Expert to Discuss Carbon Capture and Storage

February 26, 2008 — Princeton University Professor Michael Celia, a leading researcher in the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, will speak Tuesday, March 4, at 3 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Union Family Room. A reception precedes the talk at 2:30 p.m.

He will discuss "Geological Storage as a Carbon Mitigation Option" during the 2008 Darcy Lecture. The National Ground Water Association funds the lecture series, and selection as the speaker is a national honor. The series is named for Henry Darcy, a Frenchman who discovered the mathematical law governing underground flow.

The topic for the UW lecture centers on reducing and preventing carbon emissions that affect climate. One option is carbon capture and storage, known as CCS.

Geological storage involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it is emitted into the atmosphere and injecting it into deep geological formations. Stored CO2 can later be used for applications such as enhanced oil recovery. However, the storage can lead to possible problems such as leakage of CO2 out of the formation.

Celia chairs the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. He received a B.S. in civil engineering from Lafayette College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering from Princeton University. His areas of research include ground water hydrology, ecohydrology, numerical modeling, contaminant transport simulation, and multiphase flow physics. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and in 2005 received the AGU's Hydrologic Sciences Award.