Start
Dec 21, 2018 - 14:00
End
Dec 21, 2018 - 15:00
Venue
Room 118 Chemical Engg Dept
Event Type
Speaker
Prof. Greeshma Gadikota Assistant Professor & Grainger Faculty Fellow Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin 53706
Title
Towards Sustainable Gas Transport Recovery and Storage: Tuning and Understanding Gas Interactions at Solid-Water Interfaces using Molecular- and Meso-Scale Studies for Pore-to-Field and Process Scale Applications in Energy and Environment
Abstract: With more than 82% of our energy resources recovered from the subsurface environments and more than 50 billion cubic feet of fresh water resources used in this process there is an urgent societal need to develop sustainable pathways for energy recovery and production to meet the growing global demand for energy resources. Further fossil fuel consumption contributes to about 79% of global CO2 emissions. The development of sustainable energy technologies including water-lean hydrocarbon recovery carbon capture utilization and storage and efficient utilization of abundant shale gas and oil resources requires us to develop a fundamental scientific understanding of gas interactions at complex solid and solid-water interfaces. With the development of multi-scale X-ray scattering techniques including Ultra Small Small and Wide Angle X-Ray Scattering (USAXS/SAXS/WAXS) and Ultra Small and Small Angle Neutron Scattering (USANS/SANS) measurements with in-operando capability it is now possible to connect the sub-nano and meso-scale interactions of gases with natural and engineered hierarchical and heterogeneous materials representative of the subsurface environments. This approach has allowed us to link the adsorption of gases (e.g. CO2 CH4) to the microstructural and structural changes of materials with systematic organization of pore structures (e.g. MCM-41 and SBA-15) and swelling clays characterized by interlayer water (e.g. sodium montmorillonite) at pressures as high as 90 bar to represent subsurface environmental conditions. Further the engineered conversion of CO2 to water insoluble calcium and magnesium carbonates to mimic in-situ geologic environments and also to tune carbonate structure and morphology for integration with the built environment are investigated using these techniques. The influence of perturbing the microstructures and structures of shales at elevated temperature (T > 500 oC) are probed using in-operando multi-scale X-ray scattering measurements. Gas adsorption and transport behaviors in confined solid-water environments that are challenging to characterize using experimental methods are predicted using molecular dynamics simulations. The scientific implications of these studies in engineering complex interfaces for sustainable energy and resource recovery are evaluated.