February 2012

Lin Zuo speaks about carbon dioxide mobility in geological carbon sequestration

In December 2011, Lin completed a series of experiments at EMSL (a national scientific user facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) aimed at investigating the CO2 exsolution phenomenon in micro-models. Read the interview and take a look at the video!!

January 2012

Congratulations to Dr. Sam Krevor on his new faculty position

Postdoc Sam Krevor is heading to a new assistant professor faculty position in the Department of Earth Science & Engineering at the Imperial College London starting from January 2012. Congratulations and good luck to Sam!

Sally Benson speaks to NearZero

NearZero is a non-profit organization founded to increase the frequency and value of dialogue between energy experts and those who make and influence energy-related decisions in government and business. Click on the links below to see the videos!

Carbon dioxide capture from power plants

Carbon dioxide storage in geologic formations

Her lab, mules, and carbon capture and storage

EPA rules, long-term liability, and carbon capture and storage

What policy makers need to know about carbon capture and storage

December 5-9, 2011

Benson Lab attends the AGU Fall Meeting 2011 in San Francisco

Tuesday: Sam Krevor - The Relative Permeability of CO2 and Water in Sandstone Rocks at Reservoir Conditions, Session H23C-1271 and Sally Benson - The Influence of Meso-Scale Heterogeneity on Carbon Dioxide Plume Migration and Trapping, Session H24B-01.

Wednesday: Lin Zuo - An Experimental Study of CO2 Exsolution and Relative Permeability Measurements during CO2 Saturated Water Depressurization Relevant to Carbon Sequestration, Session H34B-07.

Friday: Chia-Wei Kuo - Effects of Flow Rate, Gravity and Sub-Core Scale Heterogeneities on CO2/Brine Relative Permeability Measurements, Session H53N-01 and Ronny Pini - Capillary pressure and heterogeneity for the CO2/water system in sandstone rocks, Session H54D-03.

November 20, 2010

Ronny Pini Wins ABB Research Award 2010 for PhD Thesis

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Ronny Pini won the ABB research award 2010 for his excellent PhD thesis "Enhanced Coal Bed Methane Recovery Finalized to Carbon Dioxide Storage." The ceremony was held at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland on November 20, 2010. - Congratulations!

October, 2010

Utah Surface Monitoring Field Trip Blog

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Take a look at this great blog created by Sam!

September 28-29, 2010

Global Climate and Energy Project Research Symposium 2010

September 19-23, 2010

International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies - GHGT 2010

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June 13, 2010

Graduation 2010

On June 13, Ariel Esposito graduated with a Master of Science in Energy Resources Engineering - congratulations!

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May 27-29, 2010

Lab Members Present at the 2010 SPE Western Regional Meeting in Anaheim, CA

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May 24-27, 2010

Battelle Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds Conference

May 10-13, 2010

Benson Lab Presents at 9th Annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Sequestration

May 6, 2010

Lab member Karim Farhat wins the School of Earth Sciences Research Review poster session

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April 28, 2010

SUPRI-C 2010 Affiliates Meeting

The SUPRI-C annual affiliates meeting was held on April 28, 2010.

Doctoral candidate Mike Krause presented his work on sub-core permeability distributions.

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January 12-15, 2010

Caprocks and Seals for Geologic Carbon Sequestration

Many of the Benson Lab members attended the workshop on Caprocks and Seals for Geologic Carbon Sequestration that was organized by the Global Climate and Energy Project and the U.S. Geological Survey. The goal of the workshop was to bring together scientists with expertise in petrophysical, geological, and geochemical properties of caprocks and seals for water and petroleum retention with scientists concerned with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for CO2 storage and retention in geologic strata. Effective and safe storage of CO2 are of particular importance to CCS projects, and utilizing the expertise gained over the decades of seals work by petroleum geologists, hydrologists, and engineers is critical for CCS planning and implementation.

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November 17, 2009

Carbon Capture and Storage: A Bridge to a Low-Carbon Future

Shell and Imperial College London have with joint efforts produced a film that explains why Carbon Capture and Storage can be a bridge to a low-carbon future. The goal is to raise public awareness on CCS.

October 30, 2009

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Advances in Geological CO2 Sequestration

Given the abundant supply of coal in the U.S. and the challenges of substantially scaling up renewable power, fossil fuels are likely to remain a significant source of electricity in this country for decades to come. To limit CO2 emissions from large point sources such as power plants, one promising option is Carbon Capture and Storage: capturing, compressing and transporting CO2 and injecting it into carefully chosen and monitored underground geological formations.

August 2009

Collaborative Research on Carbon Sequestration in Saline Aquifers in China

Three international institutions, Peking University, China University of Geosciences at Wuhan, and the University of Southern California, have formed a unique collaboration to address fundamental issues associated with large-scale sequestration of CO2 in saline formations in China.

January 13, 2009

The Global Problem of Energy: Precourt Institute Panel

Sally Benson and other distinguished panelists discuss energy issues affecting the world today. Panelists include John Doerr (Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), Eric Schmidt (CEO, Google), Jim Sweeney (Director, Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency), Jane Woodward (CEO, MAP and Consulting Professor, Stanford University).

November 16-20, 2008

Benson Lab Presents at GHGT-9 in Washington, DC

The entire Benson lab travelled to Washington, DC to attend the international Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies conference. Jean-Christophe Perrin and Ljuba Miljkovic presented talks on laboratory core-flood experiments and numerical simulations, respectively. Ethan Chabora presented a poster about monitoring pressure transients over CO2 storage reservoirs. Michael Krause presented a poster on the storage characterization of rock cores.

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October 23, 2008

Google Tech Talk - Carbon Dioxide Capture and Sequestration: Hype or Hope?

Sally Benson gives a presentation at the Google campus in Mountain View about carbon capture and sequestration. The talk discussed what we know, and what we don't know and the steps needed to narrow the gap between hype and hope.

October 1-3, 2008

Global Climate and Energy Project Research Symposium 2008

Post-doctoral fellow, Jean-Christophe Perrin, presented a poster on experimental core-flooding on reservoir rocks.

Master's student, Ethan Chabora, presented his work on monitoring of pressure transients in zones over CO2 storage reservoirs.

Doctoral student, Chia-Wei Kuo, presented her recent work in multiphase flow simulations.

Master's student, Michael Krause, presented a poster on the storage characterization of rock cores.

May 5-8, 2008

Benson Lab Presents at 7th Annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Storage

Post-doctoral fellow, Jean-Christophe Perrin, presented the lab's most recent experimental work: exploring the sensitivity of CO2 saturation on injection flow-rate in a Berea core.

Master's student, Ethan Chabora, presented a poster on his work developing analytical methods of monitoring pressure transients overlying CO2 storage reservoirs.

Research associate, Ljuba Miljkovic, presented the Relative Permeability Explorer, encouraging attendees to submit relative permeability data to further develop the collection.

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February 5, 2008

Relative Permeability Explorer Goes Live

The Benson lab is collecting all known relative permeability curves for Brine and CO2 in an online database. This resource is intended to serve the CCS research community in its efforts to better understand the fate of injected CO2.

November 7, 2007

Research Priorities for Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide In Deep Geological Formations

Dr. Benson's testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Innovation Hearing on "Research Priorities for Safe and Efficient Carbon Sequestration Technologies"

November 6, 2007

What are the Administration Priorities for Climate Change Technology?

Oral Testimony of Dr. Sally Benson.