About the project

Objectives, approach and consortium

SPECS — ImpuritieS ImPacts and ManagEment for CO₂ Storage — brings together eleven partners to understand impurities across the storage complex.

Our approach ↓ The consortium ↓

The approach

Why · How · What

SPECS combines laboratory experimentation, numerical modelling, and direct engagement with industry, regulators, and standardisation bodies to fill a critical knowledge gap in CCS deployment.

Why

The challenge

As CCS scales, multiple CO₂ sources will share the same transport and storage infrastructure, meaning operators will inject mixed CO₂ streams with varying impurity profiles. Today, the effects of these impurities on the storage complex itself remain insufficiently understood — a gap SPECS is built to close.

How

The approach

SPECS is built on an integrative approach to the storage complex, combining experimental work, advanced modelling, and stakeholder engagement. The project covers:

Well integrity

Near-wellbore injectivity

In-depth storage behaviour

Caprock integrity

Recommendations for guidelines and standardisation

What

The outcomes

Three strategic objectives drive the project:

SO1

Identify and evaluate

Physico-chemical impacts of impurities on the CO₂ storage complex.

SO2

Derisk and mitigate

Adverse effects caused by the presence of impurities.

SO3

Provide knowledge

For guidelines and specifications for CO₂ compositions for storage.

The consortium

11 partners across Europe

SPECS brings together six research and technology organisations, three universities, one European association, and one industrial associated partner — covering the full knowledge chain from materials and corrosion science to reservoir geomechanics, geochemistry, and standardisation. Coordinated by IFPEN (France).