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Table 1: Overview of past and ongoing projects on CO2 storage with participation of RWTH/LEK.
(GASCHNITZ et al., 1997; KROOSS and SCHAEFER, 1987; KROOSS, 1992; KROOSS and LEYTHAEUSER, 1988; KROOSS and LEYTHAEUSER, 1997; KROOSS et al., 1992; SCHLOEMER and KROOSS, 1997). Based on this expertise experimental procedures have been modified in recent years and adapted to the special requirements of research for CO2 storage in geological systems. Funding for this research came initially from the two EU projects, NASCENT [1] and RECOPOL[2]. The experimental approaches have been and are being used in a number of international and national follow-up projects listed in Table 1. Among these, the CO2TRAP project in the context of the German GEOTECHNOLOGIEN programme is presently our main activity in CO2 sequestration research. Selected results from the projects listed in Table 1will be presented below.
Experimental methods The two main lines of experimental work followed at RWTH/LEK in the context of CO2 storage are: - characterisation of the efficiency of geologic seals and - high-pressure sorptive gas storage on coals. An overview of the experimental procedures and methods is given in Table 2. Seal efficiency of geologic formations The characterisation of seal efficiency and quality is usually based on a combination of experience from geological systems (natural analogues) and experimental evidence. Due to limitations in scale and representative elements of volume (REV) only caprock/seal processes relating to the petrophysical properties of more or less homogeneous rock samples are amenable to laboratory measurements. Fluid flow processes controlled by large-scale fracture systems are essentially unpredictable on a geo-
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