BGS
Keyworth, Nottingham, UK, United Kingdom

TRANSPORT

STORAGE

Gas Mon (UK 1.4)

Near-Surface Gas Monitoring Facility

BGS facilities for the collection and measurement of gases in the near surface environment. This includes field and laboratory capability for measuring gases in the shallow subsurface (e.g. soils), fluxes across the soil-atmosphere interface and determinations in the atmosphere just above the ground surface. Included are techniques for single measurements and systems capable of repeated (continuous) measurement. As well as gas monitoring equipment, the facility includes techniques for collecting ancillary data to help interpret those measurements, such as weather stations.

The facility includes a wide range of equipment and expertise for gas monitoring, particularly aimed at near surface monitoring in relation to CO2 storage. This includes innovative survey methods for CO2 leakage detection, such as the use of mobile open path and cavity ring down laser systems for CH4 and CO2, innovative use of techniques more usually applied in different fields of study (e.g. eddy covariance and continuous flux monitors), and a capability to examine the origin of gases through examining the relationship of CO2 to other gases and the use of carbon isotopes. These directly address the need to monitor large areas rapidly with sensitive equipment in order to detect, quantify and, increasingly, attribute CO2 at the near surface.

Recently the scope of research has been extended to include work on baselines in areas prospective for shale gas and geothermal exploration. 

 

Areas of research

Near-surface gas monitoring for CCUS and geoenergy research

State of the Art, uniqueness & specific advantages

Monitoring of near surface gases for on- or near-shore CO2 storage needs to include a range of capabilities including: wide area coverage to detect potential surface seepage of CO2 over the surface footprint of a large scale (Mt/year) storage site, continuous monitoring of possible leakage pathways (e.g. wells and faults), discrimination of gas source from natural background or the situational background, as well as any emissions quantification required for CO2 storage.

The Gas Monitoring facility has capabilities to address all of these issues through mobile lasers (wide area coverage), continuous flux and gas concentration monitors (in soil or near ground atmospheric air) and the use of gas ratios (CO2 to O2, N2, and CH4) and C isotopes.  The facility has been upgraded recently to include scanning laser (CH4) for continuous monitoring of areas up to hundreds of metres in radius and there are developments under way to further extend the capability (e.g. combining with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, improved sensitivity flux and gas concentration measurements).

Scientific Environment

We have worked in conjunction with colleagues from Italy and France for more than 10 years to develop monitoring approaches for CCS. We have discussed and compared results with international colleagues at injection test sites (actual or proposed) in Canada, the US, Brazil, Australia and S Korea and are involved in proposals to develop direct international collaboration at a natural CO2 site in South Africa and between developing injection sites in the UK (GeoEnergy Test Bed), Canada (Field Research Station in Alberta), Australia (Otway and Ginninderra) and South Korea (K-COSEM project). The facility has gained extensive experience in the use of these methods through their use at natural laboratory sites (where natural seepage of CO2 is taking place) in Italy, Germany and Greece, experimental injection and release sites in the UK and Norway (ASGARD and CO2 Field Lab) landfill sites and industrial scale CO2 storage sites such as Weyburn, Canada and In Salah, Algeria. This experience has been applied to help draw up monitoring plans for proposed future CCS projects, for example in Denmark and Germany.

Operating by

BGS

British Geological Survey, Natural Environment Research Council
United Kingdom
TRANSPORT technologies:
CO2 pipeline transport and integrity
STORAGE technologies:
Migration, Leakage, Monitoring
Research Fields:
Chemistry/Geochemistry, Monitoring
Facility's fact sheet

Location & Contacts

Location
Keyworth, Nottingham, UK, United Kingdom
Contacts
Helen Taylor-Curran
RICC Contacts - Secondary contact
Audrey Ougier-Simonin

Facility Availability

Week
Unit of access (UA)
Week
Availability per year (in UA)
Four weeks
Duration of a typical access (average) and number of external users expected for that access
One week
Average number of external users expected for typical access
At least one external user

Quality Control / Quality Assurance (QA)

Activities / tests / data are
Controlled: as institution QA pages

Operational or other constraints

Specific risks:
Dependent on nature of work. Full risk assessment documentation prepared in advance of user access.
Legal issues
nd

CCUS Projects

EU-Funded CCUS Projects
OTHER EC DG RESEARCH
CO2GeoNet
OTHER LARGE INITIATIVES
CO2 Field Lab
OTHER LARGE INITIATIVES
nd
Weyburn
OTHER LARGE INITIATIVES
CO2ReMoVe
H2020
ENOS (Enabling Onshore CO2 Storage In Europe )
H2020
Subsurface Evaluation of CCS and Unconventional Risks - SECURe
Other CCUS Projects
OTHER LARGE INITIATIVES
GeoEnergy Test Bed
OTHER LARGE INITIATIVES
ASGARD
OTHER LARGE INITIATIVES
nd
In Salah
OTHER LARGE INITIATIVES
Weyburn-Midale
Publicly funded
UK Geoenergy Observatories: Glasgow Observatory. Understanding shallow flooded mine workings as a potential source of heat.
H2020
GEMex, Cooperation in Geothermal energy research Europe-Mexico for development of enhanced geothermal systems and superhot geothermal systems.
n/d
UK BEIS Environmental baseline monitoring development of unconventional hydrocarbons in the UK

Selected Publications

Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 40, 350- 377. (2015)
Developments since 2005 in understanding potential environmental impacts of CO2 leakage from geological storage
Jones, D.G., Beaubien, S.E., Blackford, J.C., Foekema, E.M., Lions, J., De Vittor, C., West, J.M., Widdicombe, S., Hauton, C., Queirós, A.M.
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 9(2): 483-490. (2020)
Using near-surface atmospheric measurements as a proxy for quantifying field-scale soil gas flux.
Barkwith, A., Beaubien, S.E., Barlow, T., Kirk, K., Lister, T.R., Tartarello, M.C. and Taylor-Curran, H.,