Associated Press: Scientists develop tech to track carbon dioxide

Scientists have developed a method for detecting and tracking carbon dioxide deep underground, giving the federal government an important tool as people look for ways to keep carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from crowding the atmosphere.

Scientists working with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory used colorless, nontoxic liquids called perflourocarbon tracers to essentially fingerprint carbon dioxide that was injected into a coal seam in northwestern New Mexico.

They followed the carbon dioxide's movement by tracking the tracers.

Using the tracers would help eliminate some of the uncertainty surrounding carbon capture and sequestration, said Brian Strazisar, a physical scientist at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh.

"There is going to be some sort of requirement that we verify that the carbon dioxide is going where we expect it to and that it's not going back into the atmosphere or into geologic zones that weren't intended. The tracers help with that," he said.

With about one-third of the United States' carbon emissions coming from power plants and other large polluters, scientists have been looking at underground fissures, caverns and coal beds as places where those emissions can be stored to reduce a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

It's those gases that are being blamed for global warming. The Obama administration established a task force on carbon capture and sequestration and has pledged $4 billion for related research, the goal being to get CCS technology widely deployed within 10 years.

At Pump Canyon near Aztec, N.M., scientists injected about 18,400 tons of carbon dioxide along with the tracers into a coal layer about 3,000 feet below the surface.

Special units set up at three nearby coal bed methane production wells and in shallow bore holes throughout the area monitored for the tracers and the injected CO2. The project lasted about a year.

The technology can measure concentrations as small as parts-per-quadrillion. It can also tell the difference between injected carbon dioxide and CO2 that is naturally produced.

"The tracers are a direct observation. They're less subjective and less interpretive," he said. "We can actually forecast how much a tracer is going to go where and then measure it and watch for it. They will help nail down the uncertainty."

Sean McCoy, manager of the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Regulatory Project at Carnegie Mellon University, wasn't involved in the study but said it appears from the findings that the tracer technology will improve scientists' ability to characterize places where they're thinking of storing CO2 over long periods of time.

But he pointed to the cost, pore space ownership issues and liability.

Read the original release.