A group of energy companies is investing in field trials of a new technology developed in Scotland that aims to prevent stored carbon dioxide (CO2) leaking back to the surface and into the atmosphere.

Academics at the Institute of Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt University confirmed last week they had launched a joint industry project, sponsored by Scottish and Southern Energy, GDF Suez, Vattenfall and Petrobras, to test a new technology that can identify and seal CO2 leaks at storage sites before they have been detected at the surface injection site.

Fears that carbon dioxide captured using carbon capture and storage (CCS) and held in underground geological formations could leak back to the surface represent one of the strongest arguments against the deployment of CCS technologies.

However, the university believes its new technology could assuage fears of carbon leaks and help accelerate the rollout of CCS projects. As a result, it is predicting the technology could be worth tens of millions of pounds if trials prove successful.

Project leaders are keeping precise details about how the technology works under wraps, but a spokesman for Heriot-Watt told BusinessGreen the sealant would be activated by a pressure drop in any underground reservoir that may indicate a leak.

He also refused to disclose how much money the companies have invested, saying only that it was “a significant sum”.

“There is a lot of work going on around the world on monitoring and sensoring but as far as we know, this is the only technology that would actually do something about the leak,” he said.

Project director Mehran Sohrabi said the approach could address concerns over how to prevent high concentrations of asphyxiating CO2 leaking to the land or sea, paving the way for energy firms to use geological formations under the North Sea that in theory could store enough CO2 for the whole of western Europe for more than 200 years.

“We believe that we have now solved the problem of how to seal cracks or fissures in the porous rock that the carbon dioxide will be lodged in,” he said. “It is a huge step forward for CCS and one that could see Scotland established as a world leader in the field.”

The technology has already undergone rigorous laboratory testing in a Scottish Enterprise-funded Proof of Concept programme and the field test project is now expected to last three years. The researchers also plan to start an onshore field test in the final year of the project, the location of which has yet to be decided.