ASPER academics win award for carbon capture and storage research
Associate Professor Simon Holford and Dr Mark Bunch from the Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources received the award for Best Extended Abstract at the APPEA 2021 Conference and Exhibition in Perth, for their short paper entitled Storing CO2 in buried volcanoes.
Simon Holford being presented the award for Best Extended Abstract.
APPEA is the largest petroleum and energy resources conference in the Southern Hemisphere, bringing together senior politicians, industry leaders, policy makers and energy professionals. The APPEA 2021 conference attracted over 1700 on-site delegates in one of the largest conferences in Australia during the COVID era.
Simon Holford (pictured) was presented the award during the closing session of the conference which featured a panel discussion between the Ministers responsible for energy and resources in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Find out more about their research:
A/Prof Simon Holford Dr Mark Bunch
About the winning paper
The most common approach for geological storage of carbon dioxide is sequestration in depleted hydrocarbon reservoir rocks such as sandstones. However, collaborative research between the Universities of Adelaide, Aberdeen and Canterbury suggests that the vast quantities of buried volcanic rocks in major gas-producing Australian regions such as the Northwest Shelf, Gippsland Basin and Cooper Basin, could represent an alternative option for secure storage of large volumes of carbon dioxide. This is due to the chemical reactivity of certain types of volcanic rocks which promotes the permanent storage of carbon dioxide through natural mineral carbonation.