25th JJ Frankel Memorial Lecture -6pm, 21st September 2005
Biomedical Theatre D, Biological Sciences Building, UNSW


BURYING THE PROBLEM
Will geosequestration solve the challenge of increasing CO2 emissions?

Renowned scientist, Dr John Bradshaw will assess the idea of capturing and injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) underground as a solution to the global issue of increasing CO2 emissions in the 25th JJ Frankel Memorial lecture on Wednesday 21st September at the University of New South Wales.

"Australian scientists are on a mission to make deep and long-lasting cuts to carbon dioxide emissions from Australia's coal fired power plants and CO2 rich gas fields by capturing and storing the greenhouse gas deep underground," says Dr John Bradshaw, a world leading researcher with Geoscience Australia.

Australia's stationary energy sources emitted 264 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2000. About 50 per cent of these emissions could potentially be captured and stored through the use of the emerging technology of geosequestration.

Geosequestration is a process of capturing and separating carbon dioxide gas from emissions, compressing it into a supercritical liquid like state, transporting it in pipelines and injecting and storing it deep underground in depleted oil and gas fields or unused saline water saturated (brine) filled reservoirs.

"We've assessed 65 potentially viable sites across Australia where we believe we could safely inject and store carbon dioxide," says Dr Bradshaw. "We currently have the potential to sustainably store up to 115 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Our ultimate capacity would allow us to store Australia's total emissions for the next 1600 years."

Dr John Bradshaw, the 25th JJ Frankel Memorial Lecturer will evaluate this geological solution to the global issue of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, relate it with the numerous other options that must be pursued, and discuss whether they come too late in the current greenhouse cycle.

He is a petroleum exploration technologist with over 20 years experience. He graduated from UNSW with Honours and a PhD in Applied Geology. He has published over 100 publications and reports, has appeared as an expert witness in the NSW Land and Environment Court, and is a member of AAPG, DEG, PESA and GSA. In the last 12 months he has given invited talks at MIT, Harvard, Stanford and Tshingua Universities.

6pm, Wednesday 21st September
Biomedical Theatre D, Biological Sciences Building, UNSW

Contact: Dr Paul Lennox 9385 8096, p.lennox@unsw.edu.au

 

ABSTRACT: GEOLOGICAL STORAGE OF CO2; A SOLUTION FOR EMISSION REDUCTIONS, OR TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

 

There has been a marked shift amongst scientists in the international arena over the last decade as to the likelihood that anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are affecting the world's climate. Irrespective of the climate debate, many scientists also believe that within our lifetime the oceanic uptake of CO2 from the CO2 enriched atmosphere, with the subsequent reduction of the pH of the oceans, may mean that the ecosystems of the world's oceans will be seriously affected. As a result, governments around the world are looking for solutions for deep reduction of CO2 emissions from anthropogenic sources. One of the principal sources of CO2 are coal fired power stations, which in Australia account for approximately 50% of our total emissions. The planned growth in regions like China and India over the next fifty years will mean that 50% of all new coal fired power plants will be built in these areas. Given that such plants have a 30 to 40 year working life, this means that unless clean coal technology can be developed and deployed rapidly to the developing world, then meeting future emissions reductions at a worldwide scale will be extremely challenging. Numerous other options such as renewables, less carbon intensive fuels and fuel efficiency must be pursued. No single option is going to be able to provide either the global solution or provide a solution in all situations and locations, and each option comes with its own particular issues.

 

Various emerging technologies either exist or are being developed for coal fired power stations, which means that emissions from these sources could potentially be viably captured and concentrated. Technologies such as generation of energy through Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants and proposed coal to liquids operations, might be a long term goal, especially if they simultaneously produce pure CO2 that can be captured more economically, reduce overall emissions of pollutants, and provide a lead into a hydrogen economy.

 

If low emission technologies that capture CO2 at the source are to succeed, and so provide a more sustainable energy industry, then places for storing very large volumes of CO2 will need to be defined, tested and proven. When the volume of CO2 emissions world wide is examined and compared to the natural gas industry rates of production, geological storage of CO2 will have to be up to an order of magnitude bigger. For geological storage to be successful, and if industry is to successfully operate in a carbon constrained world, then geoscientists will have to play a vital role in the exploration, development, operational and monitoring phases of geological storage. Can such a challenge be met, or will the changes and technology development that needs to happen be too little, too late?

 

Keywords: Geological storage, CO2, sequestration, climate change.

 

Dr John Bradshaw
Geoscience Australia