Screening of sites for advanced natural gas and carbon dioxide storage in deep aquifers

This study proposed the use of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to select potential locations for advanced natural gas storage facilities with a carbon dioxide (CO2) cushion. The preliminary selection and ranking of such sites can be considered a multi-criteria decision-making problem. The selection criteria for geological structures in deep aquifers for underground gas storage were discussed. Based on 11 criteria concerning the geological storage of CO2 as well as natural gas storage, a decision model was proposed. A ranking of geological structures in deep aquifers as potential sites for the underground storage of CO2 and natural gas in Poland was presented. Results showed that the AHP-based approach played a significant role in the initial selection of potential sites for advanced underground storage of natural gas. The proposed model rendered it possible to make an objective decision regarding the best structure for underground gas storage in the deep aquifer, the most satisfactory from the perspective of all the simultaneously adopted decision criteria.