With 21 faculties and over 4500 teaching and research staff, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” is an internationally recognised centre of excellent for education and cutting edge research. The group representing the university in this proposal (UniRoma1-CERI) has specialised in near-surface gas and water geochemistry since 1980, using it as a tool in such topics as basic geology (tectonics, fault mapping, volcanic processes), resource exploration (geothermal, oil and gas, mineral), pollution mapping (garbage dumps, gasoline spills), and waste disposal (nuclear, CO2).
Expertise and capacity
Since 1989 this group has been involved in a total of 17 EC-funded research projects, including 3 as Project Leader. All of these have had a significant gas geochemistry component, with projects in the last 8 years concentrating on CCS (Nascent, Weyburn, CO2GeoNet, CO2ReMoVe, MoveCBM, RISCS). Within these projects we have: established ourselves as a world leader in the use of natural, leaking-CO2 test sites to understand gas migration, to test monitoring technologies, and to study ecosystem impacts; worked extensively on industrial sites to define baseline trends and monitor for leaks; and conducted research into public perception and knowledge dissemination. Relevant to the present proposal, we have performed 5 years of soil gas surveys at the Weyburn CO2-EOR site; performed soilgas / flux surveys and developed a continuous soil gas monitoring station for installation at the Kaniov CO2-ECBM site; performed soilgas/flux surveys at the In Salah site; developed, tested, and deployed dissolved gas monitoring stations in both marine and groundwater settings; performed extensive groundwater sampling to understand CO2 impact on potable groundwater; collaborated in ecosystem impact studies on both terrestrial and marine sites; performed GIS and risk analysis of natural CO2 leaks in the city of Ciampino, and conducted extensive dissemination, communication, and public perception research on CCS.