"Our research has shown that Australia has the potential capacity to store CO2 for many hundreds of years,” said CO2CRC executive director Dr Peter Cook.
"In order to start to assess that capacity and to test the carbon capture, storage and monitoring technologies, we are planning for a pilot research project, which will be one of only four such projects in the world.
"While the capture, storage and monitoring technology is being used successfully in Europe and North America, it is important that we find out how the technology works in Australia.”
The program is scheduled to begin next year.
Meanwhile, CO2CRC researchers are being sought internationally for major geosequestration projects.
In North America, CO2CRC is working on the joint Australia-US Frio Project in Texas, which aims to explore the storage of CO2 in an underground saline aquifer, as well as undertaking capture and storage research in Canada with the University of Regina and the Petroleum Technology Research Centre.
In other international projects, CO2CRC is conducting a study of the carbon storage potential of a number of Asian countries for the Asia-Pacific Economic Council, and is helping produce a major report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on carbon capture and storage.
"We are looking at expanding our international efforts further in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe," Cook said.
CO2CRC researchers have a major role in the next major greenhouse report from the IPCC. As coordinating lead author on the CO2 geosequestration chapter, Cook is helping lay the technical assessments that will help guide the next round of global negotiations and responses in the post-Kyoto period.
