Science Daily December 29, 2021
From the gene-sequencing analyses of the behaviour of CO2 within a CO2-Eenhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) flooded oil field an international team of researchers (UK, USA – Woods hole Oceanographic Institution, industry, France, Canada) has shown that up to 74% of CO2 left behind by CO2-EOR was dissolved in the groundwater. It also revealed, that microbial methanogenesis converted as much as 13-19% of the injected CO2 to methane, which is a stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. The authors suggest that this process is occurring at other CO2-rich natural gas fields and CO2-EOR oil fields. Temperature is a critical consideration, and many CCS geological targets will be too deep and hot for microbes to operate. However, if CO2 leaks from deeper hot systems into similar shallower colder geological structures, where microbes are present, this process could occur…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Schematic of the processes occurring within the Olla Oil Field… Credit: Nature, volume 600, pages670–674 (2021)Â