CCS

On behalf of the Energy and Mineral Resources Group Petroleum and Coal (EMR, RWTH Aachen), in 2007 FUMINCO carried out a modelling of geological faults within a lignite seam in the "Rheinische Braunkohlerevier" in connection with the R&D Project “COURAGE”.

COURAGE (CO2 Underground Storage in West Germany) has been an interdisciplinary R&D Project, which dealt with the CCS-Technology (Carbon Capture and Storage). Main aspects of the project were the finding and evaluation of potential carbon dioxide storage options in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. These options involved deep, not exploitable coal seams in the area of the Münsterland (North Rhine-Westphalia), deep saline aquifers in the south of Lower Saxony and parts of the "Rheinische Braunkohlerevier" (North Rhine-Westphalia). The basis for the evaluation of the storage options are the geological conditions. The use of the lignite/coal seams as storage formations imply, that the exploitation of the coal as energy source is uneconomic in the long term and the storage of carbon dioxide is technically and geologically practical.