Carbon dioxide can remain stored in underground reservoirs for at least 100,000 years without significantly corroding cap rock, according to new research from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Researchers investigated a natural CO2 storage reservoir in Utah to reach their determination, which they say increases confidence in the safety of storing anthropogenic CO2 from carbon capture and storage projects.
“A major obstacle to the implementation of CCS is the uncertainty over the long-term fate of the CO2 which impacts regulation, insurance, and who assumes the responsibility for maintaining CO2 storage sites. Our study demonstrates that geological carbon storage can be safe and predictable over many hundreds of thousands of years,” study lead author Mike Bickle, director of the university’s Center for Carbon Capture and Storage, said in a press release.
The study was published Thursday in the journal Nature Communications.