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.

GCCC Staff, 2023

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.​​​​​​
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Recent News

December 17, 2024: Alex Bump will be the keynote speaker at The Geoscience Energy Society of Great Britain’s (GESGB’s) CCS4G Symposium, organized by the “Exploring the Energy Transition” Special Interest Group…click to read


December 17, 2024: Carlos Uroza will virtually participate in the SEG EVOLVE Program, and present  "CO2 Storage Opportunities in the Gulf Coast area"…click to read 


December 9–13, 2024: GCCC representatives, including Ruichang Guo, Hailun Ni, Ramón Treviño, and Hongsheng Wang, will attend AGU in Washington, D.C…click to read


December 4–5, 2024: Katherine Romanak was invited to present at the “Workshop CCUS – An Opportunity for Growth and Progress Towards the Energy Transition” hosted by ICPET and EcoPetrol…click to read


December 2–4, 2024: Several researchers from the Gulf Coast Carbon Center will attend the GCSSEPM 40th Annual Perkins-Rosen Research Conference in Houston, Texas...click to read


November 22, 2024: The GCCC weekly group meeting this week features M.S. presentations and project discussions by Sawsan Almalki and Germán Chaves who are currently wrapping up their M.S…click to read


November 20, 2024: Sue Hovorka attended the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage’s Monitoring, Measurement, and Verification (MMV) Workshop at Stanford University…click to read


November 20, 2024:  As part of Katherine Romanak’s activities at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, she participated in a Caribbean-focused event supporting those interested in Trinidad and Tobago’s CCS progress…click to read 


November 19, 2024: At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Katherine Romanak participated in an Official UNFCCC Side Event entitled, Is there any Climate Finance for Carbon Capture and Storage, Especially in Emerging Economies?...click to read


November 15, 2024: At the GCCC's weekly group meeting, Professor Jonathan Ajo-Franklin from Rice University provided our group with a virtual presentation…click to read


November 14 – 16, 2024: Sue Hovorka, Angela Luciano, and Linda McCall attended the Science Teachers Association of Texas Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST24) in San Antonio, TX...click to read


November 11, 2024: In exciting news, the Jackson School of Geosciences wrote an article about the GCCC’s latest outreach program by the Texas-Louisiana Carbon Management Communityclick to read


November 1, 2024: We had a special visit from Franz Hiebert who joined our group to discuss observations and great take-a-ways from GHGT-17 held in Calgary between October 21–25, 2024…click to read


October 29, 2024: As part of the Bureau of Economic Geology’s Seminar Series, Katherine Romanak provided a presentation entitled, “Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Wider Society”…click to read


October 21–25, 2024: Representatives from the Gulf Coast Carbon Center have 15 presentations at the 17th Greenhouse Gas Control Technology Conference (GHGT-17) held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada…click to read


October 18, 2024: Sue Hovorka presented “Carbon Capture and Storage - Update on New Uses of Subsurface Resources” at the NARO National Convention…click to read


October 11, 2024: At our weekly GCCC meeting this week, our current GCCC Research Assistants were provided with the GCCC’s outreach training…click to read


October 10, 2024: The GCCC’s Researcher Tip Meckel was interviewed about the largest CCS lease in the U.S. history to date…click to read


October 9, 2024: Ramón Treviño presented an overview about the GCCC and our CCS research, past, present and future to two visitors from Texas University Lands…click to read


October 8–10, 2024: The GCCC’s Sue Hovorka, Angela Luciano, and Ramón Gil-Egui attended Climate Now’s public information meetings in the cities of Beaumont, Pasadena, and Texas City in Texas…click to read


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 16, 2024: The Gulf Coast Carbon Center welcomes 5 graduate students to our program at The University of Texas at Austin…click to read

 

Click here to view 2024 news and events.

 

En español: la información de almacenamiento geológico de carbono

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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.


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