CCS debate intensifies on new study

摘要

The debate surrounding carbon capture and storage (CCS) has intensified as scientists from the Earth Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in the US examine the capacity for storing carbon dioxide (CO2) underground, in a study published in the new journal Greenhouse Gases: Science & Technology. The study debates some of the conclusions drawn in an earlier study by Ehlig-Economides and Economides, countering their claims that CO2 cannot feasibly be stored underground. These earlier findings, according to the Berkeley Lab researchers, only considered closed-system subsurface formations, with limited mechanisms for relieving the pressure. Pressure build-up in the subsurface induced by the injection of CO2 from industrial-scale projects is a key constraint for the amount of CO2 that can be safely stored underground.