BGS
Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire, UK, United Kingdom

STORAGE

GTB (UK1.6)

GeoEnergy Test Bed

GeoEnergy Test Bed

The GTB is an initiative of the University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. The site represents a £6M investment to support new and emergent geo-energy sectors critical for a sustainable energy future, including £2.5 M UK government-funding through the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) project.

The geology at the GTB offers the opportunity to access rocks equivalent to those under the North Sea that are of interest for geological storage; the Sherwood Sandstone and the Mercia Mudstone Group. Although CO2 is stored at much greater depths than we are studying at the GTB, this field laboratory enables research to refine strategies for monitoring the zone above the reservoir - an essential part of proving site conformance for large-scale storage projects.

The GTB comprises seven monitoring wells plus surface sensors forming an array focused around two injection wells. Depth of CO2 injection is ~ 210 and ~10 m. A permanent sensor array (plus intermittent mobile surveys) is being used to study the acoustic, electro-magnetic, mechanical, geochemical and other relevant properties of the volume of rock and pore fluids around the injection wells, and CO2 levels in the soil and air.

Areas of research

The current science programme at the GTB aims to respond to three major science challenges:

  1. Improve understanding of impacts and processes in the shallow subsurface relatingto CO2 migration and leakage to develop more effective monitoring strategies
  2. Advance innovative monitoring tools and techniques that can demonstrate safecontainment of geological storage sites to meet the needs of site operators
  3. Enable ground-truthing of advanced simulation software for more reliable predictionof site behaviour to support site operators in meeting regulatory requirements

Installations

Date of CO2 injection is still to be confirmed

State of the Art, uniqueness & specific advantages

The GTB offers a unique facility in the UK to study CO2 migration at a location where rocks have not previously been exposed to significant quantities of CO2. A wealth of pre-injection data has already been collected. The GTB is also used for field training and testing of survey techniques due to its proximity to the BGS head office in Keyworth.

Currently, pre-injection data collection is underway utilising an array of surface and subsurface sensors including optic fibre (temperature and acoustic), Electrical Resistivity Tomography, microseismic (single well), soil gas flux and concentration, pressure sensors. A number of surveys have been conducted including soil gas flux and concentration, groundwater, 2D seismic data, collection of soil samples for microbiology. Core is available for one well and has been used for site characterisation including geothermal properties of the Mercia Mudstone Group.

Scientific Environment

There is a site office (adapted shipping container) with mains power and an onsite storage container which can be used as a temporary sample processing facility. The GTB is approximately 15 miles from the BGS headquarters where fully equipped state-of-the-art geoscience laboratories could be made available to visiting researchers by arrangement.

Operating by

BGS

British Geological Survey, Natural Environment Research Council
United Kingdom
STORAGE technologies:
Pressure/injection, Migration, Caprock/well integrity, Microseismicity, Leakage, Monitoring, Static modelling, Dynamic modelling
Research Fields:
Chemistry/Geochemistry, Microbiology, Ecosystem, Geology/Geophysics, Mechanics/Geomechanics, Remote sensing, Monitoring, Modelling, Physical processes
Facility's fact sheet

Location & Contacts

Location
Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire, UK, United Kingdom
Contacts
Ceri Vincent
RICC Contacts - Secondary contact
Audrey Ougier-Simonin

Facility Availability

Week
Unit of access (UA)
Week
Availability per year (in UA)
Up to 8 weeks
Duration of a typical access (average) and number of external users expected for that access
One week, at least two external users to avoid lone working

Quality Control / Quality Assurance (QA)

Activities / tests / data are
Controlled: n/a

Operational or other constraints

Specific risks:
One week, at least two external users to avoid lone working
Legal issues
Site induction required on first visit, risk assessments and insurance to be agreed on a per visit basis.

CCUS Projects

EU-Funded CCUS Projects
ENOS
Enabling Onshore CO2 Storage In Europe – ENOS
SECURe
Subsurface Evaluation of CCS and Unconventional Risks - SECURe
Other CCUS Projects
ERA
2016 onwards https://www.era.ac.uk/
Energy Research Accelerator project - ERA
SENSE
Assuring integrity of CO2 storage sites through ground surface monitoring
Quantum Sensors
Feasibility study into Quantum Technology based Gravity Sensing for CCS

Selected Publications

GHGT-15. (2021)
CO2 monitoring technologies at the UK GeoEnergy Test Bed. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies.
Vincent et al.
Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, 8(4), pp. 747–761 (2018)
Geological suitability and capacity of CO2 storage in the Jiyang Depression, East China
Wang, S., Vincent, C.J., Zeng, R., Stephenson, M.H.
In 2nd Geoscience & Engineering in Energy Transition Conference (Vol. 2021, No. 1, pp. 1-5). European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers (2021)
An update on the state-of-play on CO2 geological storage in Europe
Rütters, H., Hladík, V., Koteras, A., Schmidt-Hattenberger, C., Tveranger, J., Vincent, C. and Wheeler, W.