Quantifying and Monitoring Potential Ecosystem Impacts of Geological Carbon Storage

量化和监测地质碳储存对生态系统的潜在影响

基本信息

批准号：
NE/H013954/1
负责人：
Michelle Bentham
金额：
$ 15.31万
依托单位：
British Geological Survey
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2010
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2010 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FH013954%2F1
关键词：
Quantifying Monitoring Potential Ecosystem Impacts

项目摘要

Proposal to Research Councils Energy Program: Carbon Capture and Storage / Potential ecosystem impacts of geological carbon storage call. Quantifying and Monitoring Potential Ecosystem Impacts of Geological Carbon Storage (QICS). Climate change caused by increasing emissions of CO2, principally the burning of fossil fuels for power generation, is one of the most pressing concerns for society. Currently around 90% of the UK's energy needs are met by fossil fuels which will probably continue to be the predominant source of energy for decades to come. Developing our understanding of the pros and cons of a range of strategies designed to reduce CO2 emissions is vital. Of the available strategies such as wind, wave and solar renewables and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) none are without potential problems or limitations. The concept of CCS simply put is to capture CO2 during the process of power generation and to store it permanently in deep geological structures beneath the land or sea surface. If CCS is successful existing fossil fuel reserves could be used whilst new forms of power generation with low CO2 emissions are developed. A few projects have been successfully demonstrating either capture or storage on limited scales, so it is established that the technical challenges are surmountable. Research is also demonstrating that the geological structures are in general robust for long term storage (for example oil deposits remain in place within geological strata). However geological structures are complex and natural sub surface gas deposits are known to outgas at the surface. Consequently it would be irresponsible to develop full scale CCS programmes without an understanding of the likelihood of leakage and the severity of impacts which might occur. The aim of this proposal is to greatly improve the understanding of the scale of impact a leakage from CCS systems might inflict on the ecosystem and to enable a comprehensive risk assessment of CCS. The main location of stored CO2 in the UK will be in geo-formations under the North Sea and our research concentrates on impacts to the marine environment, although our work will also be relevant to all geological formations. Research to date has shown that hypothetical large leaks would significantly alter sediment and water chemistry and consequently some marine creatures would be vulnerable. What is not yet understood is how resilient species are, and how big an impact would stem from a given leak. Our project will investigate for the first time the response of a real marine community (both within and above the sediments) to a small scale tightly controlled artificial leak. We will look at chemical and biological effects and importantly investigate the recovery time needed. We will be able to relate the footprint of the impact to the known input rate of CO2. The results will allow us to develop and test models of flow and impact that can be applied to other scenarios and we will assess a number of monitoring methods. The project will also investigate the nature of flow through geological formations to give us an understanding of the spread of a rising CO2 plume should it breach the reservoir. The work proposed here would amount to a significant advance in the understanding and scientific tools necessary to form CCS risk assessments and quantitative knowledge of the ecological impacts of leaks. We will develop model tools that can predict the transfer, fate and impact of leaks from reservoir to ecosystem, which may be applied when specific CCS operations are planned. An important product of our work will be a recommendation of the best monitoring strategy to ensure the early detection of leaks. We will work alongside interested parties from industry, government and public to ensure that the information we produce is accessible and effective.

研究理事会能源计划的提案：碳捕获和捕获 /潜在的生态系统地质碳存储呼叫的影响。量化和监测地质碳存储（QIC）的潜在生态系统影响。由于二氧化碳排放量增加而引起的气候变化，主要是燃烧化石燃料供发电，这是社会最紧迫的关注之一。目前，化石燃料可以满足英国能源需求的90％，这可能会继续成为未来几十年的主要能源。发展我们对旨在减少二氧化碳排放的一系列策略的利弊的理解至关重要。在可用的策略中，例如风，波浪和太阳能可再生能源以及碳捕获和存储（CCS），没有潜在的问题或局限性。 CCS的概念简单地是在发电过程中捕获CO2，并将其永久存储在陆地或海面下方的深层地质结构中。如果CCS成功，可以使用现有的化石燃料储量，而开发出低CO2排放的新形式的发电形式。一些项目已成功证明捕获或存储在有限的尺度上，因此可以确定技术挑战是可以克服的。研究还表明，地质结构通常可以长期存储（例如石油沉积物在地质层中）。但是，地质结构是复杂的，自然的亚表面气体沉积物已知在表面上胜过。因此，在不了解泄漏的可能性和可能发生的影响的严重性的情况下，开发全面的CCS程序是不负责任的。该提案的目的是大大提高对CCS系统泄漏的影响规模可能对生态系统造成的影响，并对CCS进行全面的风险评估。尽管我们的工作也将与所有地质地层相关，但在北海下方储存的二氧化碳的主要位置将在北海下进行地理形成，我们的研究集中于对海洋环境的影响。迄今为止的研究表明，假设的大泄漏将显着改变沉积物和水化学，因此一些海洋生物将很脆弱。尚不清楚的是物种的韧性，以及影响给定的泄漏的大小。我们的项目将首次调查真正的海洋社区（在沉积物内外）对紧密控制人造泄漏的小规模的反应。我们将研究化学和生物学作用，并重要地研究所需的恢复时间。我们将能够将影响的足迹与已知的二氧化碳输入率联系起来。结果将使我们能够开发和测试可以应用于其他情况的流量和影响模型，我们将评估许多监视方法。该项目还将调查通过地质形成的流量的性质，以使我们了解二氧化碳羽流的扩散，如果二氧化碳羽流违反了水库。这里提出的工作将在理解和科学工具中取得重大进步，以形成CCS风险评估以及对泄漏生态影响的定量知识所必需的。我们将开发模型工具，这些工具可以预测从储层到生态系统的泄漏的转移，命运和影响，该工具可以在计划特定的CCS操作时应用。我们工作的重要产物将是最佳监测策略的建议，以确保早期发现泄漏。我们将与来自行业，政府和公众的兴趣团体一起工作，以确保我们提供的信息易于访问和有效。