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Environmental Geosciences (DEG)

Abstract

DOI:10.1306/eg.11181010017

Long-term surface carbon dioxide flux monitoring at the Ketzin carbon dioxide storage test site

Martin Zimmer,1 Peter Pilz,2 Jorg Erzinger3

1GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; [email protected]
2GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
3GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany

AUTHORS

Martin Zimmer received his Dr. rer. nat. in mineralogy in 1993 from the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Germany. Since 1993, he has been employed at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, where he has managed an ICP-MS laboratory and participated in several research projects on gas geochemistry and gas monitoring. His research interest is on gas and fluid geochemistry. Currently he is involved in CO2 sequestration projects in Ketzin, Germany.

Peter Pilz has been a postdoctoral research fellow at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences since 2008, where he has worked in CO2 storage projects. He received a degree in geology (diploma) from the Freie Universitat Berlin in 1997, and a Dr. rer. nat. in geosciences from the Universitat Potsdam, Germany, in 2008. His research interest is mainly focused on gas geochemistry and on noble gas isotopes.

Jorg Erzinger is professor of geochemistry at University of Potsdam and head of research section 4.2: Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry at the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ since 1992. He received his Dr. rer. nat. in geochemistry from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1981. His current main research interest is on geochemistry of fluids and gases.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Birgit Plessen from the GFZ for the Corg and Ntot analyses. We thank all partners of the CO2SINK project for their continuous support and help. The CO2SINK and additional Ketzin projects were funded by the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. We thank Mary T. Lavin-Zimmer for her comments on this manuscript.

ABSTRACT

Subsurface geologic storage of carbon dioxide calls for sophisticated monitoring tools with respect to long-term safety and environmental impact issues. Despite extensive research, many factors governing the fate of injected carbon dioxide (CO2) remain unclear. To identify possible risks through leakage of the CO2 storage reservoir, a program for monitoring of the CO2 flux at the surface was started at the Ketzin test site, which allows to distinguish between natural temporal and spatial flux variations and a potential leakage.

To gain adequate long-term baseline data on the local background CO2 flux variations, CO2 soil gas flux, soil moisture, and temperature measurements were conducted once a month during a 6-yr period. Furthermore, soil samples were analyzed for their organic carbon and total nitrogen contents.

The mean flux of all sampling sites before the CO2 injection (2005–2007) was 2.8 mumol mminus2 sminus1 (ranging from 2.4 to 3.5), with a Q10 factor of 2.4, and in the years after commencing injection (2009–2010), 2.4 mumol mminus2 sminus1 (ranging from 2.2 to 2.5), with the same Q10 factor. The CO2 flux rate is mainly controlled by the soil temperature. A significant influence of diurnal temperature variation and soil moisture was not detected. The spatial variability of the CO2 flux among the 20 sampling locations ranges from 1.0 to 4.5 mumol mminus2 sminus1, depending on the organic carbon and total nitrogen content of the soil.

Through comparison with the long-term measurements, unusual high CO2 fluxes can theoretically be distinguished from natural variations.

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