SEMINAR: Noble gases in the environment, applications for CO2 storage and groundwater monitoring

All interested are invited to an open seminar on Noble gases in the environment, applications for CO2 storage and groundwater monitoring, Tuesday March 14. The seminar is arranged by the ICO2P project at Dept of Geosciences. Speakers at the seminar are: Anja Sundal, Matthias S. Brennwald, Per Aagaard, Philip Ringrose, and Rolf Kipfer.

Noble gasses: Helium (He), Neon (Ne), Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), Xenon (Xe); Periodic table.

Noble gasses: Helium (He), Neon (Ne), Argon (Ar), Krypton (Kr), Xenon (Xe); Periodic table.

Noble gases are omnipresent and a natural component in water and air. Their relative concentrations and isotopic distributions form a geochemical signature and a time archive in fluids from which valuable information about age, sub-surface migration patterns and the origins of water and gas may be deduced.

We would like to invite everyone who may be interested in applications of noble gas signatures in environmental sciences and monitoring schemes to an open seminar hosted by UiO and the “ICO2P”-project group.

The following topics will be addressed at the seminar:

Noble gases in the environment

Noble gases (i.e. He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) are suitable as environmental tracers because they are chemically inert under natural conditions. The relative amounts of their respective isotopes will, however, change with time due to radioactive decay, mixing of fluids, diffusion etc. Noble gases may also be added as tracers in gas and water systems. Eawag is one of few research groups and laboratories that have the capability to measure and analyse low concentrations of noble gases, and we will learn from the best of how to “read” noble gas signatures in time and space.

Isotope dating of groundwater - results from the Gardermoen aquifer

In a joint study (UiO, Eawag and OSL, funded by RCN and UiO Energy), numerous groundwater samples from the Gardermoen aquifer have been collected and analyzed for noble gases and isotopic geochemistry. We will present the results and explain how relative groundwater ages may be derived from 3H/3He contents. Furthermore, noble gas data help explain water mixing, geological heterogeneities and complex flow patterns, which provide important input in flow models. These methods are underutilized in Norway and have great potential in many fields of hydrogeology.

The ICO2P project and the need for intelligent (geochemical !!) monitoring methods

In the ICO2P (read: isotope) project we are developing methods for monitoring existing and future CO2 storage sites on the Norwegian continental shelf by means of surveying noble gas concentrations in produced natural gas and in CO2-rich, separated gas for storage. Establishing a database of isotopic compositions in this way and gaining knowledge about the variance in the noble gas signature for gas from different sources may in turn be applied in future leakage detection along well paths or through ocean-floor sediments. Our motivation is finding cost-effective smart solutions for monitoring the marine environment and being able to differentiate natural CO2 seeps from stored, anthropogenic CO2.

The “Mini-Ruedi”-instrument is developed by researchers at Eawag [1]. It is a portable (60 cm × 40 cm × 14 cm, 13 kg) mass-spectrometer which is unique in its ability to record fluctuations in low concentrations of noble gases, CO2, CH4 and N2 semi-continuously and on-site (Fig. 1). We will demonstrate how it works and discuss with you the potential for future applications. The ICO2P-project is a feasibility study funded by CLIMIT-demo, with project partners from UiO, Eawag and Statoil. We will present preliminary results from the ICO2P-project and some of our ideas for improved future monitoring schemes for CO2 storage sites.

Speakers:

Anja Sundal1, Matthias S. Brennwald2, Per Aagaard1, Philip Ringrose3, 4 & Rolf Kipfer2

1: SUCCESS-FME and University of Oslo, Norway | 2: Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) | 3: Statoil ASA and 4: NTNU, Norway

About the seminar:

The seminar is open for all interested in applications of noble gas signatures in environmental sciences and monitoring schemes.

The seminar is hosted by Department of Geosciences, UiO and the “ICO2P”-project group.

All welcome!

 

Publisert 24. feb. 2017 10:47 - Sist endret 12. okt. 2020 10:33