CMI Annual Report 2022

India’s Deccan Traps Appear to Have Limited Capacity for
Carbon Storage
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: MICHAEL CELIA
To achieve net-zero emissions, India is expected to implement large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS).
The Deccan Traps basalt province has a total of around 300,000 km 3 of rock and is considered the most
promising location for onshore geological storage in India. Despite the enormous rock volume, virtually none of
it appears suitable for large-scale CO 2
injection and storage, due to its shallow depth and the presence of
extensive vertical dikes. This raises serious questions about India’s CCS-heavy pathways to net-zero, with
potential consequences for carbon mitigation on a global scale. These findings will impact decisions that
companies working towards net-zero in India will make in the future.
Pore Structure and Permeability of Alkali-Activated Metakaolin
Cements with Reduced CO 2
Emissions
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: CLAIRE WHITE
Portland cement is currently the most common type of cement used in concrete manufacture, but it is a
significant source of atmospheric CO 2
due to the production process. To counter this, White and her group,
including graduate student Anita Zhang, are developing sustainable cements that are alternatives to
conventional Portland cement. These cements can reduce CO 2
emissions but with limited in-field evidence of
proven long-term performance. By understanding the pore structures of these alternative cements, and linking
pore structure to permeability, the researchers aim to create a predictive phenomenological model that can be
used to identify the most suitable alternative cement for a specific environmental application. Reducing
concrete emissions in the construction industry would have a large impact on overall CO 2
emissions, which
aligns with bp’s ambition of helping the world get to net-zero.
Projecting the Expansion and Impacts of Ocean Oxygen
Minimum Zones
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: LAURE RESPLANDY
The Resplandy group studies global change in the biogeochemistry of the oceans and how this will affect other
parts of the Earth system, with emphasis on the cause, magnitude, stability and longevity of the ocean carbon
sink. In the last year, the Resplandy group’s research focused on the ocean’s response to climate change, in
particular the ocean’s loss of oxygen associated with warming. They studied how this warming trend
influences ecosystems, ecosystem services (e.g., fisheries) and the climate itself via the production of nitrous
oxide, which occurs in low oxygen ocean waters. This work led to three publications in 2022, including one
highlighted by the American Geophysical Union Newsroom that focuses on the fate of oxygen minimum zones
and coastal “dead zones,” which are open ocean and coastal ocean areas with very low oxygen levels unsuitable
for most organisms. It is important for companies and policymakers to learn how oxygen minimum zones may
behave in a warming world and how plans for the energy transition may impact these zones.
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Carbon Mitigation Initiative Twenty-second Year Report 2022