This is a past event
Signi ficant proportion of the energy consumed worldwide is derived from combustion of fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources, efficient usage of fossil fuels and the development of fuel cells are expected to play an important role in the future. However, in the medium term, the world will continue to be dependent on utilisation of existing hydrocarbon resources. This poses two challenges
(a) with the depletion of "easy oil" or "easy resources", new technology is needed to recover the hydrocarbons from difficult environments and di fferent sources (b) the combustion of fossils fuels emit carbon dioxide, which is considered to be the main source of increase in Greenhouse eff ect resulting in the rise of the earth surface temperatures. My past research attempted to address these two challenges.Coal has fuelled the industrial revolution and still remains staple of the global energy mix. However, there is growing disquiet on its utilisation in current form due to the emission of carbon during its combustion. Alternative usage of coal can address the demand for energy with minimum environmental impact and some of the technologies such as underground coal gasi cation and recovery of coal seam methane are in practise. However, design of these processes require greater understanding of the physical processes in coal. Some of the key questions that I will answer during my talk are:(a) How does the occurrence of gas relate to the complex pore structure of coal?(b) What are the governing mechanisms and key characteristics that determine mass transport in coal?(c) If coal is to be burned in-situ to recover fuel gases (methane and hydrogen), how does burning of coal a ffect the subsurface environment? What happens to the roof rocks?
While sustainable energy sources are being investigated, it has been widely accepted that carbon capture and geological storage is viable option that can e ectively limit the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. The key concern of this technology is the long term integrity of geological storage. I will discuss some of the my work that addressed this aspect. My talk would illustrate practical situations, where there is a strong interaction and interdependence between deformation, strain and ow.
- Speaker
- Dr Amer Syed
- Hosted by
- School of Engineeering
- Venue
- FN3 Fraser Noble building
- Contact