LEEDS, England, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A British study has determined underground carbon dioxide storage could be a safe, long-term solution to one of the Earth's climate change problems.
University of Leeds researchers said they determined porous sandstone, drained of oil, could provide a safe reservoir for carbon dioxide. The study found sandstone reacts with injected fluids more quickly than had been predicted and such reactions are essential if the captured CO2 is not to leak back to the surface.
The researchers said their study, led by doctoral student Stephanie Houston and Professor Bruce Yardley, gives a clear indication that carbon dioxide sequestered deep underground could also react quickly with ordinary rocks to become assimilated into the deep formation water.
"It had been thought that reaction might take place over hundreds or thousands of years," said Yardley. "But there's a clear implication in this study that if we inject carbon dioxide into rocks, these reactions will happen quite quickly making it far less likely to escape."
The research appears in the December issue of the journal Geology.
