The National Geosequestration Laboratory (NGL) is a collaboration between CSIRO, The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Curtin University established to conduct and deploy critical research and development to enable commercial-scale carbon storage options for Australia.
NGL complements and builds on the successes of the Western Australian Energy Research Alliance (WA:ERA) and is funded by the Australian Government through the Education Investment Fund.
The primary research focus of NGL is to advise government and industry regarding the viability and safety of large-scale geological carbon storage – a process that involves injecting carbon dioxide (CO₂) deep underground and trapping it in geological structures.
This will pave the way for the design and implementation of a commercial-scale carbon storage plan for Australia’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) Flagship program – the South West Hub – and other national and international CCS projects. The precompetitive phase of the South West Hub project is led by the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum.
CSIRO, UWA and Curtin have a long history of working together and NGL cements this relationship further. Bringing together leading expertise and capabilities from the three research partners will deliver essential research and technology to assist in the development of commercial-scale CCS projects.
Based in Perth, Western Australia, the NGL infrastructure will include specialised facilities to support the collective research partner capabilities, which can be applied to the complete value chain, including:
Education, training and community outreach are also important components of NGL’s capability development. NGL will provide a training ground for researchers to further their knowledge, to enable the identification of safe and secure underground storage for CO₂. NGL is also committed to setting benchmark health, safety and environmental standards for future commercial-scale carbon storage projects through laboratory and field-based activities.
8 June 2020
In February 2019, at the CSIRO In-Situ Laboratory CCS project, a test was conducted where 38 t of gaseous CO2 were injected […]