Geological Media Research Articles

Controls on microbially-induced carbonate precipitation in geologic porous media

Microbially-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) provides a natural biomineralization approach to secure the geologic storage of gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane). Cracks in embrittled wellbore cement, for example, provide a pathway for atmospheric gas leakage, while permeability heterogeneities in the storage reservoir leads to fingering effects that diminish the storage capacity. The design of MICP processes, however, remains a challenge due to limited understanding of the coupled nonlinear reaction kinetics and multiphase transport involved. Specifically, previous attempts at MICP through porous media have been encumbered by carbonate precipitation localized to the first ∼ cm of the bulk injection surface. In this study, we investigate the reactive transport controls on MICP necessary to enable deep MICP penetration into the formation. We use a micromodel with pore geometry and geochemistry representative of real geologic media to image direct pore- and pore-ensemble-level mineral, fluid, and microbial distributions. An approach to adsorb microbes uniformly across the micromodel, rather than local accumulation near the inlet, is developed that enables deep MICP penetration into the porous medium. A sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the impact of injection conditions (e.g., rates, concentrations) required to maximize CaCO3 precipitation away from the injection site. With multiple cycles of MICP, a ∼ 78 % reduction in permeability was achieved with ∼8 % carbonate pore volume occupation. Overall, this study establishes the possibility of MICP as an effective and controllable method to enhance the security of gas storage in geologic media.

Exploring different representations of hydraulic tomographic data for deep learning: Sequence or image

Hydraulic tomography (HT) has emerged as a cost-efficient approach to infer the heterogeneity of geological media. The application of deep learning to hydraulic inverse problems has shown promising results, including approximating the inverse mapping from HT data to the image of hydraulic conductivity. However, most studies require the conversion of point-form HT data into images, regarding building inverse mapping as an image-image task. This necessitates data preprocessing, introducing human-induced errors. Besides, extracting features from images imposes a greater computational burden. To address these shortcomings, we proposed the utilization of sequence models to build the inverse mapping directly from observational data space to parameter space, thereby enhancing accuracy and reducing computational demands. An assessment was conducted on sequence models and image-to-image regression networks in a synthetic steady-state HT experiment. Comparative analyses were performed under different scenarios, including varying amounts of available data and data noise. Lastly, we applied our method in a synthetic transient HT experiment. Results showed that some sequence models, namely Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Transformer have similar performance compared to the image-to-image regression networks, which are CNN2D and U-Net in this study, but the sequence models have lower computational costs significantly. The Transformer-based model outperforms its closest competitor, achieving an R2 of 0.9666 and an RMSE of 0.1467. It was also found that the Transformer-based model had greater interpretability by analyzing the attention score matrix. The application of our methods in the synthetic transient HT experiment demonstrated the flexibility of using sequence models. Hydrogeologists should prioritize the characteristics of available data when selecting between these two methods and note that data noise can significantly compromise the efficacy of both approaches.

Predicting CO2 and H2 Solubility in Pure Water and Various Aqueous Systems: Implication for CO2–EOR, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Natural Hydrogen Production and Underground Hydrogen Storage

The growing energy demand and the need for climate mitigation strategies have spurred interest in the application of CO2–enhanced oil recovery (CO2–EOR) and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). Furthermore, natural hydrogen (H2) production and underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in geological media have emerged as promising technologies for cleaner energy and achieving net–zero emissions. However, selecting a suitable geological storage medium is complex, as it depends on the physicochemical and petrophysical characteristics of the host rock. Solubility is a key factor affecting the above–mentioned processes, and it is critical to understand phase distribution and estimating trapping capacities. This paper conducts a succinct review of predictive techniques and present novel simple and non–iterative predictive models for swift and reliable prediction of solubility behaviors in CO2–brine and H2–brine systems under varying conditions of pressure, temperature, and salinity (T–P–m salts), which are crucial for many geological and energy–related applications. The proposed models predict CO2 solubility in CO2 + H2O and CO2 + brine systems containing mixed salts and various single salt systems (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, SO42−) under typical geological conditions (273.15–523.15 K, 0–71 MPa), as well as H2 solubility in H2 + H2O and H2 + brine systems containing NaCl (273.15–630 K, 0–101 MPa). The proposed models are validated against experimental data, with average absolute errors for CO2 solubility in pure water and brine ranging between 8.19 and 8.80% and for H2 solubility in pure water and brine between 4.03 and 9.91%, respectively. These results demonstrate that the models can accurately predict solubility over a wide range of conditions while remaining computationally efficient compared to traditional models. Importantly, the proposed models can reproduce abrupt variations in phase composition during phase transitions and account for the influence of different ions on CO2 solubility. The solubility models accurately capture the salting–out (SO) characteristics of CO2 and H2 gas in various types of salt systems which are consistent with previous studies. The simplified solubility models for CO2 and H2 presented in this study offer significant advantages over conventional approaches, including computational efficiency and accuracy across a wide range of geological conditions. The explicit, derivative–continuous nature of these models eliminates the need for iterative algorithms, making them suitable for integration into large–scale multiphase flow simulations. This work contributes to the field by offering reliable tools for modeling solubility in various subsurface energy and environmental–related applications, facilitating their application in energy transition strategies aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Diffusive nature of different gases in graphite: Implications for gas separation membrane technology

Graphite membranes have gained attention in membrane technology for gas separation due to their high stiffness, strength, and stability in corrosive and high-temperature environments. Graphite exists naturally in geologic media and can also be prepared by synthetic processes. In- situ hydrogen (H2) production in petroleum reservoirs or H2 storage in depleted gas reservoirs results in contamination with CH4 and CO2. To address the separation challenge at the surface, a sustainable downhole wellbore membrane must be available to separate H2, leaving behind CO2 and other gases to improve operational economics. Currently, there are no studies in the literature on the self-diffusivity of gases (CO2, H2, and CH4) in graphite as a function of pore size. To overcome time constraints in diffusivity experiments, this work utilized mathematical models and molecular simulations to delineate the self-diffusivity of gases in graphite of different pore sizes.To acknowledge subsurface operational conditions during in situ hydrogen production, we considered a temperature of 360 K and a wide pressure spectrum from 2 MPa to 20 MPa. In this study, we explored the diffusive nature of H2, CH4, and CO2 gases in different nanopore-sized graphite using analytical and molecular simulation approaches. We validated the results by presenting unrestricted case density calculations. First, effective diffusivity was calculated using the mean free pore path, followed by gas adsorption at high pressures (10–20 MPa) and a temperature of 350 K. The study utilized theoretical models and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to determine the self-diffusivity of gases in graphite systems with various structures.

Density-driven free convection in heterogeneous aquifers with connectivity features

Free convection usually happens in variable-density groundwater flow systems, and it favors contaminant transport by enlarging length scales and shortening timescales compared to advection and diffusion/dispersion alone. Previous studies have demonstrated that heterogeneity with multi-variate Gaussian distribution for logarithmic permeabilities (log10k) plays an important role in the onset, growth, and/or decay of instability during the density-driven convective process. Nevertheless, the connectivity features (i.e., connected structures of extremely high/low-k values), which are common in natural aquifers, have received little attention. In this study, the classical problem of transient free convection has been modified and numerically simulated by Monte Carlo approach to investigate the effects of connectivity features in heterogeneity on the unstable convective processes. Results show that free convection is promoted by the connected high-k structures and retarded by the connected low-k structures during mainly the early-stage mass loading. The impacts of connectivity features tend to be amplified by higher variation in log10k distributions, and can be secondarily influenced by correlation lengths and anisotropy. Under the multi-variate Gaussian assumption, the existence of connected high-k structures leads to underestimation of density-driven instability, in which the risk differs based on the statistics of permeability fields, metrics of interest and timeframe. This study highlights the importance of understanding connectivity features in heterogeneous geological media when assessing density-dependent solute transport in groundwater systems.

Suitability evaluation of an equivalent porous medium method for characterizing 2-D flow based on the fracture fractal dimension

ABSTRACT An equivalent porous medium (EPM) method is widely utilized in various practical applications of hydrogeological engineering with areas of a fractured geological medium (FGM). However, the suitability of the EPM model still lacks sufficient scientific evaluation when considering the distribution of water head and flow velocity. In this study, the suitability of the EPM model to the fractal dimension of a discrete fracture network (DFN) is analyzed based on numerical simulation experiments. The simulation results of the EPM model are compared with those of the DFN model. Then, a formula is proposed to evaluate the suitability of the EPM model for characterizing two-dimensional flow distribution. The results show that with the increase of the fractal dimension, the suitability of the EPM model decreases first and then increases, and the inflection point gradually appears in advance with the increase of the length–width ratio of the simulation domain. The length–width ratio of the simulation domain has a linear relationship with the suitability of the EPM model, and the slope increases with the increase of the fractal dimension. Finally, a quantitative evaluation method is proposed to calculate the suitability of the EPM model based on the fractal dimension and the length–width ratio of the simulation domain.

CO2-brine interactions in anhydrite-rich rock: Implications for carbon mineralization and geo-storage

The utilization of subsurface geologic media for carbon capture and storage through mineralization has been recognized as a reliable approach. However, less attention has been given to anhydrite rock type for CO2 mineralization and storage. Anhydrite-rich rock formations, commonly found in various geological settings, have the potential to serve as natural carbon sinks through the mineralization of CO2. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the mechanisms and potential of anhydrite-CO2-brine interactions for carbon storage. The experimental approach involved exposing anhydrite-rich rock to supercritical CO2-brine environments under varying conditions of fluid composition. Mineral transformation of an outcrop anhydrite-rich rock sample in static reactor under subsurface conditions of elevated temperature (60 °C) and pressure (104 bar), in the absence and the presence of SrCl2 was conduct for a one-month period. Mineralogical and geochemical analyses, including, solution analyses, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, micro-computed tomography, and mechanical properties were conducted to examine the changes in the composition and rock structure resulting from the interactions. The experimental reactions revealed that anhydrite undergoes mineral transformation upon exposure to supercritical CO2-saturated brine to form stable minerals including calcite, dolomite, magnesite, and strontianite, which contributes to the potential for long-term storage of CO2 in the subsurface geologic media. The efficiency and extent of carbon mineralization were found to be influenced by brine composition. These findings contribute to the understanding of the potential of these formations for carbon storage, opening avenues for further research and the development of effective carbon capture and storage strategies.

Methods for Assessing the Layered Structure of the Geological Environment in the Drilling Process by Analyzing Recorded Phase Geoelectric Signals

Assessment of the current state of the near-surface part of the geological environment and understanding of its layered structure play an important role in various scientific and applied fields. The presented work is devoted to the application of phasometric modifications of geoelectric control methods to solve the problem of the detailed complex study of the underground layers of the environment in the process of drilling operations with the use of special equipment. These studies are based on the analysis of variations in phase parameters and characteristics of an artificially excited multiphase electric field to assess poorly distinguishable details and changes in the layered structure of the medium. The proposed method has increased accuracy, sensitivity and noise proofness of measurements, which allows for extracting detailed information about the heterogeneity, composition and stratification of underground geological formations not only in the zone where the drill makes contact with the medium, but also in the entire control zone. This paper considers practical mathematical models of phase images for basic scenarios of drill penetration between the layers of the near-surface part of the geological medium with different characteristics, obtained by means of approximation apparatus based on continuous piecewise linear functions, and also suggests the use of modern machine learning methods for intelligent analysis of its structure. Studying the phase shifts in electrical signals during drilling highlights their value for understanding the dynamics of soil response to the process. The observed signal changes during the drilling cycle reveal in detail the heterogeneity in soil structure and its response to changes caused by drilling. The stability of phase shifts at the last stages of the process indicates a quasi-equilibrium state. The results make a significant contribution to geotechnical science by offering an improved approach to monitoring a layered structure without the need for deep drilling.

U(VI) sorption on illite in the Co-existence of carbonates and humic substances

The presence of carbonates or humic substances (HS) will significantly affect the species and chemical behavior of U(VI) in solution, but lacking systematic exploration of the coupling effect of carbonates and HS under near real environmental conditions at present. Herein, the sorption behavior of U(VI) on illite was systematically studied in the co-existence of carbonates and HS including both humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) by batch technique. The distribution coefficients (Kd) increased as function of time and temperature but decreased with increasing concentrations of initial U(VI), Ca2+, and Mg2+, as well as ion strength. At pH 2.0–10.5, the Kd values first increased rapidly and then decreased visibly, with its maximum value appearing at pH 5.0, owning to the changes in the interaction between illite and the dominant species of U(VI) from electrostatic attraction to electrostatic repulsion. The sorption was a heterogeneous, spontaneous, and endothermic chemical process, which could be well described by pseudo-second-order kinetic and Flory-Huggins isotherm models. When carbonates and HA/FA coexisted, the Kd values always increased first and then decreased as a function of pH, with the only difference for HA and FA being the key pH (pHkey) at which the promoting and inhibiting effects on the sorption of U(VI) onto illite undergo a transition. The carbonates and HS have a synergistic inhibitory effect on the U(VI) sorption onto illite at pH 7.8. FTIR and XPS spectra demonstrated that the hydroxyl groups on the illite surface and in the HS were involved in U(VI) sorption on illite in the presence of carbonates. These results provide valuable data for a deeper understanding of U(VI) migration in geological media.

Numerical analysis of coupled thermal–hydraulic processes based on the embedded discrete fracture modeling method

The enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technology is considered an effective way to extract energy from deep hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal resources, which involves the coupling of complex thermal–hydraulic processes in fractured geological media. In this work, we propose a numerical approach based on the concept of embedded discrete fracture modeling method (EDFM), to estimate heat production performance from the EGS. We validated the method by comparing the outputs of our numerical models with experimental data and analytical solutions. A simplified, idealized two-dimensional model with discrete fractures was applied to gain insights on mass and heat transfer mechanisms expected under field conditions. Simulation results indicated that isolated and dead-end fractures have little influence on the overall performance of EGS, under the initial and boundary conditions of our numerical experiments (e.g., fracture density and permeability differences between fractures and matrix). It emerges that geometry and hydraulic transmissivity of fractures are key factors in controlling the effectiveness of the heat exchange between host rocks and circulating fluids. This work emphasizes the importance of implementing increasingly reliable descriptions of the fluid-dynamic and thermodynamic behavior of fractures, to increase the confidence in the numerical assessment of the performance of EGS installations.

Predictive Geogenic Radon Potential (P-GRP): A novel approach for comprehensive hazard assessment and risk modeling in subsurface environment

Geogenic radon potential (GRP) is traditionally used for mapping radon-prone areas. However, this has challenges in the accurate assessment of radon risk because of limitations such as oversimplified soil measurements and lack of geological profiles. This study presents predictive geogenic radon potential (P-GRP), integrating geological characterization and advanced modeling for the emanation and transport of radon in the subsurface environment. Seoul, South Korea, was selected as the research area for the evaluation of hazards using P-GRP, while subway station A was selected for the assessment of indoor health risks. The geology was characterized by the layers of bedrock and soil using uranium contents and porosity. The emanation of radon was modeled considering the radioactive decay chain of uranium and the pore structures. The vertical transport of radon was modeled considering the porosity variation within geological media, which was used for the calculation of P-GRP. Without loss of continuity, the P-GRP map was constructed by calculating P-GRP at a specific depth over the Seoul area. The calculation of P-GRP in the case of subway station A demonstrates that the radon concentration in the bedrock at the platform depth was expected to be 382 million Bqm−3. The indoor radon risk was calculated using the P-GRP by coupling the vapor intrusion process. This presented a high cancer risk for the employees as well as commuters. The P-GRP map of Seoul demonstrated higher hazards in granite zones compared to banded gneiss zones. These results have demonstrated that the P-GRP could be a novel and promising approach for assessing hazard and risk by geogenic radon during subsurface development.

Hydrogeologic Framework Model‐Based Numerical Simulation of Groundwater Flow and Salt Transport and Analytic Hierarchy Process‐Based Multi‐Criteria Evaluation of Optimal Pumping Location and Rate for Mitigation of Seawater Intrusion in a Complex Coastal Aquifer System

AbstractA series of hydrogeologic framework model (HFM)‐based steady‐ and transient‐state numerical simulations is performed first using a coupled subsurface flow‐transport numerical model to analyze groundwater flow and salt transport in an actual three‐dimensional complex coastal aquifer system before and during groundwater pumping. A series of analytic hierarchy process (AHP)‐based multi‐criteria evaluations is then performed applying a multi‐criteria decision‐making approach to determine optimal pumping location and rate for a new pumping well in the complex coastal aquifer system during groundwater pumping. The complex coastal aquifer system is composed of six anisotropic fractured porous geologic media (five rock formations and one fault) and three isotropic porous geologic media (three soil formations) and shows high geometric irregularity and significant heterogeneity and anisotropy of the nine geologic media. Results of the steady‐state numerical simulations show successful model calibration with 26 measured groundwater levels and two observed seawater intrusion front lines. The latter two are determined by spatial interpolation and extrapolation of electrical conductivity logging data and electrical resistivity survey data, respectively. Based on the status and prospect of necessary water uses and available groundwater resources, the field observations of groundwater and seawater intrusion, and the analyses of the steady‐state numerical simulation after the model calibration, six candidate pumping locations are selected for the new pumping well. In addition, from six preliminary individual transient‐state numerical simulations, maximum pumping rates at the six candidate pumping locations are calculated first, and a set of six incremental candidate pumping rates is then assigned at each of the six candidate pumping locations. Results of the transients‐state numerical simulations show that groundwater flow and salt transport are spatially and temporally changed, and seawater intrusion is further intensified by groundwater pumping. In addition, the magnitudes of such spatial and temporal changes and intensification are significantly different depending on the candidate pumping locations and rates. Results of the steady‐ and transient‐state numerical simulations also show that both complexity (geometric irregularity, heterogeneity, and anisotropy including the fault) and topography have significant effects on the spatial distributions and temporal changes of groundwater flow and salt transport in the coastal aquifer system before and during groundwater pumping. In addition, results of statistical estimations of the mesh Peclet and Courant numbers confirm acceptabilities of minimizing numerical dispersion in the steady‐ and transient‐state numerical simulations. Based on the analyses of the transient‐state numerical simulations, eight multiple criteria are chosen to judge, prioritize, and rank the six candidate pumping locations and six candidate pumping rates for optimal pumping. Results of the multi‐criteria evaluations determine the optimal pumping location and rate for the new pumping well among the six candidate pumping locations and six candidate pumping rates. In addition, results of consistency checks confirm consistencies of judgments in the multi‐criteria evaluations.

CO2 foam to enhance geological storage capacity in hydrocarbon reservoirs

Geological CO2 storage is an emerging topic in energy and environmental community, which is, as a commonly-accepted sense, considered a powerful approach to mitigate the global carbon emissions during the transition to net-zero. The geological media initially considered cover the saline aquifers, oil and gas reservoirs, coal beds, and potentially basalts. Up to now only the first two choices have been proven to be the most capable storage sites and successfully implemented at pilot/commercial scales. Here, novel strategies were proposed for the first time, by synthesizing and utilizing new high-dryness CO2 foam, to enhance geological CO2 storage capacity in oil and gas reservoirs. As a major storage site, the oil and gas reservoirs ranked only second to the saline aquifer, due to their huge underground spaces, and more importantly, spontaneous economic benefits by injecting CO2 for geological storage. However, at any development stage, particularly late stage with high water cut, CO2 injection usually tends to cause gas channeling and therefore result in low-efficient storage. In this paper, a series of dynamic evaluation experiments are carried out to investigate the effect of newly-synthesized high-dryness CO2 foam in oil and gas reservoirs. A comprehensive set of parameters, including the fluid production volume, rate, efficiency, pressure, porous media weight, water cut, mobility reduction factor, oil-gas-water ternary phase saturation, etc., are specifically analyzed. The lab results show that when the foam quality is 85 %, the oil recovery performance and gas phase saturation reach their highest values, of 82.68 % and 75.36 %, respectively; meanwhile, the water consumption is at the lowest level, 43.88 g/mol, for the CO2 storage in oil and gas reservoirs. This indicates the synthesized high-dryness CO2 foam, attributed to its superb stability, modifies the mobility ratio, suppresses the viscous fingering, and finally results in higher oil recovery and more CO2 storage. Similar work has been done for the reservoirs with permeabilities from high to low levels. The study provides experimental evidences that suggest benefits from applying CO2 flooding in oil and gas reservoirs.

Pore structure characteristics of coral reef limestone: a combined polarizing microscope and CT scanning study

Coral reef limestone is a special class of geological medium formed through long-term deposition following the death of reef-building coral groups. Because it retains the skeletal structure of marine organisms during its formation, its pore structure is hyper-developed and complex. Deciphering the pore structure of the coral reef limestone is important because it is closely related to its macroscopic physical and mechanical properties. This study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the pore structure features of two types of coral reef limestone collected from the construction site of a nuclear power station located in the South China Sea using a combination of polarizing microscopy and CT scanning technologies. The fractal dimension of the pore structure of the treated reef limestone image was calculated, and the pore structure characteristics were statistically analyzed by considering several parameters including porosity, pore size, pore equivalent radius, shape factor, etc. In addition, the directional feature of the pore structure was explored. The results show that the improved watershed segmentation algorithm can accurately segment the pore structure of reef limestone images; both coral reef limestone specimens are loose of high porosity; the fractal dimension of pore structure lay between 1.58∼1.75, indicative of a high self-similarity; the pore size of the two coral reef limestone specimens is quite different, and the distribution of equivalent pore radius conforms to the normal distribution law; the pore structure of the two samples had obvious directionality, which can be quantified using a directional tensor. This study sheds light on future investigations linking the microscopic structure and macroscopic properties of coral reef limestones.

Harnessing Geothermal Energy Potential from High-Level Nuclear Waste Repositories

The disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW) has been one of the most challenging issues for nuclear energy utilization. In this study, we have explored the potential of extracting decay heat from HLW, taking advantage of recent advances in the technologies to utilize low-temperature geothermal resources for the co-generation of electricity and heat. Given that geothermal energy entails extracting heat from natural radioactivity within the Earth, we may consider that our approach is to augment it with an anthropogenic geothermal source. Our study—for the first time—introduces a conceptual model of a binary-cycle geothermal system powered by the heat produced by HLW. TOUGHREACT V3.32 software was used to model the heat transfer resulting from radioactive decay to the surrounding geological media. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of employing the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) to generate approximately 108 kWe per HLW canister 30 years after emplacement and a heat pump system to produce 81 kWth of high-potential heat per canister for HVAC purposes within the same timeframe. The proposed facility has the potential to produce carbon-free power while ensuring the safe disposal of radioactive waste and removing the bottleneck in the sustainable use of nuclear energy.

Radon Emanation and Dynamic Processes in Highly Dispersive Media

The paper considers a dispersive geological medium (seismically turbid medium, as defined by A.V. Nikolaev), which is in a stress–strain state. Results of studies on the joint monitoring of seismic effects and radon emanation in various geological environments are presented. It is concluded that the turbidity of the medium, as a statistical characteristic, can be generalized in terms of other media parameters, such as permeability. A stable connection between radon emanation and dynamic processes occurring in a geological environment and caused by external influences has been established. The concentration of radon can also reflect the degree of enrichment of the environment by underground fractures. Consequently, saturation of the environment with radon provides information about the presence of disturbances in a geological environment in the form of cracks and a stress–strain state of the medium before and after seismic loadings. Radon observations make it possible to assess a continuity of the environment and the possibility of leaching in natural conditions. Therefore, it could be efficiently used for underground leaching efficiency assessment.

WITHDRAWN: A Critical Review on Compressed Air Energy Storage in Underground Geological Media: Advances and Future Outlook

Renewable energy sources such as wind, tidal, and solar power have emerged as the major clean energy sources globally to reduce or replace fossil fuel use to mitigate global climate change. Nevertheless, renewable sources exhibit sporadic and unstable characteristics, leading to significant challenges in grid integration and power fluctuations. Consequently, these difficulties might disrupt the overall stability of the grid. In instances of this nature, the significance of energy storage technologies becomes paramount, prompting researchers to redirect their focus towards identifying effective methods of energy storage that may optimize consumption to its fullest extent. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) is widely regarded as a vital technical solution for addressing the disparities between the generation of clean power and the corresponding demand for electricity because other storage technologies have high costs and limited feasibility in the context of renewable sources. This paper reviewed critically the CAES recent progress focused on developments of experimental works, modelling and simulations, and field applications of the CAES technology. It has been revealed that CAES in underground geological media (UGM) such as caverns and aquifers have great potential to store these energy sources and release them during high energy demand period. Despite the continuous research in CAES in UGM, particularly experiments, modelling and simulations, there are recently few new reported Adiabatic CAES in China and Canada full field applications apart from Huntorf and McIntosh. Further, it was found that super compressibility carbon dioxide (CO2) can be used as cushion gas during CAES because it increases the discharging pressure than charging pressure which led to production rate to increase four times than injection rate. Also, recommended policies in this paper may encourage the development and deployment of CAES technology as part of a sustainable and reliable energy system. Furthermore, identified challenges in this paper must be addressed and centred on enhancing CAES technology, monitoring systems, and materials to improve the technology's efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. The identified research gaps in this paper will pave the way for stake holders, academia, and researchers to conduct more research in CAES in underground geological media towards full field application on a global scale as a clean source of energy to combat global climatic change in future and supply energy during high demand period.

Quantifying phase mixing and separation behaviors across length and time scales

Phase mixing and separation phenomena abound in the formation of natural and synthetic material systems, including alloys, composites, granular media, geological media, complex fluids, and biological media. While characterizing phase mixing is critical to understanding material microstructure formation and physical properties, previous metrics that measure the degree of mixing in condensed phases often rely on empirical observation, are applicable only to certain microstructures, and/or fail to detect nontrivial changes in mixing with respect to length scale. To overcome these shortcomings, we introduce and study a mixing metric that is applicable to a broad spectrum of complex microstructures and leverages the hyperuniformity concept to provide a unifying framework to rank and classify mixing in materials across both length and time scales. Specifically, we employ the local phase volume-fraction/field-intensity variance σV/F2(R,t) associated with a spherical sampling window of radius R at time t as our metric. We demonstrate that σV/F2(R,t) provides a sensitive measure of mixing across both length and time scales of a structurally diverse set of real and simulated material microstructures: exotic disordered multihyperuniform avian retina photoreceptor cell patterns, time-evolving spinodal decomposition patterns, and a model material mixed via the baker’s transformation. We also describe how this metric can be used to guide future work on fabricating materials whose bulk properties can be controlled by tuning their mixing characteristics across length and time scales.

Quantifying salinity in heterogeneous coastal aquifers through ERT and IP: Insights from laboratory and field investigations

The lithological and stratigraphical heterogeneity of coastal aquifers has a great influence on saltwater intrusion (SI). This makes it difficult to predict SI pathways and their persistence in time. In this context, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and induced polarization (IP) methods are receiving increasing attention regarding the discrimination between saltwater-bearing and clayey sediments. To simplify the interpretation of ERT data, it is commonly assumed that the bulk conductivity mostly depends on the conductivity of pore-filling fluids, while surface conductivity is generally disregarded in the spatial and temporal variability of the aquifers, particularly, once the aquifer is affected by the presence of saltwater. Quantifying salinities based on a simplified petrophysical relationship can lead to misinterpretation in aquifers constituted by clay-rich sediments. In this study, we rely on co-located data from drilled boreholes to formulate petrophysical relationships between bulk and fluid conductivity for clay-bearing and clay-free sediments. First, the sedimentary samples from the drilled wells were classified according to their particle size distribution and analyzed in the lab using spectral IP in controlled salinity conditions to derive their formation factors, surface conductivity, and normalized chargeability. Second, the deduced thresholds are applied on the field to distinguish clay-bearing sediments from brackish sandy sediments. The results are validated with logging data and direct salinity measurements on water samples. We applied the approach along the Luy River catchment and found that the formation factors and surface conductivity of the different unconsolidated sedimentary classifications vary from 4.0 to 8.9 for coarse-grained sand and clay-bearing mixtures, while normalized chargeability above 1.0 mS.m−1 indicates the presence of clay. The clay-bearing sediments are mostly distributed in discontinuous small lenses. The assumption of homogenous geological media is therefore leading to overestimating SI in the heterogeneous clay-bearing aquifers.

Unraveling residual trapping for geologic hydrogen storage and production using pore-scale modeling

Residual trapping is an important process that affects the efficiency of cyclic storage and withdrawal and in-situ production of hydrogen in geological media. In this study, we have conducted pore-scale modeling to investigate the effects of pore geometry and injection rate on the occurrence and efficiency of residual trapping via dead-end bypassing. We begin our theoretical and numerical analyses using a single rectangular pore to understand the key controls in bypassing. We further investigated two factors affecting bypassing: (a) a continuous cycle of injection-extraction of H2, and (b) variable pore geometry. Based on our pore-scale simulations, we found that: (a) a higher pore height/width ratio (h/w) and a higher injection rate cause more residual trapping, which is unfavorable for withdrawal of H2; (b) the trapping percentage increases with the h/w first and then decreases after h/w reaches 0.5; (c) and a converging-shaped pore can result in less trapping volume. Based on a theoretical comparison of the residual trapping behavior of H2 and CO2, we discuss the mechanisms that are applicable to CO2 residual trapping and the possibility of developing engineering controls of H2 storage and production.