The South West Hub CCS Project (SW Hub) project was funded by both the Commonwealth and West Australian State Governments. The West Australian Government Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) commenced investigating and then characterising the Lesueur sandstone as a potential CO2 target injection and storage formation in 2007.
Dominique Van Gent was previously the West Australian Coordinator of Carbon Strategy and led the Southwest Hub Project (SW Hub) to characterise a formation adjacent to CO2 emitting industries and develop confidence in Migration Assisted Trapping in a saline aquifer.
Dominique led all aspects of the $50m project including concept development, financial and contract management, data acquisition, modelling, and community engagement.
Dr Sandeep Sharma provided the technical advisory role for the project and also oversaw the associated research programs undertaken with funding from ANLEC R&D and in association with principally the CSIRO, Curtin University and the University of Western Australia.
The SW Hub is a unique CO2 sequestration proposition as it relies on proving primary containment through “Migration Assisted Trapping” (MAT – sometimes referred to as Migration Assisted Storage or MAS) Security of secondary containment is considered through the overlying paleosol packages, an 800M thick sequence of sand and paleosol deposits.