Greenhouse Issues (July 2003) Number 67

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International Test Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture

By Ted Morris

On 3rd March 2003, the International Test Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture (ITC) was formally launched in Regina, Canada (Greenhouse Issues number 65). Opening remarks were made by the Honourable Ralph Goodale, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, the Honourable Eric Cline Q.C., the Minister of Industry and Resources for Saskatchewan, Dr David Barnard, the President of the University of Regina and John Barrie, from Fluor Canada.

The ITC is an integrated research and demonstration facility comprising extensive research and analytic facilities, a one-tonne per day test facility in Regina and a pre-commercial demonstration unit, with a capacity of four or more tonnes per day, attached to a coal-fired electrical generating station in southern Saskatchewan. This combination enables a comprehensive research and testing program to be undertaken.

The four tonne per day unit has been operational for some time, and has been providing baseline data using monoethanolamine as the base chemical solvent. The new pilot plant at the University of Regina is designed with three absorber columns to allow the testing of different packings and to allow for change-out of a column without shutting down the facility. The unit is entirely stainless steel, to allow for the testing of potentially more corrosive chemicals or chemical concentrations. Flue gases are provided by a 30 KW micro-turbine and a 250 KW industrial steam boiler, which also provides the steam for the stripper column. Output from the unit, as well as the pre-commercial unit, is available to consortium members on the web.

The formal opening of the ITC was well attended by people from the University, the community and from outside Regina. The speakers noted the foresjosirt of the province and the University in creating the facility to look at technology for the capture of carbon dioxide from the flue gases of various types of utility boilers. The ITC is part of the University of Regina's commitment to research excellence in Energy and Environment, one of its five research focus areas.

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Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum

The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) is an international climate change initiative that will focus on development of carbon capture and storage technologies as a means of accomplishing long-term stabilisation of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. This initiative is designed to improve these technologies through coordinated research and development with international partners and private industry.

Three types of cooperation are currently envisioned within the framework of the Forum: data gathering, information exchange, and joint projects. Data gathered from participating countries will be aggregated, summarised, and distributed to all of the Forum's participants. Joint projects will be identified by member nations with the Forum serving as a mechanism for bringing together government and private sector representatives from member countries.

The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum will be a ministerial-level organisation. Current plans call for government officials to convene formally twice a year. The United States will assume responsibility for staffing and administering the Forum with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) serving as the lead U.S. agency. DOE will coordinate with the Department of State in identifying international partners. Meeting sites will likely be rotated among member nations.

What does DOE expect the Forum to do?
According to the press release, DOE expects that, whilst many countries continue to make substantial efforts to enhance the deployment of renewable energy sources and to developing energy efficient technologies, fossil energy use for power generation worldwide will double by 2030. Many nations are also advancing new technologies for nuclear energy, which emits no greenhouse gases. These measures will help in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, but most scientists believe that they alone will not be sufficient to meet the goal of stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at acceptable levels.

DOE indicates that global emissions of anthropogenic CO2 are projected to increase 60% by 2020 as many nations continue to rely on coal, oil and natural gas to fuel economic growth. Fossil energy is thought to be too large a part of the global economy and too inherently cost-effective to be eliminated from the world's energy mix. Carbon sequestration, however, offers the potential for countries to achieve large-scale reductions of greenhouse gases without necessitating massive and economically disruptive changes to their energy infrastructures. Examples of carbon sequestration technologies includes those which separate carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plant emissions and store it in deep underground geological formations. These types of technologies will be the primary focus of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.

If costs can be reduced and technologies verified as being both practical and safe, carbon sequestration could represent a key pathway for economically stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas and for securing a sustainable energy future. The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum aims to provide a mechanism for cooperative efforts to develop and deploy this carbon management approach around the world.

Joint Projects

Studies of various approaches to carbon sequestration cross a number of disciplines – from the physical mechanisms of CO2 capture, to the geology of deep reservoir injection, to the biology of agricultural practices, to the chemistry of carbon reactions. Expertise in these disciplines exists throughout the world's technical community, and the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum will offer a way for nations to collaborate in a manner that focuses the world's best minds on the most challenging problems. Global cooperation is already underway in some areas of carbon sequestration. One of the most notable projects is the Weyburn oil recovery project in Saskatchewan, Canada, where CO2 from the Great Plains Coal Gasification Plant in North Dakota is being injected into an active oil field. Scientists from 18 nations are monitoring the project (Greenhouse Issues number 61), to determine if the CO2 remains entrapped in the field. A similar monitoring effort is taking place in connection with the Sleipner Project in the North Sea off the coast of Norway (Greenhouse Issues numbers 48 and 54).

In addition to these activities, other carbon sequestration technologies are emerging from the world's research laboratories. For several of these technologies, a key technical hurdle will be to demonstrate them on a scale large enough to verify their future commercial practicality. International collaboration will be important in leveraging resources for many of these large-scale sequestration projects. One such project could be the new hydrogen production and sequestration prototype power plant announced by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham on February 27, 2003. This project, estimated to cost $1 billion over the next 10 years, would combine electricity and hydrogen production with the virtual total elimination of harmful emissions, including greenhouse gases. International support for this project could be considered by the member countries of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.

The Inaugural Meeting

Almost 400 people attended the inaugural meeting which was held 23rd–25th June 2003, in Washington. The meeting lasted two and a half days. Delegations had been invited from 15 states. The objective of the meetings was to sign a "Charter" to carry forward, by international co-operation, the declared aims of the CSLF.
Two parallel sessions were held to start the meeting, on policy/regulation/finance and technology. Bob Kane (US DOE) and Kelly Thambimuthu (NRCan, and Chairman of IEA GHG), co-chaired the technology session. Later "stakeholder" sessions considered issues such as IPR, international treaty constraints, labour and commercial risks. During the latter part of the day a restricted session involved national delegates discussed the draft charter proposed by the USA.

On day two, a single forum in the morning saw a number of speeches from the USA, consideration of challenges and goals, and a review of two major projects in the field - Sleipner and Weyburn.

Claude Mandil, Executive Director of the IEA made a speech supportive of CO2 capture and storage as a policy objective. In it, he revealed for the first time, the results of some of the modelling by the IEA, which used data supplied by IEA GHG. At a value of 50$/tonne of CO2 up to 20% of the world's power stations could be operating with CO2 capture and storage by 2040. He also gave a range of costs for producing hydrogen from fossil fuels with CO2 capture versus renewables: the results came out at 8-10$/GJ using natural gas, 10-13$/GJ using coal followed by a variety of renewables (costs ranging from 15-25$/GJ) but the underlying assumptions were not declared. He also used the opportunity to hjosirljosirt the work of IEA GHG and the recent ZETs initiative of the IEA's Working Party on Fossil Fuels. He concluded by emphasising that the IEA is supportive of the aims of the CSLF and willing to enter a dialogue on how the IEA mjosirt help.

He was followed by Dr Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, who endorsed the aims of the CSLF, gave a broad background to the work of the IPCC and hjosirljosirted the report currently being produced on CO2 capture and storage in which work IEA GHG staff and Executive Committee members are very prominent.

In the afternoon national delegates returned to consider an up-dated draft of the charter and various activities such as further "stakeholder" debates, this time on communications issues. Following a series of national statements, John Topper (representing the Operating Agent for IEA GHG) was invited to make a statement on the way in which an IEA Implementing Agreement mjosirt be used as an umbrella for international co-operative projects.

On the third day there was a formal signing session of the first international charter in support of the CSLF, followed by another restricted session to consider the way forward.

Organisation will be via two groups: a policy group and a technical group with the latter reporting to the former. The policy group will be chaired by USA with Australia and Italy providing the vice chairs. The technical group will be chaired by USA with Canada and Norway as vice chairs. There are no legally binding commitments; Intellectual Property rjosirts will be defined as the arrangements develop.

Signatories were Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, European Commission, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Russia, UK, and USA; altogether 14 nations. Only South Africa declined, at least until they had given the issues further consideration. Hence, it was a considerable achievement on which the USA is to be congratulated. Countries not attending may still join and the secretariat is open to dialogue and requests of this nature.

Secretariat duties will be fulfilled by US DoE, supported by the US Energy Association. All available presentations are on the US Energy Association web site (www.usea.org).

For additional information write to: Robert Card, Under Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585, USA. Or contact: Robert Kane, Sequestration Issue Manager, Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585. (202) 586-4753 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Reducing Methane Emissions in Coal Mine Ventilation

Part II: Mitigation Costs and Markets

By Karl Schultz, U.S. EPA

In this two part series, we examine the potential for reducing methane emissions from coal mine ventilation air. In part one of this series (Greenhouse Issues number 66), we examined ventilation air methane emissions and the technologies that are available or under development to reduce these emissions. Part two summarizes the findings of EPA's marginal abatement cost analyses and considers the size of the potential mitigation market. It concludes the series by considering some of the key issues that need to be addressed in order to develop the VAM market.

Mitigation Costs, Markets and Steps Towards Market Development
EPA published a report in July 2003 that evaluates the global VAM market. The Assessment of the Worldwide Market Potential for Oxidizing Coal Mine Ventilation Air Methane (available on EPA's website at www.epa.gov/coalbed) estimates VAM emissions for the major underground coal-producing countries and the methane concentrations of these emissions (the most critical factor in technology choice and cost). It uses these data and cost estimates for the most universally applicable technology, flow reversal reaction, at prevailing country-level power prices to determine the size of the market based on varying price signals for power and CO2 equivalent emission reductions. Other technologies may reduce the mitigation costs but there are not yet sufficient costing data on other technologies, and no other known technology can oxidize nearly the entire amount of available VAM without the use of supplemental fuel.

EPA's report developed marginal abatement costs curves (MAC curves) to better understand the price signals required to reduce VAM emissions economically. EPA's MACs estimate how much it costs to oxidize and produce power for a certain quantity of VAM in a given national or global market. Curves were prepared for 12 key countries, and a composite global MAC depicted the marginal costs for the entire VAM resource base. The single largest factor influencing the mitigation costs is the concentration of methane in the ventilation air. The greater the average concentration, the lower the average costs.

Of the total of 237 million metric tons of CO2e VAM emissions (16.6 billion cubic meters of methane), with a net project cost of $3.00 per tonne of CO2e at average industrial power prices, approximately 172 million tonnes of CO2e could be oxidized. The analysis shows that the quantity of emissions that may be mitigated at lower costs is much less: at $2.00 per tonne approximately 60 million tonnes of CO2e could be mitigated.

Translating these costs to market size, at $3.00/tonne CO2e, nearly 3 000 MW of net electric capacity could be developed, and annual revenue could approach $900 million. Table 1 also shows that the largest VAM emitters are also the largest markets for VAM projects. China has the potential to reduce nearly 5.5 billion cubic meters/year of VAM for less than $3.00/tonne CO2e, which may lead to $3.8 billion worth of equipment sales and $430 million in annual revenues. The U.S. is the second largest market, with nearly $1.5 billion in equipment sales potential and $150 million in annual revenue at $3.00 per tonne of CO2e. While these two countries represent more than half of the global market, there are significant market potentials in most of the important underground coal mining nations.

EPA's analyses demonstrate that there is a large global supply of ventilation air methane, which can become a valuable energy and environmental resource. In order to develop this market, however, a number of coordinated steps must be undertaken:

VAM technologies require demonstration at commercial scale. Currently, demonstration efforts are planned or are already underway at mines in both Australia and the U.S. Field demonstrations in other countries would be useful to better understand the practical issues involved in adapting the technologies to the national conditions and markets.

A reasonable price for both the extracted energy, and the greenhouse gas emission reductions is necessary. At prevailing power prices, over two thirds of global VAM could be avoided for less than $3/tonne CO2e.

For those projects seeking revenues from the avoided emissions, accurate quantification of the emissions baseline, and monitoring, verification, and third party certification may be necessary.

All interconnections between the mine ventilation airshaft and the oxidation unit must be designed and, where required, approved to remove any safety concerns for mining operations. The experiences of demonstration project developers in Australia and the U.S. in obtaining safety approval will be useful elsewhere.

Information on the VAM abatement technologies, markets and other issues related to project development must be compiled, assessed and disseminated. EPA already has a web site (www.epa.gov/coalbed, visit the "ventilation air methane" section) that provides a significant amount of technical and market data, and EPA will continue its efforts to develop and provide unbiased information to industry and to partner with other organizations world wide.

Developing the global ventilation air methane market is likely to be a challenging effort on the part of all involved. However, the technical and market fundamentals are strong and the demand for low cost, hjosir quality greenhouse gas emission reductions appears great, so relatively prompt adoption of these technologies is both possible and economically and environmentally beneficial.

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Acid Gas Injection in Western Canada

By Stefan Bachu and Bill Gunter

Geological storage of CO2 is a mitigation option for significantly reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere that is immediately available and technologically feasible, as a result of the experience gained in CO2-flood enhanced oil recovery and in lesser-known acid-gas injection operations in Rocky Mountain foreland basins such as Alberta in western Canada. Over the past decade, oil and gas producers in Alberta and British Columbia have been faced with a growing challenge to reduce atmospheric emissions of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), which is produced from "sour" hydrocarbon pools that contain H2S and CO2. These gases have to be removed before the produced oil or gas is sent to markets. Because surface desulphurization is costly and the surface storage of the produced sulphur constitutes a liability, increasingly more operators are turning to acid gas disposal by injection into deep geological formations. Acid gas is a mixture of H2S and CO2, with minor traces of hydrocarbons, that is the byproduct of "sweetening" sour hydrocarbons. In addition to providing a cost-effective alternative to sulphur recovery, the deep injection of acid gas reduces atmospheric emissions of noxious substances and alleviates public concerns resulting from sour gas production and flaring.

Since 1989, 42 acid-gas injection operations have been approved in western Canada (35 in Alberta and 7 in British Columbia) for acid gas injection at 48 sites (at a few operations injection takes place at several locations or into 2 different formations). Of these, one operation, although approved, was never implemented, another one has been rescinded by the operator because the gas plant producing the acid gas has been decommissioned, and a third one has been shut down by the regulatory agency because the operator greatly exceeded the approved operating parameters. Figure 1 (rjosirt) shows the location of acid gas injection operations in western Canada. The size of these 42 acid-gas injection operations is relatively small, with approved injection rates and volumes generally less than 0.1 million m3/d and 200 million m3, respectively.

Although the purpose of the acid gas injection operations is to dispose of H2S, significant quantities of CO2 are being injected at the same time because it is costly to separate the two gases. The composition of the injected acid gas varies between 1 mol% H2S and 98 mol% CO2, and 85 mol% H2S and 15 mol% CO2, with minor hydrocarbon gases constituting the balance (Figure 2a). The acid gas is or was mixed with water at surface, prior to injection, at 6 sites. Of these, two are actually water disposal sites with a minor amount of dissolved acid gas ("sour water" disposal), while a strong acid gas solution is injected at the other 4 operations. Pure acid gas, with minor hydrocarbons, is injected at all other operations. At 27 sites the acid gas is injected into deep saline aquifers in regional-scale flow systems confined by regional-scale aquitards. At 17 sites injection took or takes place in depleted oil and/or gas reservoirs, and at 4 sites the acid gas is injected into the underlying water leg of depleted oil and gas reservoirs. To date, more CO2 than H2S has been injected to date into deep geological formations in western Canada (Figure 2b).

In their pure state, CO2 and H2S have similar phase equilibria (Figure 2c). The phase behavior of the acid gas binary system is represented by a continuous series of two-phase envelopes that separate the liquid and gas phases. If water is present, both CO2 and H2S form hydrates at temperatures up to 10ºC for CO2 and more than 30ºC for H2S. If there is too little water, the water is dissolved in the acid gas and hydrates will generally not form. The properties of the acid gas mixture are used in facility design and operation to optimize storage and minimize risk. The acid gas is separated, compressed, transported and injected at temperatures in the system generally greater than 35°C to avoid hydrate formation, which could plug the pipelines and injection well. Usually a four-stage compression system is used to dewater the acid gas to water content lower than the saturation limit, to avoid corrosion. The acid gas is injected into the formation in a dense-fluid phase, to increase storage capacity and decrease buoyancy (Figure 2c).

The selection of an acid-gas injection site needs to address various considerations that relate to: proximity to sour oil and gas production that is the source of acid gas; confinement of the injected gas; effect of acid gas on the rock matrix; protection of energy, mineral and groundwater resources; equity interests; wellbore integrity and public safety. Knowledge of the geological setting and its characteristics is critical to assess the integrity of the host formation or reservoir, and the short- and long-term fate of the injected acid gas. The injection zone must be free of natural fractures, and the injection pressure must be below a certain threshold to ensure that fracturing is not induced. All the wells and their status in the vicinity of the injection well must be identified to ensure that there is no potential for leakage through existing wells. To avoid diffuse gas migration through the pore space of the overlying caprock or aquitard, the difference between the injection pressure and the pressure in the confining layer must be less than the caprock threshold displacement pressure.

Acid gas injection in western Canada occurs over a wide range of aquifer and reservoir characteristics and operating conditions. The shallow injection zones (705 m to 913 m depth) correspond actually to sour water injection. At 29 operations the acid gas is injected into deep carbonate formations, mostly platform carbonates but also a few carbonate reefs, with the remainder into sandstone rocks sites, respectively. Shales constitute the overlying confining unit (caprock) in most cases, with tjosirt limestones, evaporites and anhydrites for the remainder.

The range of depth, temperature and pressure, and the rock characteristics of these injection operations show that CO2 can be safely injected at great depths, increasing thus the storage capacity by achieving hjosirer CO2 density. Safety is also increased by lowering CO2 buoyancy, hence the CO2 migration potential, and by lengthening the flow path and increasing the number of barriers to migration, such as intervening aquitards. The porosity and permeability of the acid-gas injection formations in western Canada are significantly less, and pressures and temperatures are significantly hjosirer than those of the Utsira aquifer in the North Sea at Sleipner West, where CO2 is injected into a weakly-compacted formation in an off-shore cratonic basin. These porosity, permeability, pressure and temperature values are much more representative of aquifers and reservoirs in continental sedimentary basins that have undergone compaction and erosion, like those between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians in North America, where CO2 injection and geological storage on a large scale is most likely to be implemented in Canada and the United States.

Acid gas injection operations represent a perfect commercial-scale analogue to geological storage of CO2. Beside western Canada, acid gas is currently injected into deep geological formation in the United States, mostly in Wyoming. Plans are under way to use acid gas injection for developing the huge reserves around the Caspian Sea, in the Middle East and in Indonesia. The experience of these operations shows that gas storage in geological media is a mature technology that can successfully be expanded to and applied in large-scale operations that will reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere from large CO2 point sources. The technology developed in the engineering aspects (i.e., design, materials, leakage prevention and safety) can be easily adopted for large-scale operations for CO2 geological storage, since a CO2 stream with no H2S is less corrosive and hazardous. However, before large-scale implementation, a series of questions need addressing, the most important ones relating to the short- and long-term fate of the injected CO2.

The acid-gas injection operations in western Canada provide the opportunity to learn about the characteristics and safety of these operations, and represent a unique opportunity to investigate the feasibility of CO2 geological storage. For example, information about these operations can be used for the screening and identification of future sites for the geological storage of CO2. The Alberta Geological Survey and the Alberta Research Council have compiled all the information about these operations that exists with the regulatory agencies in western Canada. This compilation is available to member countries of IEA GHG (see Greenhouse Issues number 66, Report PH4/18). The two organizations currently continue the effort to complete and expand this characterization. In addition, efforts are under way to establish a monitoring program at one of these sites.

For further information, contact: Stefan Bachu, Alberta Geological Survey, Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, AB, Canada, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Bill Gunter, Alberta Research Council, AB, Canada, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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European CO2NET Gets Off to a Flying Start

CO2NET, the European Carbon Dioxide Network, facilitating co-operation on CO2 geological storage, CO2 capture and zero emissions technology options has been successfully launched with overwhelming support from around Europe and further afield.

From an initial 29 members, there are currently some 54 organisations in 16 European countries plus Australia contributing to the Network with over 200 individuals actively involved in its work. These organisations range from major multinational companies to SME's, together with many Research Institutes and Universities.

The launch of CO2NET took place at the European Research 2002 conference held in Brussels from 11th – 13th November 2002 to mark the commencement of the European Union's Sixth Framework Research Programme, 2002 to 2006.

Despite fierce competition, CO2NET was selected for a Participation event and CO2NET with the SACS project were chosen as a joint exhibition entry.
At the Participation event, nine CO2NET-associated European projects on capture, storage and zero emissions presented their work and results to date. Copies of these presentations may be found on the Network's website www.CO2net.com

There have been two other major events to date and much activity throughout the Network's work programme, which is already achieving deliverables ahead of schedule, as well as undertaking significant additional commitments for the European Commission.

On 8th January 2003, on behalf of the European Commission, CO2NET organised the Framework 6 (FP6) Opportunities Seminar, which was held at the DTI Conference Centre, London and hosted by Trade Partners UK. Open to all, over 160 people took this unique opportunity to find out more about details of the FP6 First Call and the CO2 Funding Opportunities.

Three presentations from the European Commission set the scene. Proposal ideas in the fields of Pre- and Post-Combustion Integrated Projects, Networks of Excellence on capture and storage and Co-ordination actions were presented. As a networking opportunity to identify new partners, 24 organisations, including several from candidate member states, took the opportunity to present a profile of their expertise and capabilities. All presentations from this seminar may be found on www.CO2net.com

The Network's first deliverable and third Network event was the Work Planning Meeting, hosted by the Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot Watt University, UK from 8th -10th April 2003. Fifty-four attendees represented 34 members and all are extremely active and supportive of the objectives of the Network. To cover the meeting schedule, parallel sessions were held throughout the three days. The excellent facilities and support provided by the Institute set the standard for the Network's future events.

All aspects of the Network's work programme were addressed during the meeting. Tasks and responsibilities for delivery of results were dispersed throughout the membership. The main elements of the work programme are:

R&D Strategy

The Network provides a "think-tank" of expertise, information for policy-making and facilitates the decision-making process at European and national level. A key element of the Network's role within Europe is to assess and define R&D strategy.

The first year's work is to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art and recommendations for further RTD with a view to the second call for proposals within the European Framework Programme 6 (FP6), expected in the autumn 2004. For the work to be used by the European Commission, a final draft is planned for presentation at the next Network event in April 2004.

Brainstorming sessions in the six strategy work groups on CO2 sources, CO2 Capture, CO2 Transport, Storage through Enhanced Coal Bed Methane, Storage through Enhanced Oil Recovery and Aquifer storage produced report outlines, which focus on state-of-the-art, definition of the main issues, identification of the technology gaps and recommendations for further R&D.

The group input is now being finalised to compile a draft recommendation report for the European Commission. The outcome of the first call for FP6 projects will be integrated into the final recommendations. This input is available to members for comment.

Research Projects, Skills and IPR Database

To facilitate research collaboration and map European centres of excellence, a research project, skills and IPR database is being developed, building on and continuing the data gathering already undertaken by others, such as IEA GHG.

A global overview of required activities is complete. Country representatives, associated project owners and coordinators have been engaged. The database inventory was agreed and task delegation was completed at the meeting.

Developing and populating the database, which will eventually be available in the public domain on the CO2NET website is taking place now, with presentation of the first set-up planned at the next meeting in April 2004. If you have a research project and / or expertise, which should be on this CO2 capture and storage database, please send your contact details to the Network at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and the work team will contact you.

Training and Education

Building on previous work included in the associated European projects, the training and education team is developing training materials and educational activities to increase awareness and acceptance of the technologies for CO2 capture and storage.

Data input and collection is particularly important. Ideally, access to third party experience is needed and printed brochures should be available. These are not currently budgeted and offers of sponsorship, financial or in-kind, to fund this work would be welcome.

Brochures are planned for: Experts on "Technical lessons learned", NGO's on "Risk management" and the Public "On CO2 Sequestration". Detailed brochure content was agreed at the meeting. Course material for professional interactive education is planned. Future communication strategy will be developed.

Education and training material is expected to be downloadable from the Network website. The first of these, the brochure for experts is planned for December 2003.

Best Practice and Risk Assessment

The Network is assessing best practice to lay the foundations for benchmarking and standardisation. To facilitate identification and review of best practice documents for CO2 storage, a questionnaire is being developed to collect potential best practice information from projects that have not yet produced best practice documents. If you have information to contribute to this review, please send your contact details to the Network at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and the work team will contact you.

The members began initial discussions on risk acceptance criteria for CO2 storage. Preliminary results will be published on the CO2NET forum on the website and CO2NET members will be invited to comment.

Technical Reports

A technical library of documents will eventually be available in the public domain of the Network's website. Volumes on CO2 capture and CO2 storage are being prepared. Content details and chapter authors are agreed.

Technical Presentations

The technical session rounded off the three-day meeting and included updated information on:

The presentations are available to Network members on the website.
CO2NET Website

The core of the Network is a sophisticated website that embraces interactive forum technology to provide real-time communication links and is the prime vehicle for CO2NET members to discuss, share and exchange information. The website can be found at www.CO2net.com.

As the other work tasks in CO2NET deliver their material, this site will become a significant repository of information and expertise ranging from the research projects, skills and IPR database, state-of-the-art reviews, RTD strategies, best practice codes to technical briefing documents on all aspects of CO2, designed for a range of stakeholders from the general public to technical experts.

The website is now fully operational, completing the Network's second deliverable. Throughout the three-day meeting, website familiarisation and training was provided to all participants. The website is linked to interactive forum software to enable direct website communication between members and will trial an electronic workshop in late 2004 to facilitate the development of the European Research Area "Virtual Centre of Excellence" for CO2 storage, capture, reduction and elimination; a Network goal towards establishing safe, technically feasible, socially acceptable CO2 mitigation options for wide scale introduction.
CO2NET Events

The 2004 Annual Seminar and next meeting of the Network membership is scheduled for 20th – 22nd April 2004 at TNO in Utrecht, the Netherlands to discuss and agree state of the art and best practice, forward actions concerning RTD and demonstration projects, research, competencies and IPR database content, release of information into the public domain, competency gaps and future interactive web meetings.

If you are interested in attending the biannual events in 2004 and 2005, becoming involved in the work of CO2NET and your organisation is not already a member, membership is still open. Membership applications can be made on-line through the website at www.CO2net.com.

Different membership fees to October 2005 apply for the scale and nature of organisations. Membership is now available for non-EU organisations involved in EU CO2 related projects.
CO2NET Contact Details

Please address enquiries to: CO2NET, c/o Technology Initiatives Ltd., 18 Church Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1JP, UK. Tel: +44 1892 540820, Fax: +44 1892 540824 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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