The first world carbon capture, utilization and storage conference was held in Bergen, Norway from September 1-4, 2025 (https://wccus.org/). The event gathered more than 300 participants from leading universities in the U.S. and Europe, along with representatives from governmental institutions and industrial companies worldwide. The conference was supported by the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA) and the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV), and endorsed by major global organizations including EAGE, IChemE, SPWLA, ARMA.
It was an exciting week at the conference, where DTU's Center for Energy Resources Engineering (CERE) made a solid appearance—with one oral presentation and three posters shared throughout the event. I was thrilled and honored to take part and contributed a poster on our numerical study looking into how SO₂ impurities affect the near-wellbore region during CO2 injection.
In our work, we focused on a Danish depleted gas reservoir and explored how different concentrations of SO2 in the CO2 stream influence CO2 migration, pH changes near the well, mineral dissolution and precipitation, and the evolution of porosity over time. While we’ve uncovered some compelling trends, there’s more ahead—like testing different injection rates and impurity combinations in future studies.
The poster session was definitely a highlight. I had the chance to dive into thoughtful discussions with fellow researchers about model parameters, chemical reactions, and how to realistically represent subsurface processes. One presentation that really caught my attention was from a team at ETH Zurich. They shared a poster on microstructural controls to reactive flow and CO2 mineralization in basalts. They used multiple characterization methods, and our conversation afterward went deep into the strengths and possible limitations of these techniques — a truly enriching exchange.
The conference wasn't all about presentations — the organizers also set up some fascinating courses, workshops, and field trips. I chose two field trips that really stood out: one to the Technology Center Mongstad (TCM), and another to the Northern Lights.
Both visits left a strong impression on me. TCM is dedicated to CO2 capture technology, testing various methods to capture CO2 efficiently. The Northern Lights program, on the other hand, is pretty well-known among CCS researchers. It took about an hour to get to their site, but it was absolutely worth the trip.
There, we saw CO2 transport ship, onshore storage tanks, and even animal-like robots used for daily inspections. Our guide gave a clear and thorough overview of the program, and participants from different countries asked plenty of technical and operational questions. Before wrapping up, we had a great time taking photos with the CO2 ships—a perfect end to the visit.
I'm already looking forward to the next WCCUS conference, which will be held in the UK. I'm motivated to focus on my work and present new findings there next year.
This article was written by Ding Xiong as part of a series curated by the MISSION-CCS’s Doctoral Candidate Researchers.
Ding Xiong is one of the MISSION-CCS’s Doctoral Researchers working at the Technical University of Denmark. His project focuses on experimental study of geochemical effects between reservoir fluid and minerals after injecting CO2 with different impurities.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ding-xiong-a30874324/