Geologic carbon storage is one of the most promising options for decreasing atmospheric CO2 but a major challenge is how to control the distribution of supercritical CO2 in evolving porous rock formations. In many cases, natural, fluid distributing systems are remarkably efficient in dissipating or collecting fluids because of the interaction between the fluids and hierarchical assemblages of complex microstructures. These structures are difficult to design and fabricate artificially, because we do not know how the enormous number of small features are generated and assembled autonomously. My aim is to determine the relationships between global constraints and the evolution of internal structures in fluid distributing systems, particularly in the context of geologic carbon storage. The research will create synergy between in situ X-ray tomography (CT) and a reactor network model. CT can be used to monitor the evolution of structures; modelling helps assemble knowledge and analyse the importance of variables. On the short term, the results will provide base information to policy makers for informed decisions about how to tackle global warming and on the long term, through the development of the synergetic technologies, will contribute to the design of advanced energy and medical materials.
Upon conclusion, OMNICS delivered a toolset for investigating the microstructure evolution of geomaterials under geologic carbon storage (GCS) conditions. The toolset consists of three components: a sample environment for in situ X-ray imaging of flow through experiments, a conceptual model for microscopic pore development and a numerical simulation programme for predicting structural changes of porous media in a flow field. Two fluid cells have been manufactured and are fully functional with both synchrotron beamlines and benchtop tomography (CT) systems. A reactor network model has been built to conceptualise the different aspects of a coupled flow-reaction process and deployed on parallel computing systems for numerical simulations. The results of OMNICS have led to seven manuscripts documenting the technical details of each tool and the scientific discoveries enabled by the use of the toolset.
