Proiecte
RamonCO: Risk-based framework for assessing CO2 storage monitoring
| Responsible / Lead: | Dr. Constantin Ștefan Sava, CSI |
| Coordinator: | NORCE NORWEGIAN RESEARCH CENTRE |
| Beneficiary: | GeoEcoMar |
| Funder / Funding body: | UEFISCDI |
| Funding scheme: | CETP ERANET COFUND |
| Duration: | 33 months |
| Start date: | 01.10.2023 |
| End date: | 30.06.2026 |
RamonCO: Risk-based framework for assessing CO2 storage monitoring
Accelerating CCS to achieve significant CO₂ reductions by 2030 requires close integration of technical, economic, social, and environmental disciplines to support decision-making related to permitting, ensuring safe containment, and maintaining compliance during the execution phase of CCS projects. The RamonCO Project aims to further develop and fully apply the modeling/inversion framework developed in DigiMon and to assess societal challenges and requirements, as well as costs, in order to develop risk governance strategies for industry and regulators, incorporating them into decision-support tools.
The project will develop and demonstrate methodologies and tools for compliance assessment and risk-based monitoring on an industrial scale, including the analysis of operational data from sites equipped with relevant monitoring technologies. At the start of the project, we will initially test the inversion framework using synthetic data and then explore the possibility of obtaining suitable real-field data for testing the methodology with industry partners. Furthermore, we will model CO₂ storage sites that are in the planning phase, such as depleted gas fields in the Netherlands. We will also investigate how different perspectives on CO₂ storage across European countries influence risk assessment (for EU CO₂ storage hubs) and how these insights can be used to make informed decisions regarding the monitoring systems.
By focusing on CO₂ storage, RamonCO directly addresses TRI3’s primary objective of advancing solutions for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies. However, the project’s results will also be applicable to other types of storage, such as hydrogen, renewable fuels, and underground thermal energy storage (UTES).
As it tackles issues related to authorizing new storage capacity and ensuring containment integrity and compliance during site operations, the project supports TRI3’s aim to fund initiatives that significantly accelerate technology deployment and demonstrate measurable reductions in CO₂ emissions by 2030, while also contributing to climate neutrality by 2050.
RamonCO addresses two of the six research and development areas targeted in the call:
- CO₂ storage sites, including key elements for characterizing and managing large-scale, permanent CO₂ storage, such as storage integrity, monitoring, capacity estimation, and modeling;
- CCUS technologies that are highly important and relevant to the industry.
Additionally, the project addresses three of the nine challenges listed in the call:
- Improving cost and energy efficiency along the value chain (scaling, gigaton storage, efficiency, digital tools, effective collaboration between stakeholders);
- Accelerating the scaling of CO₂ technologies with lower risks (design, demonstrations, legal framework development, measures to strengthen the innovation system, knowledge sharing from full-scale operations, integration into the energy system, etc.);
- Enhancing public acceptance of CCU/CCS.
The RAMONCO project aims to develop and demonstrate an integrated, interdisciplinary, and innovative framework for risk assessment and decision support in geological CO₂ storage projects, thereby contributing to the accelerated deployment of safe and responsible CCS technologies.
A key outcome of the project will be the development of an advanced multi-physics inversion framework, capable of integrating all relevant data types (geophysical, geochemical, geomechanical, etc.), while accounting for realistic, data-type-specific error characteristics. This framework will ensure an optimal balance between the numerical accuracy of forward modelling and the statistical accuracy required for inversion and model-updating processes.
The project will develop a dynamic model chain for the probabilistic prediction of storage site states, risk indicators, and measurable quantities, enabling robust model updating based on real monitoring data, including results derived from inversion processes (e.g., from SO₂ data). A multi-fidelity approach will be employed to achieve the computational efficiency required for advanced statistical analyses.
The quality and robustness of the results obtained through multi-physics inversion will be assessed through field-scale case studies, using both synthetic and real datasets. These demonstrations will highlight the practical applicability of the developed framework and its added value for existing or planned CCS projects.
Another major outcome of the project is the development of a framework for identifying and assessing societal risks, which will be applied in four local case studies. This framework will support the understanding of risk perceptions, potential impacts, and concerns of local stakeholders, integrating both technical and social perspectives.
Based on these analyses, RAMONCO will contribute to the development of societal risk governance strategies and tools, designed in a participatory and interdisciplinary manner, involving researchers, decision-makers, and other stakeholders. The project will analyse the implications and replicability of the proposed approach in order to support the future development of CCS projects in a faster, more transparent, and socially acceptable way.
In addition, the project will implement an interdisciplinary working methodology from its inception, will organize annual interdisciplinary events to foster the exchange and acceleration of research outcomes, and will actively contribute to policy dialogue through dedicated webinars and participation in public debates. A practical Value of Information framework will also be developed, enabling the comparison and optimization of monitoring strategies based on the value of the information they provide.
Through these results, RAMONCO will deliver robust scientific and methodological tools to support informed decision-making and to enhance public trust in geological CO₂ storage projects.
PROJECT DATA
Project Number: CETP-2022-00032
Funding Contract Number: 42/2024
Project Title:
RamonCO: Risk-based framework for assessing CO₂ storage monitoring
Project Coordinator:
NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS (Norway)
Project Director:
Dr. Constantin Ștefan SAVA, Senior Researcher I (CS I R4)
Project Partners
- Asociația Clubul CO2 – CO2 Club (Romania)
- Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving – CRES (Greece)
- Energie Beheer Nederland – EBN BV (Netherlands)
- Equinor Energy AS (Norway)
- Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung – UFZ (Germany)
- National Institute for Research and Development for Marine Geology and Geoecology – GeoEcoMar (Romania)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory – LLNL (USA)
- Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research – TNO (Netherlands)
- Neptune Energy CCUS (Netherlands)
- Risktec Solutions BV (Netherlands)
- Reach Subsea – Sub-partner (Norway)
- University of California San Diego – UCSD – Sub-partner (USA)
Funding
The project is funded by UEFISCDI
(Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding),
within National Programme IV, Programme 5.8 – European and International Cooperation,
Subprogramme 5.8.1 – Horizon Europe.
Project Type
COFUND Project
Project Budget
- National contribution: 537,860 RON (approx. 107,600 EUR)
- European Commission contribution: 147,140 RON (approx. 29,428 EUR)
- Total budget: 685,000 RON (approx. 137,000 EUR)
Contract Duration
33 months
PROJECT DIRECTOR
Dr. CSI R4 Constantin Ștefan SAVA
Address:
23–25 Dimitrie Onciu Street
E-mail:
constantin.sava@gmail.com
savac@geoecomar.ro
Phone:
+40 722 785 434
+40 721 807 384
Phone/Fax:
+40 21 252 2594
PROJECT TEAM
- Dr. Sorin Anghel – Senior Researcher II (CS II RIII)
- Dr. Alexandra Dudu – Researcher III (CS III)
- Dr. Gabriel Iordache – Researcher III (CS III)
- Corina Avram – Researcher III (CS III)
- Dragoș Andrei Gabriel – PhD Candidate
- Marius Bogdan Bărăităreanu – MSc Student