Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is broadly recognised as having the potential to play a key role in meeting climate change targets, delivering low carbon heat and power, decarbonising industry and, more recently, its ability to facilitate the net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, despite this broad consensus and its technical maturity, CCS has not yet been deployed on a scale commensurate with the ambitions articulated a decade ago. Thus, in this paper we review the current state-of-the-art of CO2 capture, transport, utilisation and storage from a multi-scale perspective, moving from the global to molecular scales. In light of the COP21 commitments to limit warming to less than 2 °C, we extend the remit of this study to include the key negative emissions technologies (NETs) of bioenergy with CCS (BECCS), and direct air capture (DAC). Cognisant of the non-technical barriers to deploying CCS, we reflect on recent experience from the UK's CCS commercialisation programme and consider the commercial and political barriers to the large-scale deployment of CCS. In all areas, we focus on identifying and clearly articulating the key research challenges that could usefully be addressed in the coming decade.

/pdf/carbon-capture-and-storage-ccs-the-way-forward-11rgsqyer0.pdf

Carbon capture and storage (CCS): the way forward

A copy of Guangbo jiemu bao [Broadcast Program Report] was being passed from hand to hand among a group of young people eager to be the first to read the article introducing the program "What Is Revolutionary Love?" It said: "… Young friends, you are certainly very concerned about this problem'. So, we would like you to meet the young women workers Meng Xiaoyu and Meng Yamei and the older cadre Miss Feng. They are the three leading characters in the short story ‘The Place of Love.’ Through the description of the love lives of these three, the story induces us to think deeply about two questions that merit further examination.

This is How the Discussion Started

Recent developments in the direct-current geoelectrical imaging method

• Stability of steady frictional sliding, inertia and the quasi-static limit • work on ps 4; see course web site

The Mechanics Of Earthquakes And Faulting

A solution is presented for the change in water level in a well of finite diameter after a known volume of water is suddenly injected or withdrawn. A set of type curves computed from this solution permits a determination of the transmissibility of the aquifer.

Response of a finite-diameter well to an instantaneous charge of water. Paper No. H-21

Temporal changes in groundwater chemistry can reveal information about the evolution of flow path connectivity during crustal deformation. Here, we report transient helium and argon concentration anomalies monitored during a series of hydraulic reservoir stimulation experiments measured with an in situ gas equilibrium membrane inlet mass spectrometer. Geodetic and seismic analyses revealed that the applied stimulation treatments led to the formation of new fractures (hydraulic fracturing) and the reactivation of natural fractures (hydraulic shearing), both of which remobilized (He, Ar)-enriched fluids trapped in the rock mass. Our results demonstrate that integrating geochemical information with geodetic and seismic data provides critical insights to understanding dynamic changes in fracture network connectivity during reservoir stimulation. The results of this study also shed light on the linkages between fluid migration, rock deformation and seismicity at the decameter scale.

/pdf/in-situ-observation-of-helium-and-argon-release-during-fluid-4sct45ytz3.pdf

In situ observation of helium and argon release during fluid-pressure-triggered rock deformation

Grimsel ISC Experiment Description

A Multi-Scale Approach to Identify and Characterize Preferential Flow Paths in a Fractured Crystalline Rock

Stress Measurements in Crystalline Rock: Comparison of Overcoring, Hydraulic Fracturing and Induced Seismicity Results

. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and seismic imaging have
proven to be important tools for the characterization of rock volumes. Both
methods provide information about the physical rock mass properties and
geological structures away from boreholes or tunnel walls. Here, we present
the results from a geophysical characterization campaign that was conducted
as part of a decametre-scale hydraulic stimulation experiment in the
crystalline rock volume of the Grimsel Test Site (central Switzerland). For
this characterization experiment, we used tunnel-based GPR reflection
imaging as well as seismic travel-time tomography to investigate the volumes
between several tunnels and boreholes. The interpretation of the GPR data
with respect to geological structures is based on the unmigrated and
migrated images. For the tomographic analysis of the seismic first-arrival
travel-time data, we inverted for an anisotropic velocity model described by
the Thomsen parameters v0 , ϵ and δ to account for the
rock mass foliation. Subsequently, the GPR and seismic images were
interpreted in combination with the geological model of the test volume and
the known in situ stress states. We found that the ductile shear zones are
clearly imaged by GPR and show an increase in seismic anisotropy due to a
stronger foliation, while they are not visible in the p -wave ( v0 )
velocity model. Regions of decreased seismic p -wave velocity, however,
correlate with regions of high fracture density. For geophysical
characterization of potential deep geothermal reservoirs, our results imply
that wireline-compatible borehole GPR should be considered for shear zone
characterization, and that seismic anisotropy and velocity information are
desirable to acquire in order to gain information about ductile shear zones
and fracture density, respectively.

/pdf/characterizing-a-decametre-scale-granitic-reservoir-using-4178mlqh7z.pdf

Joseph Doetsch

Papers

In situ observation of helium and argon release during fluid-pressure-triggered rock deformation

Grimsel ISC Experiment Description

A Multi-Scale Approach to Identify and Characterize Preferential Flow Paths in a Fractured Crystalline Rock

Stress Measurements in Crystalline Rock: Comparison of Overcoring, Hydraulic Fracturing and Induced Seismicity Results

Characterizing a decametre-scale granitic reservoir using ground-penetrating radar and seismic methods