Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by van der Meer, B. Articles by Egberts, P. GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Calculating subsurface CO₂ storage capacities

TNO Built Environment and Geosciences, Delft, the Netherlands

Corresponding author: Bert.vanderMeer{at}tno.nl

Often we need to know how much CO₂ we can store in a certain underground space, or how much such space we need to store a given amount of CO₂. In a recent attempt (Bradshaw et al., 2006) to list various regional and global estimates of CO₂ storage capacity (Figure 1), the estimates reported are often quoted as "very large" with ranges in the order of 100 to 10 000 Gt of CO₂. It is clear that there is a lack of definitions, rules, and general procedures for calculating storage potentials. The calculations of CO₂ storage capacity are based either on the solubility potential (Bachu et al., 2003), which ignore volumetric consequences and the kinetics of this process, or on a fixed percentage of a subsurface volume (Koide et al., 1992). None of the cases using the latter approach include any definitions. In this paper, we will specify a method to calculate the theoretical maximum storage capacity. We will give comprehensive definitions of all the important parameters (here in italic) in a separate and upcoming publication.