The carbon conundrum
Improving confidence in carbon capture and storage
Dealing with the billions of metric tonnes of carbon dioxide we produce around the world every year is becoming a race against time to stop temperature increases cause severe environmental damage.
Capturing and storing CO2, then locking it away offshore, is one climate change mitigation strategy that will become big business in the coming years. But can we give the public confidence that this method is safe and will make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions?
A team of Southampton researchers played a key role in a major European project – Strategies for Environmental Monitoring of Marine Carbon Capture and Storage (STEMM-CCS) – to determine the viability of safely and securely storing carbon offshore.
The Southampton research team – led by Professors Jon Bull and Rachel James – carried out passive acoustics experiments, which involved monitoring bubbles from a controlled release of CO2 at the seabed. The experiments were conducted in the exclusion zone around the Goldeneye platform in the North Sea. An autonomous underwater vehicle, Gavia, surveyed the seabed and sub-seabed before and during the experiment.
One of the biggest things to happen in the next 20 years will be the large-scale roll-out of carbon capture and storage (CCS) under the seabed, several hundred metres down. A key issue is public confidence in CCS, so it is important to be able to give certainty that in the unlikely event stored CO2 escapes, it can be detected.
Read the full story in Re:action, the University’s research and enterprise magazine.
Related Staff Member
Professor Jonathan Bull BSc, PhD
Professor Jonathan Bull is based within Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton at the University of Southampton. His current research focusses on understanding and quantifying fluid flow within sediments and across the seabed, tectonics, and marine geophysics.
Read moreRelated Staff Member
Professor Rachael James BSc, PhD
Rachael James is Professor of Geochemistry within the School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, based at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton.
She applies geochemical techniques to the study of ocean and earth systems and contributes to teaching within undergraduate and graduate Oceanography, Geology and Marine Biology degree programmes.
Read more