Reactive flow through porous media by micro-imaging. Australia is embarking on the development of major gas fields offshore Western Australia. These developments are very costly and techniques to manage the risk in development are well sought after. This project assists in risk management of tertiary recovery methods and CO2 storage. Further, it can contribute significantly to the accurate forward modelling of storage of hazardous materials and pollution remediation strategies. The project could ....Reactive flow through porous media by micro-imaging. Australia is embarking on the development of major gas fields offshore Western Australia. These developments are very costly and techniques to manage the risk in development are well sought after. This project assists in risk management of tertiary recovery methods and CO2 storage. Further, it can contribute significantly to the accurate forward modelling of storage of hazardous materials and pollution remediation strategies. The project could shape important decisions in the future and impact on environmental risk assessment.Read moreRead less
Dynamic tomography: high-resolution, four-dimensional imaging of processes. This project will develop imaging technology that allows us to collect detailed, three dimensional movies of complex, microscopic processes in a laboratory. This technology will have applications in soil science, biology, oil extraction, and carbon sequestration.
Multiscale modelling of multiphase interactions in shale gas reservoirs. As conventional oil and gas become depleted in most of the producing basins, extraction of unconventional gas trapped in shale formations needs to become more viable. Since Australian shales have different characteristics from North American ones, the existing knowledge cannot be directly applied. We aim to develop a novel multiscale framework for deep understanding of the complex multiphase interactions in shale gas reserv ....Multiscale modelling of multiphase interactions in shale gas reservoirs. As conventional oil and gas become depleted in most of the producing basins, extraction of unconventional gas trapped in shale formations needs to become more viable. Since Australian shales have different characteristics from North American ones, the existing knowledge cannot be directly applied. We aim to develop a novel multiscale framework for deep understanding of the complex multiphase interactions in shale gas reservoirs. The outcomes will not only enable us to effectively assess the viability of gas extraction from Australian shale reservoirs with accurate long-term production forecasting, but help to develop strategies to effectively extract this relatively low carbon-emitting fossil fuel in the transition to a renewable economy.Read moreRead less
Fear and licensing in Australia: Investigating the social licence to operate of an emerging coal seam gas industry. Australia’s nascent coal seam gas (CSG) industry is the site of substantial social tension. For some the industry can transform and safeguard national energy sources and fuel booming Asian exports. For others it damages both the environment and communities. This tension is vividly expressed by local protests and regulatory bans. Communities, mining companies and government invoke a ....Fear and licensing in Australia: Investigating the social licence to operate of an emerging coal seam gas industry. Australia’s nascent coal seam gas (CSG) industry is the site of substantial social tension. For some the industry can transform and safeguard national energy sources and fuel booming Asian exports. For others it damages both the environment and communities. This tension is vividly expressed by local protests and regulatory bans. Communities, mining companies and government invoke a 'social licence to operate' as fundamental to industry viability. This landmark project explores the concept of a social licence to operate in Australia's CSG industry to tease apart the dynamic risks, opportunities and tensions at work between corporations, rural and regional Australian communities and government, and offers policy and practice recommendations. Read moreRead less
X-ray imaging and magnetic resonance approach for enhanced oil recovery. This project aims to develop an efficient multi-scale modelling capability to quantify the effect of two-phase fluid flow within porous material by modelling rock wettability heterogeneity and alteration on two-phase flow performance for heterogeneous rock. Super-resolution methods combined with a deep learning approach will be used to determine a digital representation of reservoir rock, achieving an unprecedented combinat ....X-ray imaging and magnetic resonance approach for enhanced oil recovery. This project aims to develop an efficient multi-scale modelling capability to quantify the effect of two-phase fluid flow within porous material by modelling rock wettability heterogeneity and alteration on two-phase flow performance for heterogeneous rock. Super-resolution methods combined with a deep learning approach will be used to determine a digital representation of reservoir rock, achieving an unprecedented combination of resolution necessary to resolve small-scale fluid connectivity and field of view required to capture heterogeneity. The project expects to develop a workflow to populate a high-resolution model with wettability parameters by combining micro-CT imaging with nuclear magnetic resonance measurements. This improved understanding should provide significant benefits by enhancing our capability to optimise enhanced oil and gas recovery programs.Read moreRead less
Pore scale characterisation of the wettability of petroleum reservoir core material: Towards optimised recovery of hydrocarbon reserves. In most oil reservoirs more than 50% of original oil in place remains unrecovered. A major factor contributing to suboptimal recovery is insufficient knowledge of the rock wettability. Even a small improvement in recovery will have substantial economic benefit. The proposed project aims to characterise wettability in hydrocarbon bearing rocks using advanced 3D ....Pore scale characterisation of the wettability of petroleum reservoir core material: Towards optimised recovery of hydrocarbon reserves. In most oil reservoirs more than 50% of original oil in place remains unrecovered. A major factor contributing to suboptimal recovery is insufficient knowledge of the rock wettability. Even a small improvement in recovery will have substantial economic benefit. The proposed project aims to characterise wettability in hydrocarbon bearing rocks using advanced 3D imaging hardware and understand implications to oil displacement and recovery via state-of-the-art computational tools. Scientifically, this will be a leading edge research achievement enhancing Australian competitiveness in petroleum engineering research and will help Australia become a world leader in the export-oriented petroleum research services industry.Read moreRead less
Exploring deep Australia: 3-D imaging of the lithosphere beneath south-east Australia using multiple high density seismic arrays. The successful completion of this project will significantly improve our knowledge of the seismic structure of the Australian lithosphere, and hence improve our understanding of how the Australian continent came to be formed. In addition, the tomographic imaging methods that will be developed and applied to the individual and combined seismic arrays have a direct rele ....Exploring deep Australia: 3-D imaging of the lithosphere beneath south-east Australia using multiple high density seismic arrays. The successful completion of this project will significantly improve our knowledge of the seismic structure of the Australian lithosphere, and hence improve our understanding of how the Australian continent came to be formed. In addition, the tomographic imaging methods that will be developed and applied to the individual and combined seismic arrays have a direct relevance to the seismic imaging techniques used by the exploration industry. Finally, the creation of a combined dataset comprising records from ~300 stations will help keep Australia at the leading edge of observational seismology, as other countries (e.g. U.S.) begin to deploy very large seismic arrays.Read moreRead less
Large-scale three dimensional deformation of the lithosphere by subduction and mantle flow. We will be modelling of the dynamics of the Earth's crust and shallow lithosphere in response to the huge stresses created by plate motions. For Australia these stresses are transmitted from the distant plate boundaries, but they have a direct controlling influence on the evolution of the petroleum rich basins of Australia. These basins have reached maturity; further exploration will be in deep water wher ....Large-scale three dimensional deformation of the lithosphere by subduction and mantle flow. We will be modelling of the dynamics of the Earth's crust and shallow lithosphere in response to the huge stresses created by plate motions. For Australia these stresses are transmitted from the distant plate boundaries, but they have a direct controlling influence on the evolution of the petroleum rich basins of Australia. These basins have reached maturity; further exploration will be in deep water where geophysical prospecting methods are unreliable. Model-driven "exploration geodynamics" methods such as those we are developing will be needed to support traditional exploration techniques in these areas.Read moreRead less
Application of Double and Triple Dating of Zircons to Sediment Provenance Studies and to Quantifying Recycling in Sedimentary Rocks. Double and triple dating are exciting new ANU-Yale breakthroughs that can be used to more accurately identify the source of sediment in rivers and sedimentary rocks than is possible using existing techniques. They have fundamental applications in the study of erosion, tracing the source of heavy minerals in titanium deposits and in determining the source of sedi ....Application of Double and Triple Dating of Zircons to Sediment Provenance Studies and to Quantifying Recycling in Sedimentary Rocks. Double and triple dating are exciting new ANU-Yale breakthroughs that can be used to more accurately identify the source of sediment in rivers and sedimentary rocks than is possible using existing techniques. They have fundamental applications in the study of erosion, tracing the source of heavy minerals in titanium deposits and in determining the source of sedimentary sequences that host oil. Under favourable circumstances double dating can be used also to date sediments that are devoid of fossils, which has direct application in oil exploration.Read moreRead less
Nanoscale investigation of fission track formation and stability in geological environments. Fission tracks are used to date and constrain the thermal history of the earth's crust. This project will use innovative experimental techniques to simulate fission track formation under geologically relevant conditions and resolve open questions related to fission-track dating and materials behaviour in high-pressure and high temperature environments.