Computational Models for CO2 Geo-sequestration & Compressed Air Energy Storage (Sustainable Energy Developments)

A comprehensive mathematical and computational modeling of CO2 Geosequestration and Compressed Air Energy Storage

Energy and environment are two interrelated issues of great concern to modern civilization. As the world population will soon reach eight billion, the demand for energy will dramatically increase, intensifying the use of fossil fuels. Utilization of fossil fuels is by far the largest anthropogenic source of CO2 emission into the earth’s atmosphere. This unavoidable reality necessitates efforts to mitigate CO2 from indefi nitely being emitted in the atmosphere. CO2 geo-sequestration is currently considered to be a vital technology for this purpose. Meanwhile, and as fossil fuels will sooner or later be depleted, utilization of renewable energy resources is inevitable. Nowadays, wind and solar energy, being clean and sustainable, are gaining momentum. However, their availability is intermittent. This intermittent nature of solar and wind energy necessitates storing the produced energy at off-peak times for later use. Compressed air energy storage in subterranean caverns, aquifers and coal seams is currently considered to be a plausible technology for this purpose. CO2 geo-sequestration and compressed air energy storage are thus vital technologies for current and future energy strategy development. These technologies can be made safe and cost-effective by utilizing computational tools capable of simulating the involved multiphysical phenomena and processes. Computational modeling of such systems is challenging and resource-consuming. Meeting such a challenge constitutes the focal point of this book.

This book addresses comprehensive theoretical and computational modeling aspects of CO2 geosequestration and compressed air energy storage. The book consists of 16 chapters authored by prominent researchers in these two fi elds. The authors of the book endeavoured to present years of innovative work, making it available for a wide range of readers, including geoscientists, poromechanists, applied mathematicians, computational geoscientists, geologists and reservoir engineers.

Rafid Al-Khoury

finished his PhD in computational mechanics at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Delft University of Technology in 2002. Before that, he worked as a resident engineer, an experimentalist and a consultant engineer in various fields of civil engineering. Since 2004, he is working as a researcher in computational geoenvironment at the Computational Mechanics Chair at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences in Delft University of Technology. His main area of interest is in geothermal energy, CO2 geo-sequestration, multiphase flow in porous medium domains and wave propagation in layered systems. He developed several analytical, semi-analytical and numerical models for these fields. The main focus of his research work is the formulation of innovative mathematical models and the development of efficient computational procedures capable of simulating multi-physical processes occurring in complicated geometry using minimal computational efforts. Along this line, Dr. Al-Khoury has published more than 25 peer-reviewed journal papers, and authored a book on “Computational Modeling of Shallow Geothermal Systems” in 2012, published by CRC Press/Balkema.

Jochen Bundschuh

finished his PhD on numerical modeling of heat transport in aquifers in Tübingen in 1990. He is working in geothermics, subsurface and surface hydrology and integrated water resources management, and connected disciplines. From 1993 to 1999 he served as an expert for the German Agency of Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and as a long-term professor for the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in Argentine. From 2001 to 2008 he worked within the framework of the German governmental cooperation (Integrated Expert Program of CIM; GTZ/BA) as adviser in mission to Costa Rica at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Here, he assisted the country in evaluation and development of its huge low-enthalpy geothermal resources for power generation. Since 2005, he is an affiliate professor of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. In 2006, he was electedVice-President of the International Society of Groundwater for Sustainable Development ISGSD. From 2009–2011 he was visiting professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. By the end of 2011 he was appointed as professor in hydrogeology at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia where he leads a working group of 26 researchers working on the wide field of water resources and low/middle enthalpy geothermal resources, water and wastewater treatment and sustainable and renewable energy resources (http://www.ncea.org.au/groundwater). In November 2012, Prof. Bundschuh was appointed as president of the newly established Australian Chapter of the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA).

Dr. Bundschuh is author of the books “Low-Enthalpy Geothermal Resources for Power Generation” (2008) (Balkema/Taylor&Francis/CRC Press) and “Introduction to the Numerical Modeling of Groundwater and Geothermal Systems: Fundamentals of Mass, Energy and Solute Transport in Poroelastic Rocks”. He is editor of the books “Geothermal Energy Resources for Developing Countries” (2002), “Natural Arsenic in Groundwater” (2005), and the two-volume monograph “Central America: Geology, Resources and Hazards” (2007), “Groundwater for Sustainable Development” (2008), “Natural Arsenic in Groundwater of Latin America (2008). Dr. Bundschuh is editor of the book series “Multiphysics Modeling”, “Arsenic in the Environment”, and “Sustainable Energy Developments” (all Balkema/CRC Press/Taylor & Francis).