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.
Clockwise from top left: Dallas Dunlap, Reinaldo Sabbagh, Dr. Carlos Uroza, Charlie (Yu-Chen) Zheng, Dr. Tip Meckel, Michael V. DeAngelo, Dr. Alex Bump, Edna Rodriguez Calzado, Dr. Hailun Ni, Richard Colt Larson, Dr. Seyyed Hosseini, Shadya Taleb Restrepo, Ramon Gil-Egui, Dr. Susan Hovorka, Ramón H. Treviño, Angela Luciano, Dr. Sahar Bakhshian, and Yushan Li.
For a news story describing historical field efforts of the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, please click here.
For a list of GCCC media coverage, click here.
For a historical look at how the GCCC has addressed the carbon question, please click here.
Recent News
April 5, 6, and 7th, 2023: The 2023 GoMCarb-SECARB Annual Partnership Meeting will be held in Austin, TX… click to read
March 25th, 2023: Dr. Katherine Romanak presented and lead a discussion entitled, Explore the Pros & Cons of CCS, during Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Third Coast) Cocktails & Conversations Series between 4 and 5 pm CDT… click to read
March 24, 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Tip Meckel, Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology’s Gulf Coast Carbon Center, for being selected as a member of the Biden-Harris Administration’s CCUS Federal Lands and Outer Continental Shelf Permitting Task Force… click to read
March 22, 2023: Dr. Sue Hovorka hosted several of our graduate students, researchers, and the BEG’s outreach team at the GCCC to help train and educate kids of all ages about science and carbon dioxide… click to read
March 15, 2023: Powerhouse Texas released a highlight reel from the Energy Innovation Forum that Dr. Katherine Romanak participated in on February 6th, 2023. Click here to watch the entire forum from that day… click to read
March 8, 2023: The Alaska Senate Resources Committee invited Dr. Tip Meckel to speak on the topic of CCS. Alaska has two bills under consideration in the current state legislative session: Senate Bills 48 and 49… click to read
March 7th, 2023: The GCCC is teaming up with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Perth, Australia with an internal webinar series to share current interests in carbon capture and storage (CCS) and to explore collaboration by having thematic discussions about CCS… click to read
March 6 to 10th, 2023: GCCC graduate students Maria Madriaga and Ismail Faruqi attended CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston, TX… click to read
February 28th, 2023: The Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, hosted Dr. Alex Bump, for an in-person and live-streamed presentation entitled, CCS: The Swiss Army Knife of Climate Change Mitigation and a Key to the Energy Transition for their Symposium Series. Click here to watch the talk.
February 28, 2023: Dr. Tip Meckel was an invited speaker for the Golden Triangle Days session at the Capitol complex in Austin. Tip followed comments by Texas Speaker, Dade Phelan from the House of Representatives, and provided a vision of CCS development in the Gulf Coast, notably in the Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange region. … click to read
February 27, 2023: Special thanks to Tim Dixon, the Director of IEAGHG, for being a keynote speaker at our first 2023 Gulf Coast Carbon Center's Sponsors' Meeting of the year… click to read
February 22, 2023: Was a beautiful, bluebird day in Austin, TX, U.S.A. to kick off the semiannual Gulf Coast Carbon Center's Sponsors' Meeting… click to read
February 13, 2023: The GCCC welcomes Dr. Zhicheng (William) Wang as a new Postdoctoral Fellow who will be working with Dr. Seyyed Hosseini…click to read
February 11, 2023: Drs. Hailun Ni, Sahar Bakhshian, and Tip Meckel published Effects of grain size and small-scale bedform architecture on CO2 saturation from buoyancy-driven flow in Nature’s Scientific Reports. To view this open-access journal article, please click here.
February 11, 2023: The GCCC congratulates high school student Shaunak Pandey and graduate student Richard Colt Larson for winning awards for presenting their research, advised by Dr. Sahar Bakhshian, at the Jackson School of Geosciences 12th Annual Student Research Symposium… click to read
February 6, 2023: Dr. Susan Hovorka hosted Dr. Wonsuck Kim, currently with Yonsei University in South Korea, and a delegation from the Korean CCS Association… click to read
February 6th, 2023: Dr. Katherine Romanak was invited to provide an overview about carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) by PowerHouse Texas at the Texas Capitol in Austin, TX… click to read
February 1, 2023: We are excited to announce that the GCCC’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Hailun Ni, has officially been promoted as a Research Associate and has the new title of Laboratory Experimentalist… click to read
February 1, 2023: The CarbonSAFE Phase II – Storage Complex Feasibility: Coastal Bend Offshore Carbon Storage project by Principal Investigators, Dr. Tip Meckel from the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, and the Chief Strategy Officer Jeff Pollack from the Port of Corpus Christi Authority (POCCA) was awarded $7.3 million… click to read
January 26th, 2023: The GCCC hosted a premier CCS group from the University of Trinidad & Tobago (UTT) and the University of the West Indies (UWI)... click to read
January 20 to 22, 2023: Two of our master's students, Jose Ubillus (Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering) and Richard Larson (Jackson School of Geosciences, Energy and Earth Resources), competed in the 3rd Annual Energy AI Hackathon hosted by the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering… click to read
January 17, 2023: Dr. Sahar Bakhshian has hired a new graduate research assistant, Blazej Ksiazek, for the spring and summer of 2023 to work on a project entitled: Combining quantitative leakage risk assessment with financial liability for CO2 geologic storage: Providing information to the insurance sector… click to read
January 16th, 2023: One of our scientists from the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Dr. Alex Bump, was interviewed for a podcast, produced by the Global CCS Institute… click to read
January 15th, 2023: The GCCC welcomes the Jackson School of Geoscience’s Energy and Earth Resources (JSG EER) M.S. student Maria Paula Madariaga who will be advised by Dr. Carlos Uroza… click to read
Click here to view 2023 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.
