• Energy Research

Uncertainties exist on the efficiency of CO2 injection and storage in deep unminable coal seems due to potential reduction in the permeability of coal that is induced by CO2 adsorption into the coal matrix. In addition, there is a limited knowledge about the stability of CO2 stored in coal due to changes in gas partial pressure caused by potential leakage. This paper presents an experimental study on permeability evolution in a high rank coal from South Wales coalfield due to interaction with different types of gases. The reversibility of the processes and stability of the stored CO2 in coal are investigated via a series of core flooding experiments in a bespoke triaxial flooding setup. A comprehensive and new set of high-resolution data on the permeability evolution of anthracite coal is presented. The results show a considerable reduction of permeability above 1.5 MPa CO2 pressure that is correlated with the coal matrix swelling induced by CO2 adsorption. Notably studied in this work, the chemically-induced strain due to gas sorption into coal, that has been isolated and quantified from the mechanically-induced strain as a result of changes in effective stress conditions. The results of post-CO2 core flooding tests using helium (He), nitrogen (N2) and methane (CH4) demonstrated a degree of restoration of the initial permeability. The injection of N2 showed no significant changes in the coal permeability and reversibility of matrix swelling. The initial permeability of the coal sample was partially restored after replacing N2 by CH4. Observation of permeability evolution indicates that the stored CO2 has remained stable in coal under the conditions of the experiments.

The numerical implementation of a recently developed thermomechanical constitutive model for fine-grained soils based on hyperelasticity-hyperplasticity theory (Golchin et al. 2020), is presented. A new unconventional implicit stress return mapping algorithm, compatible with elasticity derived from Gibbs (complementary) energy potential, in strain invariant space, is designed and the consistent tangent operator for use in boundary value problems (such as in the finite element method) is derived. It is shown that the rate of convergence of the stress integration algorithm is quadratic. The numerical results are in good agreement with available data from thermomechanical element tests found in literature.

Heating and Cooling constitute a major part of society's final energy use and a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The world society ought to mitigate climate change through decarbonisation, which must include the transition to low-temperature, sustainable and renewable heating and cooling technologies. Shallow Geothermal Energy is one of the most energy efficient and least greenhouse gas emitting available alternatives to provide space heating and cooling. The decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector may have to comprise both individual systems and shared electrified heating and cooling systems from renewable sources of energy, where economies of scale and synergies between different types of consumers can be exploited. To this end, the focus of this paper is on the integration of shallow geothermal energy technologies into district heating and cooling systems. A key contribution of this work is the illustration of a number of practical case studies, highlighting the potential of existing shallow geothermal systems for DHC networks, which, as front runners in adopting such technologies, serve as paradigms for future development. Follows a discussion providing an outlook over the next 25 years. All in all, the future of utilizing shallow geothermal energy for district heating and cooling seems to be promising to play a pivotal role in sustainable urban development and decarbonizing the heating and cooling sector.

Ground source heat pumps (GSHP) coupled to shallow borehole heat exchangers (BHE) represent a low emission technology to provide space heating and cooling. However, ongoing long-term heating or cooling of the ground caused by unbalanced loads leads to a performance decline and in the worst case to a system shutdown. Enhanced regeneration can increase the system efficiency, reduce the necessary borehole length or compensate unbalanced loads. In this study, a literature review about the regeneration of shallow BHE fields to counteract ground thermal imbalance is conducted to give an overview about the state-of-the-art and identify research gaps. The most common heat sources for artificial regeneration in heating-dominated applications are space cooling and solar thermal flat-plate collectors, while the most common heat sinks in cooling-dominated applications are space heating and cooling towers. In heating-dominated applications, mostly single buildings are studied. There is a lack of studies on district heating and cooling applications, which are especially needed as the benefit of regeneration increases with system size. There is also a lack of long-term, large system size experimental work to validate theoretical studies.

This is a collection of public datasets from the Geothermal Project on TU Delft Campus (DAPwell).