BGR Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

Environmental impact

Studying environmental impacts of CO2 at a mofette (close to Wassenach, Eifel)Studying environmental impacts of CO2 at a mofette Source: BGR

The impact of potential CO2 leakage on human health, safety and environment (HSE) can be assessed by studies of natural analogues and field experiments:

  • At natural CO2 emission sites such as mofettes or CO2-rich springs, e.g. in the Eifel region, adaptations of microbes, plants and animals to elevated CO2 concentrations can be studied. In the deep biosphere, bacterial adaptations can also be examined in natural CO2 reservoirs.
  • In the case of leakage, monitoring of CO2 is required by the emission trading regulations but also for HSE management and control of remediation actions. BGR is developing and testing mobile or fixed monitoring stations for CO2 concentrations and fluxes within air, soil, rock, and water. Values recorded by the stations are needed for the interpretation of ecosystem response to soil gas dynamics at test sites such as the Ketzin storage.
  • Microbial communities may be affected by CO2 leakage into soils and also in the deep storage formations. In the latter, growth of microbial communities will affect well and storage formation properties.
  • In field experiments known amounts of CO2 are injected into the subsurface under controlled conditions. Short term-proceeses and impacts on soil and benthic microbes were studied by BGR in field tests in Great Britain and offshore Norway.

Apart from the CO2 itself, displaced formation brines could also potentially impact the environment. To assess this risk, BGR carries out numerical simulations and examines potential brine migration pathways.

To help protect valuable natural resources, such as important groundwater aquifers or nature protection areas, these resources are mapped and juxtaposed against potential CO2 storage areas. This information allows consideration of these resources for appropriate site characterization and monitoring plans and for the planning of preventive measures.

BGR cooperates with national and international partners on all of these issues, using the results for the development of guidelines on CO2 storage safety and monitoring.



Past projects:

  • CO2GEONET European Network of Excellence on Geological Storage of CO2 (in German only)
  • NASCENT Natural Analogues for the Study of CO2 in the Geological Environment (in German only)
  • COOSKA Quantifizierung geologischer Speicherkapazitäten für die Einlagerung von CO2 (COO SpeicherKApazitäten)
  • RISCS Research into impacts and safety in CO2 storage
  • CLEAN CO2 Large-Scale Enhanced Gas Recovery in the Altmark Natural Gas Field (in German only)
  • RECOBIO II Untersuchung der biogeochemischen Transformation von im tiefen Untergrund gespeichertem CO2
  • CO2GeoNet Association European Network of Excellence on Geological CO2 Storage (in German only)

Contact

    
Dr. Franz May
Phone: +49 (0)511-643-3784

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