CO2 lab at University of Western Australia

2012-10-03 09:00 by Anja Reitz

The Australian Government is to fund a $48 million National Geosequestration Laboratory (NGL) at the Australian Resources Research Centre (ARRC) in Perth with nodes at other Australian sites, including a new CO2 research facility at UWA.

The NGL is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education through a federal Education Investment Fund.

The NGL will help to develop innovative solutions to minimise risk and uncertainty in the long-term geological storage of carbon dioxide. The research forms a key component of Australia's efforts to achieve a reduced carbon resources and energy economy.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Johnson said the University's new CO2 laboratory and the NGL would be a significant drawcard for attracting international research talent and cooperation, and would help Australia to build capability and create a talent pool in carbon capture storage.

"Universities play an important role in carbon storage R&D and, together with other institutions, industry and government, we can help to provide certainty, objective data and analysis, and the rigour needed to find the right technology for this process," he said.

UWA's Energy and Minerals Institute Director and WA:ERA Board member Tim Shanahan said the NGL helped to position Australia as a world leader in developing deployable CCS solutions.

"Research outcomes at UWA will be used to reduce and capture carbon emissions in the most efficient and safe way," Mr Shanahan said.

"UWA's state of the art CO2 facility will be led by world-class scientists to produce cutting-edge research into new techniques in geophysical monitoring and further our understanding of the complex properties of CO2 through advanced process engineering.

"The teaching labs will ensure our students graduate with the highest skills and most relevant, accredited training."

The NGL will operate as a collaboration between CSIRO, UWA and Curtin University. It complements and builds on the successes of the Western Australian Energy Research Alliance and aims to develop and deploy critical research and development to help enable commercial-scale carbon storage in Australia.

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Source: Carbon Capture Journal - Storage, Sep  30  2012

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