<p>Geoscience Australia in collaboration with the CO2CRC hosted three controlled subsurface release experiments of CO2 during 2012 to 2013 at an agricultural research station managed by CSIRO Plant Industry Canberra. The facility was designed to simulate surface emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the soil into the atmosphere, and has deployed a range of near-surface monitoring techniques in the pursuit of improving detection and quantification methods and technologies. This product, which encompasses 4 geodatabases, a metadata report and a data dictionary, presents all the data collected during the experiments from over 10 research organisations, and is made to use with GIS software. The intention of this data release is make the data available for comparison with measurements taken at other controlled release experiments, CO2 storage projects and natural analogues. This will hopefully facilitate the further development of greenhouse gas monitoring technologies, methods and monitoring strategies and increase our understanding of the migration behaviour and impact of near surface CO2 leakage. <p>The contents of each geodatabase/experiment is summarised below: <p>Release 1 (Feb-May 2012): <p>- Soil microbial data <p>- Soil chemistry <p>- Free air CO2 concentration <p>- Eddy covariance <p>- Groundwater chemistry <p>- Soil gas <p>- Krypton tracers <p>- EM31 <p>- Soil flux <p>Release 2 (Oct-Dec 2012): <p>- Groundwater chemistry <p>- EM31 <p>- EM38 <p>- Soil gas <p>- Soil flux <p>- Airborne hyperspectral <p>- Ground hyperspectral <p>Release 3 (Oct-Dec 2013): <p>- Mobile CO2 surveys <p>- Groundwater depth <p>- Eddy covariance <p>- Plant physiology and chemistry <p>- EM31 <p>- EM38 <p>- Soil gas <p>- Soil flux <p>- Airborne hyperspectral <p>All Releases: <p>- Aerial images <p>- Groundwater depths <p>- Meteorological data <p>Bibliographic reference: <p>Feitz, A.J., Schroder, I.F., Jenkins, C.J., Schacht, U., Zegelin, S., Berko, H., McGrath, A., Noble, R., Palu, T.J., George, S., Heath, C., Zhang, H., Sirault, X. and Jimenez-Berni, J. 2016. Ginninderra Controlled CO2 Release Facility Dataset 2012-2013. eCat 90078, Geoscience Australia and CO2CRC, Canberra. https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/90078. <p>Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.4225/25/5823c37333f9d

This is a 5.48 minute long movie demonstrating Carbon Capture Technologies as one of the range of solutions that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Using 3D Max animation we show how carbon dioxide is captured at the source of emissions (coal fired power stations for example), and permanently storing them deep underground. The movie has professional narration explaining the story, throughout.

A shallow vertical CO2 injection test was conducted over a 21 day period at the Ginninderra Controlled Release Facility in May 2011. The objective of this test was to determine the extent of lateral CO2 dispersion, breakthrough times and permeability of the soil present at the Ginninderra site. The facility is located in Canberra on the CSIRO agricultural Ginninderra Experiment Station. A 2.15m deep, 15cm stainless steel screened, soil gas sampling well was installed at the site and this was used as the CO2 injection well. The CO2 flow rate was 1.6 L/min (STP). CO2 soil effluxes (respiration and seepage) were measured continuously using a LICOR LI-8100A Automated Soil CO2 Flux System equipped with 5 accumulation chambers spaced 1m apart in a radial pattern from the injection well. These measurements were supplemented with CO2 flux spot measurements using a WestSystems portable fluxmeter. Breakthrough at 1m from the injection point occurred within 6 hrs of injection, 32hrs at 2m and after almost 5 days at 3m. The average steady state CO2 efflux was 85 ?mol/m2/s at 1m, 15 ?mol/m2/s at 2m and 5.0 ?mol/m2/s at 3m. The average background CO2 soil respiration efflux was 1.1 - 0.6 ?mol/m2/s. Under windy conditions, higher soil CO2 efflux could be expected due to pressure pumping but this is contrary to the observed results. Prolonged windy periods led to a reduction in the CO2 efflux, up to 30% lower than the typical steady state value.

Deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during surface CO2 release experiments at the Ginninderra greenhouse gas controlled release facility H. Berko (CO2CRC, Geoscience Australia), F. Poppa (The Australian National University), U. Zimmer (The Australian National University) and A. Feitz (CO2CRC, Geoscience Australia) Lagrangian stochastic (LS) forward modelling of CO2 plumes from above-surface release experiments conducted at the GA-CO2CRC Ginninderra controlled release facility demonstrated that small surface leaks are likely to disperse rapidly and unlikely to be detected at heights greater 4 m; this was verified using a rotorcraft to map out the plume. The CO2 sensing rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV) developed at the Australian National University, Canberra, is equipped with a CO2 sensor, a GPS, lidar and a communication module. It was developed to detect and locate CO2 gas leaks; and estimate CO2 concentration at the emission source. The choice of a rotor-craft UAV allows slower flight speeds compared to speeds of a fixed-wing UAV; and the electric powered motor enables flight times of 12 min. In experiments conducted at the Ginninderra controlled release facility, gaseous CO2 (100 kg per day) was released from a small diffuse source located in the middle of the paddock, and the RUAV was flown repeatedly over the CO2 source at a few meters height. Meteorological parameters measured continuously at the site at the time of the flight were input in the LS model. Mapped out horizontal and vertical CO2 concentrations established the need to be close to the ground in order to detect CO2 leakage using aerial techniques. Using the rotorcraft as a mobile sensor could be an expedient mechanism to detect plumes over large areas, and would be important for early detection of CO2 leaks arising from CCS activities.

No abstract available

Australia has been making major progress towards early deployment of carbon capture and storage from natural gas processing and power generation sources. This paper will review, from the perspective of a government agency, the current state of various Australian initiatives and the advances in technical knowledge up until the 2010 GHGT conference. In November 2008, the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Bill 2006 was passed by the Australian Parliament and established a legal framework to allow interested parties to explore for and evaluate storage potential in offshore sedimentary basins that lie in Australian Commonwealth waters. As a result of this Act, Australia became the first country in the world, in March 2009, to open exploration acreage for storage of greenhouse gases under a system that closely mirrors the well-established Offshore Petroleum Acreage Release. The ten offshore areas offered for geological storage assessment are significantly larger than their offshore petroleum counterparts to account for, and fully contain, the expected migration pathways of the injected GHG substances. The co-incidence of the 2009 Global Financial Crisis may have reduced the number of prospective CCS projects that were reported to be in the 'pipe-line' and the paper examines the implications of this apparent outcome. The Carbon Storage Taskforce has brought together both Australian governments technical experts to build a detailed assessment of the perceived storage potential of Australia's sedimentary basins. This evaluation has been based on existing data, both on and offshore. A pre-competitive exploration programme has also been compiled to address the identified data gaps and to acquire, with state funding, critical geological data which will be made freely available to encourage industrial participation in the search for commercial storage sites.

Hot Rocks in Australia - National Outlook Hill, A.J.1, Goldstein, B.A1 and Budd, A.R.2 goldstein.barry@saugov.sa.gov.au hill.tonyj@saugov.sa.gov.au Petroleum & Geothermal Group, PIRSA Level 6, 101 Grenfell St.Adelaide SA 50001 Anthony.Budd@ga.gov.au Onshore Energy & Minerals Division, Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378 Canberra ACT 26012 Abstract: Evidence of climate change and knowledge of enormous hot rock resources are factors stimulating growth in geothermal energy research, including exploration, proof-of-concept appraisals, and development of demonstration pilot plant projects in Australia. In the six years since the grant of the first Geothermal Exploration Licence (GEL) in Australia, 16 companies have joined the hunt for renewable and emissions-free geothermal energy resources in 120 licence application areas covering ~ 67,000 km2 in Australia. The associated work programs correspond to an investment of $570 million, and that tally excludes deployment projects assumed in the Energy Supply Association of Australia's scenario for 6.8% (~ 5.5 GWe) of Australia's base-load power coming from geothermal resources by 2030. Australia's geothermal resources fall into two categories: hydrothermal (from relatively hot groundwater) and the hot fractured rock i.e. Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Large-scale base-load electricity generation in Australia is expected to come predominantly from Enhanced Geothermal systems. Geologic factors that determine the extent of EGS plays can be generalised as: - source rock availability, in the form of radiogenic, high heat-flow basement rocks (mostly granites); - low thermal-conductivity insulating rocks overlying the source rocks, to provide thermal traps; - the presence of permeable fabrics within insulating and basement rocks, that can be enhanced to create heat-exchange reservoirs; and - a practical depth-range, limited by drilling and completion technologies (defining a base) and necessary heat exchange efficiency (defining a top). A national EGS resource assessment and a road-map for the commercialisation of Australia's EGSs are expected to be published in 2008. The poster will provide a synopsis of investment frameworks and geothermal energy projects underway and planned in Australia.

Recent national and state assessments have concluded that sedimentary formations that underlie or are within the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) may be suitable for the storage of greenhouse gases. These same formations contain methane and naturally generated carbon dioxide that has been trapped for millions of years. The Queensland government has released exploration permits for Greenhouse Gas Storage in the Bowen and Surat basins. An important consideration in assessing the potential economic, environmental, health and safety risks of such projects is the potential impact CO2 migrating out of storage reservoirs could have on overlying groundwater resources. The risk and impact of CO2 migrating from a greenhouse gas storage reservoir into groundwater cannot be objectively assessed without knowledge of the natural baseline characteristics of the groundwater within these systems. Due to the phase behaviour of CO2, geological storage of carbon dioxide in the supercritical state requires depths greater than 800m, but there are no hydrochemical studies of such deeper aquifers in the prospective storage areas. Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ), Queensland Department of Mines and Energy, worked collaboratively under the National Geoscience Agreement (NGA) to characterise the regional hydrochemistry of the Denison Trough and Surat Basin and trialled different groundwater monitoring strategies. The output from this Project constitutes part of a regional baseline reference set for future site-specific and semi-regional monitoring and verification programmes conducted by geological storage proponents. The dataset provides a reference of hydrochemistry for future competing resource users.

A Bayesian inversion technique to determine the location and strength of trace gas emissions from a point source in open air is presented. It was tested using atmospheric measurements of nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) released at known rates from a source located within an array of eight evenly spaced sampling points on a 20 m radius circle. The analysis requires knowledge of concentration enhancement downwind of the source and the normalized, three-dimensional distribution (shape) of concentration in the dispersion plume. The influence of varying background concentrations of ~1% for N2O and ~10% for CO2 was removed by subtracting upwind concentrations from those downwind of the source to yield only concentration enhancements. Continuous measurements of turbulent wind and temperature statistics were used to model the dispersion plume. The analysis localized the source to within 0.8 m of the true position and the emission rates were determined to better than 3% accuracy. This technique will be useful in assurance monitoring for geological storage of CO2 and for applications requiring knowledge of the location and rate of fugitive emissions.

Quantification of leakage into the atmosphere from geologically stored CO2 is achievable by means of atmospheric monitoring techniques if the position of the leak can be located and the perturbation above the background concentration is sufficiently large for discrimination. Geoscience Australia and the CO2CRC have recently constructed a site in northern Canberra for the controlled release of greenhouse gases. This facility enables the simulation of leak events and provides an opportunity to investigate techniques for the detection and quantification of emissions of CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere under controlled conditions. The facility is modelled on the ZERT controlled release facility in Montana. The first phase of the installation is complete and has supported an above ground, point source, release experiment (e.g. simulating leakage from a compromised well). Phase 2 involves the installation of a shallow underground horizontal well for line source CO2 release experiments and this will be installed during the first half of 2011. A release experiment was conducted at the site to explore the application of a technique, termed atmospheric tomography, to simultaneously determine the location and emission rate of a leak when both are unknown. The technique was applied to the release of two gas species, N2O and CO2, with continuous sampling of atmospheric trace gas concentrations from 8 locations 20m distant from a central release point and measurement of atmospheric turbulence and dispersive conditions. The release rate was 1.10 ± 0.02 g min-1 for N2O and 58.5 ± 0.4 g min-1 for CO2 (equivalent to 30.7 ± 0.2 tonnes CO2 yr-1). Localisation using both release species occurred within 0.5 m (2% error) of the known location. Determination of emission rate was possible to within 7% for CO2 and 5% for N2O.