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 EnvironmentProf. Greeshma Gadikota from the Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Wisconsin Madison.
2nd January 2019, Wednesday, 12:00‐1:00 pm, ChE Seminar hall
Abstract:-
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
Greeshma Gadikota Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, Geological Engineering Program, Grainger Institute of Engineering, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison
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 CO 2 emissions. The development of sustainable energy technologies including water-lean hydrocarbon recovery, carbon capture, utilization and storage, and sustainable 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., CO 2 , CH 4 ) 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 CO 2 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 o C) 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.
Biosketch:-
Dr. Greeshma Gadikota is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering with appointments in the Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, Geological Engineering Program, and the Wisconsin Energy Institute. She runs the Sustainable Energy and Resource Recovery Group at UW-Madison and is the co-PI on the EFRC, Multi-Scale Fluid-Solid Interactions in Natural and Architected Materials (MUSE). Previously, she was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University, and a research associate in the Materials Measurement Science Division at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). Dr. Gadikota was selected as the Rising Stars in Civil and Environmental Engineering by MIT in 2015. She served as the technical coordinator for the Research Coordination Network in Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (RCN-CCUS) supported by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Gadikota received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University and earned her MS degrees in Chemical Engineering and Operations Research, all from Columbia University. Her BS in Chemical Engineering is from Michigan State University. Her research interests are aimed at integrating in-operando and in-silicocharacterization of complex hierarchical and heterogeneous materials with multi-scale reaction kinetics and gas transport mechanisms. Her research connects sub-nano- to meso-scale measurements with process-scale developments and field-scale observations, using advanced synchrotron characterization methods, molecular dynamics simulations, and laboratory scale measurements. The key application areas of this approach include carbon capture, utilization, and storage, enhanced gas recovery, nuclear waste storage, and the production of high-value materials from low-value substrates.