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Accurate Inventory Accounting in Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide

Summary

Lead Inventors: Klaus Lackner, Ph.D.; Ah-Hyung Alissa Park, Ph.D.; Juerg Matter, Ph.D.Problem or Unmet Need:In order to meet the challenge of climate change while allowing for continued economic development, the world will have to adopt a net zero carbon energy infrastructure. Reconciling that goal with the worlds large stock of coal and other low-cost fossil fuels has created a need for the ability to capture the CO2 that is produced in the combustion of fossil fuels. The ability to capture and store CO2 on a large scale remains largely untested. As these technologies are developed and tested accurate quantitative assessment of CO2 inventory will be an essential tool. The invention is a set of methods and apparatus for tagging a large industrial stream of carbon dioxide derived from the combustion of fossil fuels prior to injection of this CO2 into geological storage. A small amount of radioactive carbon-14 is injected into the CO2 stream at a low level (one part per trillion) so that the amount of CO2 stored later can be ascertained quantitatively. Natural CO2 deep underground is free of carbon-14 and thus the tag is a unique identifier for anthropogenic CO2. The tagging augments conventional geophysical methods for CO2 monitoring and transforms these qualitative measures into quantitative measures of the stored carbon. The invention is concerned with the specific injection devices that can add one part per trillion to a fast flowing stream of CO2. Other aspects of the invention relate to the production of CO2 for large scale carbon capture and storage, the monitoring of the carbon-14 decays in samples taken from the gas stream and the measurement of the fluid content in the injection cartridge.

Technology Benefits

Quantitative assessment of geologic CO2 inventories Technique is easy to add on and low cost Works in conjunction with conventional geophysical methods for CO2 monitoring

Technology Application

Carbon Sequestration

Detailed Technology Description

The invention is a set of methods and apparatus for tagging a large industrial stream of carbon dioxide derived from the combustion of fossil fuels prior to injection of this CO2 into geological storage. A small amount of radioactive carbon-14 is inj...

*Abstract

None

*Inquiry

Jim Aloise Columbia Technology Ventures Tel: (212) 854-8444 Email: TechTransfer@columbia.edu

*IR

M09-090

*Principal Investigator

Country/Region

USA