WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a new modeling methodology for determining the capacity and assessing the risks of leakage of potential underground carbon-dioxide reservoirs.

One strategy for mitigating greenhouse gases is to inject compressed carbon dioxide into natural aquifers made of permeable rock soaked with brackish salt water. Carbon dioxide is less viscous and less dense than the water, and, once injected, it rises to the top of the aquifer. The permeable rock usually lies underneath a dense, impermeable "cap rock," that traps the gas deep underground for long periods of time.


Cap rocks are often tilted, however, and as the carbon dioxide rises through the aquifer, it can slip out, eventually making its way back into the atmosphere. Engineers seek to avoid leakage by mapping potential reservoirs and using theoretical tools to predict carbon dioxide flow.

Now doctoral students Christopher MacMinn and Michael Szulczewski and Professor Ruben Juanes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new modeling methodology for determining the capacity of potential reservoirs and for assessing the risks of leakage.