CO2CRC announced today that the CO2 injection operations for the Otway Stage 3 Project have successfully commenced.
CO2CRC’s Otway Stage 3 Project will develop next generation subsurface M&V technologies for field application.
CO2 storage projects require monitoring and verification (M&V) to understand behaviour of the CO₂ plume and provide assurance of storage complex integrity
Traditional methods monitor the CO2 from the surface and can be costly and unable to provide information on a continuous basis. The Otway Stage 3 Project will use technologies which instead provide an on-demand image of the CO2 plume in the subsurface. The monitoring techniques have a lower surface environmental footprint, can be operated and monitored remotely, are more cost-effective and come with a high level of reliability.
“Initial estimates show the technologies being tested could provide a cost saving of up to 75 percent of monitoring costs over traditional monitoring technologies,” said David Byers, CEO of CO2CRC.
“CO2 injection has commenced at a rate of 140 tonnes per day and we have established good communication between the injection well and the monitoring wells and the storage reservoir is responding to CO2 injection as predicted.”
“CO2 injection will pause in early Jan 2021, when around 5,000 tonnes of CO2 will have been injected. At this point we will perform our first pressure tomography measurement as well as an intermediate surface based seismic survey, allowing comparison between traditional M&V techniques and the novel technologies and methodologies deployed as part of the Otway Stage 3 Project.”
“We are already seeing significant improvements in data collection and processing times. The Stage 3 technologies will enable operators to track the plume on demand, as it moves through the storage reservoir. This will allow operators to reduce the number of on-going repeat surface seismic acquisition operations and significantly reduce on-going monitoring costs.”
“The M&V techniques will provide regulators and communities with ongoing confidence that CO2 injected deep underground is permanently stored within the bounds of the storage formation in large scale CCUS projects.” He said
After the January pause, a further 10,000 tonnes of CO2 will be injected with additional measurements made after each 5,000 tonnes to further test the sensitivity and accuracy of the new M&V techniques. Research and analysis of data will continue into 2022.
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For more information please contact:
Roy Anderson, CO2CRC communications on 0435 474 342 or roy.anderson@co2crc.com.au
Note to editor:
CCUS
Carbon capture, Utilisation and storage (CCUS) prevents carbon dioxide (CO2) from being released into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is captured at the source from large industrial operations or power plants. The captured carbon dioxide is either then utilised in another process or product or for permanent geological storage it is compressed to a dense supercritical fluid, transported by pipeline, then injected into deep rock formations where it is stored permanently.
CO2CRC
CO2CRC is Australia’s leading CCUS research organisation. It owns and operates the Otway International Test Centre in Victoria, one of the most advanced field scale CCUS research sites globally. Through collaboration with internationally respected industry, academic and government partners, CO2CRC delivers innovative research, products and service designed to improve the cost-effectiveness and demonstrate the environmental integrity of CCUS technologies and methodologies.