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Geological Insights for a Carbon-Free, Sustainable Environment

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (17 September 2024) | Viewed by 4556

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
Interests: CCUS technologies; CO2, H2 geological storage; geothermal energy recovery; synergy of renewable energy technologies

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Guest Editor
Department of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
Interests: CCUS technologies; CO2, H2 geological storage; geothermal energy recovery; synergy of renewable energy technologies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce a new Special Issue, “Geological Insights for a Carbon-Free, Sustainable Environment”, for the journal Sustainability.

According to the current situation in the energy market, the new unconventional energy sources and sustainable use of the underground are crucial topics. In addition to the energy crisis, we are still living with the permanent problem of climate change and the challenge of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is now of high importance to find new economically feasible, adequate, and attractive end-user solutions that will meet the requirements for a comfortable and safe life on the planet. The hot topics under consideration are (1) CCUS (CO2 Capture, Transport, Use and Storage); (2) H2 energy—full chain from production to geological storage and use; (3) geothermal energy recovery (including CO2, CPG); (4) other renewable energy recovery; (5) synergy of different methods and technologies.

The aim of this Special issue is to provide authors a platform to present their studies and ideas in the declared research area to find the best solutions to solve current problems and to make a positive contribution to human life. The subject is perfectly related to the journal scope.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • CCUS (CO2 Capture, Transport, Use and Storage);
  • Hydrogen as a new century source of energy—full chain from production to geological storage and use;
  • Geothermal energy recovery (including CO2–CPG);
  • New unconventional renewable energy recovery;
  • Synergy of unconventional renewable methods and technologies.

Dr. Kazbulat Shogenov
Dr. Alla Shogenova
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • CO2 use and storage (CCUS)
  • CO2–geothermal energy (CPG)
  • underground hydrogen (H2) storage (UHS)
  • synergy of unconventional renewable energies

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 10501 KiB  
Article
Numerical Modelling of CO2 Injection and Storage in Low Porosity and Low Permeability Saline Aquifers: A Design for the Permian Shiqianfeng Formation in the Yulin Area, Ordos Basin
by Chen Wang, Zhenliang Wang and Haowen Li
Sustainability 2024, 16(23), 10593; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310593 - 3 Dec 2024
Viewed by 433
Abstract
The geological storage of CO2 in saline aquifers is a crucial method for achieving large-scale carbon storage in the future. The saline aquifers with low porosity and permeability in the Ordos Basin exhibit high irreducible water saturation and restricted fluid mobility, necessitating [...] Read more.
The geological storage of CO2 in saline aquifers is a crucial method for achieving large-scale carbon storage in the future. The saline aquifers with low porosity and permeability in the Ordos Basin exhibit high irreducible water saturation and restricted fluid mobility, necessitating further investigation of their injectivity and storage safety. The fifth member of the Shiqianfeng Formation (P3sh5) in the Ordos Basin serves as a key layer for geological CO2 storage (GCS). The numerical simulation of CO2 injection in this reservoir is an indispensable process for characterizing the migration and storage of CO2. Injection pressure and well type (vertical well or horizontal well) are critical factors affecting GCS. The results of the numerical simulation are important preliminary preparations for promoting the GCS in the saline aquifer of the Shiqianfeng Formation in the future. This paper focuses on P3sh5 in the Yulin area as a case study. It investigates the injectivity and CO2 migration characteristics of these low porosity and low permeability saline aquifers in the Ordos Basin. Relatively high-quality distributary channel sandstone bodies in integrally low porosity and permeability strata were identified for injection. As CO2 is injected, the formation pressure gradually increases. It is essential to maintain it below the fracture pressure during CO2 injection to ensure safety. High-pressure (8 MPa) injection could achieve volumes 2.9 times greater than those in the low-pressure scenario (4 MPa) of 2 km horizontal branch well. Under the three injection well types, the injection rate of vertical wells is the lowest. Employing a “horizontal branch well injection” strategy could potentially amplify the injection volume by 2.87 times. CO2 predominantly migrates vertically near the horizontal interval of interest, while horizontally, the area near the interval of interest experiences a higher CO2 saturation, with the maximum saturation reaching about 50%. Overall, CO2 is migrated in the distributary channel sandstone bodies, indicating a higher storage safety and lower leakage risk. It is recommended that the number of drilling wells be increased and multiple horizontal branch wells implemented to enhance the injection efficiency. Overall, this study provides a geological foundation for the previous design and construction of the GCS project in the Ordos Basin’s saline aquifer. It also provides a reference for GCS in low permeability saline layers in similar regions worldwide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Insights for a Carbon-Free, Sustainable Environment)
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30 pages, 8361 KiB  
Article
Quantifying Sectoral Carbon Footprints in Türkiye’s Largest Metropolitan Cities: A Monte Carlo Simulation Approach
by Sena Ecem Yakut Şevik and Ahmet Duran Şahin
Sustainability 2024, 16(5), 1730; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16051730 - 20 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1675
Abstract
Urbanization is a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a pivotal factor in climate change. Climate change represents a global predicament impacting all nations, necessitating collaboration among numerous countries to curtail GHG emissions. An essential step to overcome this problem is the [...] Read more.
Urbanization is a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a pivotal factor in climate change. Climate change represents a global predicament impacting all nations, necessitating collaboration among numerous countries to curtail GHG emissions. An essential step to overcome this problem is the accurate measurement, calculation, and modelling of the amount of damage inflicted on the atmosphere. Therefore, carbon footprints (CFs) originating from various sources are calculated. This study calculates the CF of different sectors in metropolitan cities in Türkiye, which are Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, for the years 2015–2020 using the Tier 1 and Tier 2 approaches outlined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodology. Additionally, to account for uncertainties in activity data and emission factors and calculate the potential emission range, a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) was conducted. Analysis of Tier 1 results revealed the highest emissions consistently occurring in Istanbul across all years, while emissions from other cities exhibited variability annually. Notably, average MCS results surpassed the total emission quantities derived at the study’s conclusion for all cities and years, underscoring the influence of uncertainties. The study results align with the calculated 95% confidence interval, affirming the robustness within the specified statistical framework. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Insights for a Carbon-Free, Sustainable Environment)
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21 pages, 18972 KiB  
Article
Multi-Sensor Seismic Processing Approach Using Geophones and HWC DAS in the Monitoring of CO2 Storage at the Hellisheiði Geothermal Field in Iceland
by Cinzia Bellezza, Erika Barison, Biancamaria Farina, Flavio Poletto, Fabio Meneghini, Gualtiero Böhm, Deyan Draganov, Martijn T. G. Janssen, Gijs van Otten, Anna L. Stork, Athena Chalari, Andrea Schleifer and Sevket Durucan
Sustainability 2024, 16(2), 877; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020877 - 19 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1597
Abstract
Geothermal power production may result in significant CO2 emissions as part of the produced steam. CO2 capture, utilisation, subsurface storage (CCUS) and developments to exploit geothermal resources are focal points for future clean and renewable energy strategies. The Synergetic Utilisation of [...] Read more.
Geothermal power production may result in significant CO2 emissions as part of the produced steam. CO2 capture, utilisation, subsurface storage (CCUS) and developments to exploit geothermal resources are focal points for future clean and renewable energy strategies. The Synergetic Utilisation of CO2 Storage Coupled with Geothermal Energy Deployment (SUCCEED) project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using produced CO2 for re-injection in the geothermal field to improve geothermal performance, while also storing the CO2 as an action for climate change mitigation. Our study has the aim to develop innovative reservoir-monitoring technologies via active-source seismic data acquisition using a novel electric seismic vibrator source and permanently installed helically wound cable (HWC) fibre-optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system. Implemented together with auxiliary multi-component (3C and 2C) geophone receiver arrays, this approach gave us the opportunity to compare and cross-validate the results using wavefields from different acquisition systems. We present the results of the baseline survey of a time-lapse monitoring project at the Hellisheiði geothermal field in Iceland. We perform tomographic inversion and multichannel seismic processing to investigate both the shallower and the deeper basaltic rocks targets. The wavefield analysis is supported by seismic modelling. The HWC DAS and the geophone-stacked sections show good consistency, highlighting the same reflection zones. The comparison of the new DAS technology with the well-known standard geophone acquisition proves the effectiveness and reliability of using broadside sensitivity HWC DAS in surface monitoring applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geological Insights for a Carbon-Free, Sustainable Environment)
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