Cosmic Rays And Carbon Storage: What Has One To Do With The Other?

The Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) is providing £647,000 for the monitoring project alongside matched funding from industry and the devices developed will be tested deep underground at the STFC research laboratory at Boulby mine on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors. 

Dr Sean Paling, Director and Senior Scientist of the Boulby Deep Underground Science Facility said of the award:

“We are very pleased to be a part of such important research on carbon capture and storage. The Boulby Deep Underground Science Facility will be a key partner in this project as it is one of the few places available in the world for the team to develop CCS monitoring technology in an environment that is safe, relatively easy to access and one that simulates the depths and geology within which future Carbon Capture sites will operate. Our involvement in this work further demonstrates the versatility of the facility we have at Boulby and the increasing breadth of internationally significant science areas we are participating in.”

The team comprises STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Durham University, University of Sheffield, University of Bath, Newcastle University and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech supported by Premier Oil & Gas and Cleveland Potash Limited. 

Carbon storage could play a major part of UK and global environmental policies to tackle global warming but still allow us to generate clean, affordable energy. 

The current monitoring methodology is expensive and typically involves the collection of seismic data which enables snapshots of carbon storage levels to be taken over time. Muon tomography offers the chance to develop a continuous and passive monitoring system for deep sub-surface storage sites.

Project leader Professor Jon Gluyas, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, said:

“This technology crosses between traditional scientific disciplines and could radically reduce the cost of monitoring CO2 storage sites, saving perhaps hundreds of millions of pounds per annum. The essential support from DECC and industry partners will allow us to develop improved detectors and to model and test our technology in practice.”

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) refers to the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from major sources of emission, such as fossil fuel power stations, to prevent it entering the atmosphere. The carbon is then transported (this could be in fluid form by pipeline) to a storage site. Old oil and gas fields, such as those in the North Sea, are considered to be potential storage sites. Capturing and storing carbon dioxide is seen as a way to prevent global warming and ocean acidification.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council