Research, Technology, and Education for the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Industrial processes such as the production of cement, iron and steel, and petrochemicals, as well as burning fossil fuels (e.g., gas, oil, and coal) has measurably increased CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere. The long-term consequences of increased concentrations of CO2 gas in Earth’s atmosphere will have negative impacts to oceans and climate.
One possible response is to capture CO2 in industrial settings and reinject it into deep geological reservoirs where it will be retained for long periods of time. This process is called geological sequestration, or carbon capture and storage (CCS).
The Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC) seeks to impact global levels of atmospheric CO2 by
- Conducting studies, often focusing on the Gulf of Mexico, in regard to geological storage, retention and monitoring of CO2 in the deep subsurface
- Educating the public about the process of geological CO2 storage, the risks and mitigation measures associated with carbon capture and storage deployment
- Enabling the private sector to develop an economically viable industry to store CO2 in the Gulf of Mexico, across the U.S., and globally
Since 1998, the GCCC has been a global leader in research that facilitates a proactive response by energy-related businesses to reduce atmospheric release of CO2. The GCCC has led or is in the process of conducting several major field research projects onshore and offshore to develop effective technologies to monitor retention of CO2 in the subsurface. In addition, the GCCC has led a number of diverse projects including estimation of storage capacity, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) screening and economic assessments, risk and monitoring of leakage to water and surface resources, assessment of pressure, and whole-system integration.
The GCCC is a multidisciplinary group that includes experts in geology, hydrology, petroleum engineering, chemistry, economics, and computer modeling. For more information about the researchers, post-docs, and students who comprise the Carbon Center, please see our staff page.
Recent News
September 30, 2024: The GCCC’s PI, Susan Hovorka, presented on “Storage as part of CCS” to a student group studying “Negative Emissions Technology” at UT’s Engineering Department…click to read
September 26, 2024: Susan Hovorka traveled to Leesville within the Vernon Parish, LA to discuss the geologic aspects of storage with a community focus group…click to read
September 25, 2024: Congratulations to GCCC Principal Investigators Alex Bump, Seyyed Abolfazl Hosseini and Katherine Romanak, the Gulf of Mexico Basin Opportunities (GuMBO) was selected for funding…click to read
September 23–25, 2024: Postdoctoral Fellow, Zhicheng (William) Wang attended the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in New Orleans, LA…click to read
September 23, 2024: The GCCC celebrated the Texas-Louisiana Carbon Management Community’s (TXLA CMC’s) Birthday…click to read
September 23, 2024: Our researcher, Hailun Ni, and 3 of her students from her CCS course are featured on the SPE-AAPG-SEG CCUS Conference page for 2025…click to read
September 20, 2024: GCCC Representatives presented at the 10th Annual Bureau of Economic Geology’s Research Symposium...click to read
September 17–19, 2024: Sue Hovorka, Katherine Romanak, Tip Meckel, and Angela Luciano traveled to Port Arthur, Texas to attend the 7th International Workshop on Offshore Geologic Storage about CO2 storage offshore…click to read
September 17, 2024: For those interested at the Bureau of Economic Geology, Seyyed Hosseini and Zhicheng (William) Wang organized a “Carbon Dioxide Storage Simulation Training” session by Dr. Damilola Ajose-Ogunlana from SLB…click to read
September 11–13, 2024: Katherine Romanak and Alex Bump presented at the “3rd Energy Group CCS Symposium: Characterization and Monitoring of Containment” held by the Energy Group of the Geological Society of London…click to read
September 10–12, 2024: Both Sue Hovorka and Seyyed Hosseini attended and presented at the 2024 Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) Annual Forum in Nashville, TN...click to read
September 6, 2024: GCCC Representatives had an informal meeting with Ben Wernette from SSEB…click to read
September 6, 2024: The GCCC had the first official group meeting of the fall 2024 semester that focused on new student introductions and an orientation...click to read
September 6, 2024: Seyyed Hosseini is invited to give a talk in Oklahoma at The University of Tulsa’s McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering…click to read
September 4, 2024: The GCCC’s Senior Research Professor and Scientist, Tip Meckel, testified for the Texas Senate Finance Committee on the benefits of offshore CO2 storage at the Texas State Capitol…click to read
September 4, 2024: Excited to announce that Seyyed Hosseini and co-authors published a manuscript entitled, "Dynamic Modeling of Geological Carbon Storage in Aquifers – Workflows and Practices" in the October issue of the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control…click to read
September 3, 2024: Congratulations to Hongsheng Wang, Ruichang Guo, Laura E. Dalton, Dustin Crandall, Seyyed A. Hosseini, Ming Fan, and Cheng Chen for publishing, “Comparative Assessment of U-Net-Based Deep Learning Models for Segmenting Microfractures and Pore Spaces in Digital Rocks” in the SPE Journal…click to read
September 1, 2024: Congratulations to Reza Ershadnia and Seyyed Hosseini for authoring a manuscript in the Journal of Hydrology…click to read
August 26–30, 2024: The GCCC’s Carlos Uroza and Shuvajit Bhattacharya will attend SEG-AAPG-Image Conference in Houston, TX…click to read
August 23, 2024: Sue Hovorka provided a brown bag seminar entitled, "How the Underground Injection Control Program provides support to the new field of Carbon Management” to the TCEQ....click to read
August 21, 2024: Katherine Romanak attended, and participated on a panel at, the National Conservative Energy Summit in Houston, Texas…click to read
August 21, 2024: Tip Meckel presented HR3D from San Luis Pass & A Summary of NASM Workshop on Plugging Abandoned Wells in the GCCC’s weekly meeting…click to read
August 21, 2024: Sue Hovorka was the guest speaker for the Enverus Innovation Underground webinar series, based out of Calgary in Alberta, Canada....click to read
August 20, 2024: Sue Hovorka had a virtual presentation entitled, “Siting and monitoring successful CO2 storage projects: What is new and developing?” at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Conference....click to read
August 15, 2024: Tip Meckel taught a 1-day short course on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in New Orleans, LA for the Deepwater Technical Symposium…click to read
August 14, 2024: Congratulations to Hailun Ni for co-authoring a paper entitled, “Impact of Pressure-Dependent Interfacial Tension and Angle on Capillary Heterogeneity Trapping of CO2 in Storage Aquifers,” published in the SPE Journal…click to read
August 14, 2024: During our weekly GCCC meeting, we heard summary presentations and celebrated our M.S. student’s Chinemerem Okezie, Ismail Faruqi, and Maria Madariaga who are officially wrapping up their M.S. projects…click to read
August 9, 2024: Many were traveling, but a group of us got together to celebrate Sahar Bakhshian’s last day at the Bureau of Economic Geology’s Gulf Coast Carbon Center…click to read
August 6–8, 2024: In preparation for upcoming DOE Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) public meetings, Angela Luciano participated in planning meetings with Climate Now…click to read
August 6, 2024: Announcing the 7th International Workshop on Offshore Geologic CO2 Storage will be held in Port Arthur, Texas on September 16–18, 2024…click to read
August 5–9, 2024: GCCC members Seyyed Hosseini, Sue Hovorka, Tip Meckel, Katherine Romanak, and Hongsheng Wang will attend the 2024 FECM/NETL Carbon Management Research Project Review Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA....click to read
August 2, 2024: Tip Meckel was invited to speak at The White Hall breakfast club at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston, TX…click to read
August 1, 2024: Tip Meckel participated as an instructor for PowerHouse Texas’ first Energy Academy class for bipartisan legislative staffers…click to read
July 31, 2024: The Gulf Coast Carbon Center has been thrilled to host 3 undergraduates for the JSG's Research Training Experience (RTX) this summer, and they presented their final projects on the main campus today…click to read
July 25, 2024: Ramón Treviño presented, “Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS): An Overview,” to the Clean Air Force of Central Texas…click to read
July 24, 2024: The GCCC research team was impressed by presentations created by RTX students: Ashtyn Christian, Priyansh Dhandha, and Taegon Hibbits for our weekly meeting…click to read
July 23, 2024: Tip Meckel attended, and presented, at the American Farm Bureau - Southern Region Legislative Conference…click to read
July 23, 2024: The Gulf Coast Carbon Center’s Alex Bump, Hailun Ni, and Sahar Bakhshian are in the JSG news…click to read
July 22–29, 2024: The GCCC’s PI, Sue Hovorka, hosted 20 high school seniors for GeoFORCE Texas 12th Grade Research Academy that worked together as teams to assess real-world carbon storage projects and datasets…click to read
July 1–3, 2024: Katherine Romanak was invited to give a talk at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Expert Meeting on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies and CCUS activities by the IPCC Task Force on Inventories…click to read
July 1, 2024: Congratulations to Alex Bump who was promoted from Research Associate to Research Associate Professor…click to read
June 29, 2024: Congratulations to the GCCC’s graduate student, Previna Arumugam, for receiving the “Most Outstanding Student” award from IEAGHG’s 2024 International CCS Summer School…click to read
June 26, 2024: Katherine Romanak, Tim Dixon, and IEAGHG Summer School Student Martine Enge were interviewed by ABC Radio in Darwin, Australia…click to read
June 26, 2024: For our weekly GCCC group meeting, Alex Bump presented, “Gulf Coast Faults and Fluid Flow”…click to read
June 23–29th, 2024: Katherine Romanak was an instructor, and Previna Arumugam was selected to attend, IEAGHG’s 2024 International CCS Summer School in Darwin, Australia…click to read
June 21, 2024: The Gulf Coast Carbon Center hosted their 2nd Sponsors’ Meeting at ExxonMobil’s Energy Center’s Town Hall in Spring, TX for 2024…click to read
June 12, 2024: The GCCC welcomes a new undergraduate research assistant, Isabella Gutierrez, who is currently pursuing a degree in B.S. in Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin…click to read
June 12, 2024: The GCCC hosted a weekly meeting and welcomed several new students including three Research Traineeship Experience (RTX) students for the summer…click to read
June 10, 2024: Congratulations to Seyyed Hosseini for co-authoring a manuscript entitled, “Geomechanics contribution to CO2 storage containment and trapping mechanisms in tight sandstone complexes: A case study on Mae Moh Basin.”
June 3, 2024: The GCCC welcomes Melianna Ulfah who is starting a Ph.D. at the Gulf Coast Carbon Center in the fall…click to read
June 3, 2024: Our research group at the Gulf Coast Carbon Center is excited about the 17th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, known as GHGT-17...click to read
Click here to view 2024 news and events.
En español: la información de almacenamiento geológico de carbono
The University of Texas at Austin is proud to be associated with BP’s sponsorship of the GCCC, an activity accredited by BP’s Advancing Low Carbon program.
