Environmental Geochemistry Perspectives on Subsurface Energy Technologies

In the 21st century, the subsurface environment will be a valuable resource for disposal of greenhouse gases and storage of energy via compressed fluids. Reliable development of these technologies will rely on our ability to predictably describe fluid flow in porous and fractured media, and its evolution in response to geochemical processes driven by chemical perturbations. Through studies that integrate experimentation, reactive transport modeling and materials characterization, our research has revealed complex nonlinear feedbacks between geochemical and hydrologic processes, particularly in fractured rock. However, our larger-scale simulations have revealed that fluids, such as CO2, are unlikely to leak from injection formations and even if they do, they are not likely to migrate back to the land surface. Collectively, the findings from our work support an emerging body of evidence that the deep subsurface can be reliably used for fluid injection and containment.

Speaker: Dr. Catherin Peters, Princeton