Co 2 sequestration and AJAX

atmospheric CO 2 - increase roughly matches amount, rate and isotopic ratio ( 13 C, 12 C) expected from burning “fossil” fuels (ancient organic material) pre-1800 level: ppm (from ice cores)

“Greenhouse” effect - short-wavelength radiation from Sun absorbed by surface and re-emitted as longer wavelength - some is absorbed and sequentially re-emitted by CO 2 in atmosphere except in upper troposphere, where it leaves atmosphere - increasing CO2 concentrations increase height of escape and serves to increase atmospheric temperatures. -increasing temperatures increase amount of H 2 O vapor, which also absorbs infrared. - increasing CO 2 is expected to raise atmospheric temperatures and indirectly, raise sea levels by expansion of volume and melting ice. BBC

One solution: decrease amount of CO 2 emitted geologic carbon sequestration -capture and permanently store CO2 from major sources such as power plants - inject emissions into geologic formations via wells - what physical and chemical changes occur to the formation when CO2 is injected? [decrease porosity, create voids, fractures, etc]

chemical effects - CO 2 and water produces H 2 CO 3 (carbonic acid) - will dissolve some rocks (cave formation) - may precipitate elsewhere - CO 2 properties vary with temperature and pressure - this can be modeled - also soluble in crude oil - intend to use “sym.8” by Sienna Geodynamics - funded by DOE (upcoming )

sym.8 “Using kinetic and thermodynamic reactions over discretized spatial domain to model compositional and textural evolution of sediments in geologic and engineering time scales” General Water-rock Interaction and Reactive-Transport Simulator -eventually, want to write an web-based interface to sym.8 (and possibly other codes such as finite element) to : - allow simple, GUI-based used - allow operation on multiple computers transparently and seamlessly - model entire CO 2 geologic sequestration system for prediction and monitoring

Expectations 1)understanding AJAX web applications 2)running simple programs and creating interfaces 3)displaying output 4)possibly running sym.8 using existing input and modifying selected parameters 5)understanding purpose and some of the problems in geologic carbon sequestration see - Individual projects - Presentations and report at end of semester