A process-based approach to soil gas monitoring at geologic CO₂ storage sites is an accurate, simple, and cost-effective alternative to other “concentration-based” soil gas methods which require complicated long-term baseline data collection and analysis. The current limitation to implementing a process-based method on an industrial scale (e.g. gigatons of storage) is a lack of technology for economical field-deployable smart data collection of all required gas concentrations (CO₂, CH₄, O_2, N₂). To address this gap, the Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation Pty Ltd (CTSCo) deployed commercially-available automated sensors at their proposed future Glenhaven CO₂ storage site, located 21 km SW of the town of Wandoan, Queensland, Australia. The goal was to assess the suitability of currently-available sensors for implementing a process-based monitoring approach with the aim of providing real-time answers on source attribution of surface anomalies that could represent CO₂ migration to surface. Here we report the results of a first-ever long-term (2 years) test of commercially available sensors for the purpose of process-based soil gas environmental monitoring. The accuracy and precision of data collected with an array of sensors for measuring CO₂, CH₄, and O₂, with additional sensors for measuring temperature, relative humidity, and pressure were compared against the current method using gas chromatography. The results indicate that currently-available sensors are not adequate for attaining the long-term monitoring goals set forth by a process-based monitoring approach and additional technology development is recommended.

基于过程的地质CO ₂储存地点土壤气体监测方法是准确，简单且具有成本效益的方法，可以替代需要复杂的长期基准数据收集和分析的其他“基于浓度”的土壤气体方法。当前在工业规模（例如千兆存储）上实施基于过程的方法的局限性是缺乏用于经济地可现场部署的所有所需气体浓度（CO ₂，CH ₄，O _2， N _2）的智能数据收集技术）。为了解决这一差距，Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation Pty Ltd（CTSCo）在其拟议的未来Glenhaven CO _2中部署了市售的自动传感器。储存地点，位于澳大利亚昆士兰州旺多安镇西南21公里处。目的是评估当前可用的传感器是否适合实施基于过程的监视方法，目的是对可能代表CO ₂迁移至地面的地表异常源提供实时答案。在这里，我们报告了针对基于过程的土壤气体环境监测目的的商用传感器的首次长期（2年）测试结果。使用用于测量CO ₂，CH ₄和O ₂的传感器阵列收集的数据的准确性和准确性使用气相色谱仪，将其与用于测量温度，相对湿度和压力的附加传感器与当前方法进行比较。结果表明，当前可用的传感器不足以实现基于过程的监视方法提出的长期监视目标，因此建议进行其他技术开发。