dioxide is to add chemically inert perfluorocarbon tracer compounds to the carbon dioxide stream being sequestered, and then detect any resulting tracer emissions in soil-gas at extremely low concentrations. NETL developed the protocol for tracer detection and quantification, the soil sampling pump, and several sampling systems. Other National Energy Technology Laboratory-developed
techniques are capable of monitoring fugitive emissions of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases such as methane. Perfluorocarbon tracers in a syringe pump located in the
back of the NETL van are being added to carbon dioxide as it is injected underground at the Frio saline aquifer sequestration test site near Houston, Texas. l
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