Capturing and storing CO₂Principles behind carbon capturing and storage

The separation and geological storage of CO₂ is known as carbon capture and storage – or CCS for short. The aim of CCS technologies is to capture the CO₂ released during combustion processes with as little additional energy and cost as possible and then to transport it to gas storage reservoirs in order to store it securely over the long term. For each of these three stages, researchers are attempting to improve the energy and environmental balance, to research the chemical processes in the filled storage reservoirs and to secure the long-term stability of the reservoirs. In terms of the technology, working with CO₂ is not new territory. For decades, the gas has been pumped into crude oil and natural gas wells in order to increase the extraction pressure, whereby naturally occurring CO₂ is also captured and stored when producing natural gas. ©GFZ Potsdam