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; and
- 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 1999, 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
April 18, 2025: For the Jackson School of Geoscience M.S. Presentation Day, GCCC graduate students Sean Avitt, Argenis Pelayo, and Previna Arumugam will present a final summary of their research…click to read
April 14, 2025: Ramón Gil-Egui will attend a “Workshop on Carbon Management and Community Impact in the Gulf Region” at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX.
April 11, 2025: GCCC M.S. Student, Argenis Pelayo, presents his M.S. research in preparation for JSG M.S. Presentation Day…click to read
April 11, 2025: As part of the GCCC’s weekly meeting JSG’s Asst. Prof. Shujuan Mao presents their research…click to read
April 8, 2025: Congratulations to Carlos Uroza for giving a presentation entitled, “Assessing the CO2 Sequestration Potential of the Paleogene Wilcox Group, Onshore Texas, U.S.A.” for the Bureau of Economic Geology’s Seminar Series…click to read
April 6–8, 2025: Alex Bump attended, and presented, at AAPG’s Gulf Coast Section GeoGulf2025 Conference in Nacodoches, TX, U.S.A…click to read
April 4th, 2025: At the GCCC, Previna Arumugam and Sean Avitt officially kicked off a month of student weekly presentations by presenting a status of where they are with their research projects…click to read
April 3, 2025: Congratulations to William Wang, Seyyed Hosseini, Ramon Trevino, and Susan Hovorka for publishing a manuscript in the Journal of Hydrology.
April 3, 2025: The GCCC welcomes Undergraduate Research Assistant, Mia Chicas, who is currently pursuing a B.S. in Geophysics and will be working with Tip Meckel as an advisor.
March 21, 2025: As part of the University of Houston, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Seminar Series, Research Associate Professor Alex Bump presented a CCS talk…click to read
March 18, 2025: The “STEM Sharks Team” that Katherine Romanak has mentored from Denham Springs High School within the Livingston Parish, Louisiana was not only selected as Louisiana’s State winner in the Samsung Solve Challenge, but as one of the top 10 teams headed to Washington D.C…click to read
March 11, 2025: Congratulations to Hailun Ni, Katherine Romanak, Susan Hovorka, and Australian collaborators for co-authoring a paper entitled, “Laboratory Sand Tank Modeling of the Brumbys Fault CO2 Controlled Release Field Experiment” in AGU’s Geophysical Research Letters.
March 8, 2025: Congratulations to our EER graduate student, Previna Arumugam, who participated as a panelist for an event entitled, “Women Leading Change! Breaking Barriers, Building Dreams.”
March 7, 2025: Sue Hovorka and Alex Bump are sharing the following proposal to develop the “Gulf Coast Resource Accelerator: A Field Lab for the Energy Transition” …click to read
March 7, 2025: For the GCCC’s weekly meeting, we were joined by representatives from Taiwan’s National Central University (NCU).
March 3–5, 2025: GCCC Researchers Seyyed Hosseini, Sue Hovorka, Hailun Ni, Carlos Uroza, and Shuvajit Bhattacharya attended the SPE-AAPG-SEG CCUS Conference in Houston, TX…click to read
March 1, 2025: The March issue of “World Cement” Magazine features an article written by Katherine Romanak entitled, CCS 101…click to read
February 26, 2025: Researchers from the GCCC met with visiting Associate Professor Ryan Pollyea from Virginia Tech’s Department of Geosciences…click to read
February 21, 2025: Thanks to Linda McCall, Meena Balakrishnan, and Carson Werner for joining the GCCC at their weekly meeting…click to read
February 14, 2025: We are proud of all of our GCCC students for presenting their research posters at the JSG Symposium…click to read
February 10, 2025: The GCCC welcomes a new Postdoctoral Fellow, Jungang (Gordon) Chen, who recently received a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University…click to read
February 4–5, 2025: The Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC) joined forces with IEAGHG, the Global CCS Institute and University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) to hold the first Africa CCUS Forum in Ben Guirer, Morocco…click to read
February 4, 2025: Thanks to Carlos Uroza for giving a lecture on “Geologic Constraints and Reservoir Characterization for CO2 Storage” to Dr. Sahar Bakhshian’s Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage course at Rice University in Houston, TX.
February 3, 2025: The GCCC’s graduate students, Sean Avitt and Argenis Pelayo, presented their research projects and gave oral presentations at the Austin Geological Society meeting held at the Bureau of Economic Geology…click to read
January 29–30, 2025: The GCCC hosted their semiannual 2025 GCCC Sponsors' Meetings at the Pickle Research Campus in Austin, TX…click to read
January 25, 2025: The GCCC’s graduate student, Bimar Maulana, was one of three panelists in an event entitled, Global Professional Training: East and Southeast Asia Symposium at The University of Texas at Austin…click to read
January 24–26, 2025: The GCCC's graduate student, Argenis Pelayo, utilized his machine-learning skills at the UT PGE 5th Annual Energy AI Hackathon.
January 22, 2025: Congratulations to Jose E. Ubillus, Sahar Bakhshian, Hailun Ni, David DiCarlo, and Tip Meckel for their recent publication entitled, “Informing field-scale CO2 storage simulations with sandbox experiments: The effect of small-scale heterogeneities.” …click to read
January 14–15, 2025: GCCC Researchers attended the GBDS Meeting...click to read
January 10, 2025: The GCCC welcomes an Energy and Earth Resource Master’s student, Ssu-Chi Yang, as a new GCCC graduate student who will work on the Frio Formation with Carlos Uroza and Sue Hovorka…click to read
January 10, 2025: Thanks to Alex Bump for hosting our GCCC weekly meeting that became an interactive workshop entitled, “Hook’em! How to create engaging posters and talks.”
January 9–10, 2025: Sue Hovorka, Katherine Romanak, and Angela Luciano attended a Texas-Louisiana Carbon Management Community (TXLA CMC) workshop for university participants in Corpus Christi, TX…click to read
January 9, 2025: Congratulations to Jose Eduardo Ubillus, Hailun Ni, David DiCarlo, and Tip Meckel for having their manuscript published in the SPE Journal…click to read
Click here to view 2025 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.
