Technical Themes
Theme 1: Subsurface Storage and Site Selection
Description: The subsurface storage theme addresses key technical challenges in assessing domestic and international geological reservoirs, estimating storage resources and capacity, injectivity rates, and containment for the permanent and safe storage of CO₂. This includes saline aquifers, depleted reservoirs, tight reservoirs, offshore, and basalt storage, or any other storage options for onshore and offshore applications.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- Reservoir Characterization
- Storage Resources and Capacity
- Injectivity Challenges
- Containment
- Regional Assessments
- Screening and Site Selection
- Geochemistry – Rock/Brine/Contaminant Interaction
- Non-Conventional Storage Reservoirs
Theme 2: Subsurface Modeling and Geomechanics
Description: Subsurface modeling and geomechanical studies for CO₂ storage are important to understand storage capacity, injectivity, and containment.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- Static earth models of reservoirs and confining systems
- Analytical models
- Dynamic simulations (including coupled flow and thermal modeling)
- Geomechanical models and simulations
- CO₂-Rock interaction
- Geochemistry
- Integrating numerical modeling with monitoring technologies
Theme 3: Subsurface Risk Assessment
Description: This theme aims to address recent advances in the field of subsurface risk assessment associated with injection and storage of CO₂ in both saline aquifer and EOR settings to better understand the critical concerns of the risks associated with storing and/or utilizing CO₂.
Topics under this theme include, but are not limited to:
- Class VI Well EPA Risk Guidelines
- Qualitative Risk Assessment Tools and Workflows
- Risk Management and Site Performance
- Leakage Assessments and Shallow Aquifers Risk
- Heterogeneous and Compartmentalized Reservoir Risk
- Caprock Integrity Risk
- Fault Reactivation and Induced Seismicity Risk
- Geochemistry Related Risk
Theme 4: Infrastructure and Well Design
Description: This theme intends to explore recent advances and learnings in developing fully integrated CCS projects that include interfacing between capture, transport, and storage sub-systems. This theme also focuses on design elements of surface, and subsurface infrastructure, including wells, that consider regulatory requirements, project needs, and supply chain considerations.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- CO₂ Transport Considerations
- Surface and Downhole Monitoring Design
- Well Sizing and Material Selection Considerations
- Well Coring, Testing and Logging Considerations
- Surface-Subsurface Integration
- Operations and Data Management
- Drilling and Cementing Lessons Learned
- Remediating and Repurposing Existing Wells
Theme 5: EOR, Injection, and Utilization
Description: The EOR, Injection and Utilization theme aims to highlight the use of CO₂ for enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, focusing on the learnings from operators on injecting and monitoring enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. In addition, we are eager to hear about utilization of CO₂ for other purposes such as feedstock for sustainable aviation fuels, cement manufacturing and other technologies.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- CO₂ injection modeling studies in the field or laboratory
- Geochemical insights from CO₂ injection in EOR fields
- Monitoring, reporting and verification of CO₂ in EOR fields
- Studies on wellbore and facilities integrity for EOR projects
- Economic evaluations of CO₂ EOR projects
- Economic evaluations for transitioning fields from “EOR Business as Usual” Class II to Class VI permanent storage
- Regulatory and permitting insights for CO₂ EOR and Utilization
- Utilization of CO₂ for non-EOR applications: synthetic fuels, energy storage, power generation and other technologies
- Surface and Subsurface mineralization technologies for carbon storage
- Foam assisted enhanced carbon sequestration and storage
- Direct sequestration vs utilization – which one makes sense based on policies and economics
Theme 6: Subsurface Monitoring
Description: Subsurface monitoring of injected CO₂ is required by regulators in the US and other countries to confirm that the injected CO₂ stays where it is put. Monitoring is also important for determining the location of the pressure plumes because such plumes can elevate the risk for faulting, seismicity, and reservoir containment issues as well as affect injectivities at other regional injection operations. Lastly, monitoring is required by some regulators to validate that claimed CO₂ injection volumes have been permanently stored to unlock earned financial incentives. This theme welcomes submissions on monitoring technologies, how to evaluate which technologies are fit-for-purpose for a particular site, and how to use these technologies to demonstrate conformance with flow modeling simulations.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- Low-Cost Monitoring
- Integrated Monitoring
- Emerging Technologies
- Monitoring Plan Optimization
Theme 7: Financial, Economics, and Regulatory Framework
Description: While technical challenges with CCUS have been the mainstay of R&D over the years, near-term commercial deployment also hinges on the resolution of non-technical challenges such as legal access to pore space, UIC permitting, long-term liability, policy, and regulations, economic drivers, and economic tools, methods, and models. This session will address these issues in an ever-evolving landscape and sense of urgency with the development and deployment of CCUS technologies.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- Project Financial Risk
- Long-Term Liability
- Regulatory Risk
- Risk of Meeting GHG Mitigation Targets
- Class VI Permitting and Standards
- 45Q, LCFS and Carbon Markets
- Drivers for Profitability
- Economic Tools, Methods and Models
- CCUS Market Projections
- Non-U.S. Regulatory Frameworks
- Surface and Subsurface Ownership
Theme 8: ESGs and Stakeholder Engagement
Description: Environment, sustainability, and governance (ESGs) and stakeholder engagement are critical components to successful development of commercial scale storage programs. Public perception and communication can make or break the advancement of a project.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Lessons Learned
- Environmental, Energy, and Social Justice
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Intersection with Sustainability and SDGs
- Societal Considerations
- Community Outreach
- Application of Computational systems to sustainability
- Field engagement outreach and community development strategies
- Socioeconomic advancement to ESGs and stakeholder engagements in developing counties
- Building strong networks.
Theme 9: ML and Data Analytics Applications
Description: The session seeks contributions to new concepts, workflows, and applications of data analytics and machine learning in the whole lifecycle of CCUS. We are looking for relevant submissions on data access, preparation, denoising, interpretation, modeling, monitoring, natural language processing applications, machine learning misadventures and lessons learned, and technology readiness and field implementation machine learning tools.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- ML in subsurface interpretation, modeling, and integration
- ML in subsurface monitoring
- Generative AI and natural language processing applications to CCUS
- ML misadventures: Applications to CCUS
- ML beyond synthetic data: technology readiness and CCUS field implementation
- Data science applications to CCUS lifecycle
Theme 10: Case Studies
Description: Real world examples and applications are important to help understand the feasibility of using the subsurface to safely and permanently store carbon dioxide and develop methods for commercial deployment. These case studies will overall provide key technical information in order to accelerate large-scale storage of CO₂.
Topics could include, but are not limited to:
- Demonstration/Pilot-Scale Tests
- Large-Scale Tests and Projects
- International Projects
- Life Cycle Analysis
- CCUS in Industry
- Blue Hydrogen and Geothermal
- “Cradle to the Grave”
- Regional Carbon Initiatives
- CarbonSAFE Projects
- Lessons Learned