The first Brazilian Field Lab fully dedicated to CO2 MMV experiments: a closer look at atmospheric leakage detection

The first CO2 Field Lab built in Brazil was developed at the Ressacada Farm, in Florianopolis, SC with the goal of diminishing technical gaps in CO2 storage covering research in Measuring, Monitoring and Verification (MMV) techniques, a need identified in the PETROBRAS Strategic Plan. Through the Company R&D Center (CENPES), and the Climate Change Mitigation Technological Program (PROCLIMA), PETROBRAS is sponsoring a joint 4-year research Project, in which both company and local academia personnel are collaborating to deploy, test and assess multiple near-surface CO2 detection technologies. Longer term objectives include the validation of accurate and efficient detection, measurement and quantification tools to be deployed in large scale commercial CGS (Carbon Geological Storage) sites scheduled to be installed in the country to assist in validating storage efficiency and minimizing risk. In September 2013, the first CO2 injection campaign was carried out, in which small volumes of gaseous food-grade industrial CO2 (with a delta C-13 signature of ca.-32 ppmil) were injected into the ground at shallow levels through a vertical 3 m depth well and then migrated into the atmosphere. The campaign was run over 12 days, for 24 hours a day, at injection rates low enough not to offer any risks to the formation integrity and enabled the simultaneous assessment of CO2 behavior in the soil, in the groundwater, at the surface and in the air. This paper presents an overview of the atmospheric measurements carried out at Ressacada, covering the background, injection and post-injection scenarios. (c) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.