Monitoring CO2 storage in the Q16-Maas field
Publieke samenvatting / Public summary
Summary
Following on from previous studies into the suitability of the Q16-Maas gas field for CO2 storage, this report presents the results of a detailed analysis of the main risks posed by storing CO2 in this way. The report found that it was feasible to store CO2 safely and securely in the Q16-Maas gas field, provided injection pressure and temperature were within safe limits. The report discusses the limits.
Background
CATO is the Dutch national R&D programme for carbon capture, transport and storage and involves a consortium of nearly 40 partners and comprises CATO-1, CATO-2 and now CATO-3. The last of these, of which this project was a part, is funded by industrial partners and various government sources, including TKI, CLIMIT and EU ERA-NET.
Project objective
The Maasvlakte CCS Project (ROAD, or Rotterdam Opslag en Afvang Demonstratieproject), a flagship project under the EEPR programme, aimed to store the CO2 captured from the Uniper coal-fired power plant in the Q16-Maas gas field. This report presented a monitoring programme for the injection and storage of CO2 in the field based on a quantitative risk analysis and contributed to the material for a CO2 storage licence application.
Project results
The report found that it was feasible to store CO2 safely and securely in the Q16-Maas gas field, provided injection pressure and temperature were within safe limits. The report discusses the limits. It also found that an active aquifer would make monitoring the behaviour of CO2 in the reservoir more challenging than in fields without such an aquifer. The study has been adjusted wherever possible to reflect a later major update of the reservoir model that included improved modelling of the aquifer.
Not all the information could be incorporated and validated, however, and the report required updating before developing the field as a CO2 storage site. The then-current model predicted that the field could continuously store 200-300kt/year, while CO2 capture from the nearby Uniper power plant could reach a maximum rate of 1500kt/year. The total storage capacity of the field was estimated at the time at 2.3 MtCO2