Eric Mackay

Heriot-Watt University

Fluid Flow and Geochemistry for GeoEnergy Industries – Exploring Synergies

CCS provides an opportunity to decarbonise hard to abate industries.  It is often incorrectly claimed that CCS is an unproven technology: with > 100 MT of CO₂ injected into the subsurface in > 120 fields running back to the 1970s, including > 40MT in the Santos Basin alone, this is manifestly untrue.  What is true is that the economics of CCS are challenging.  In our work we seek to do three things: (1) Make remaining hydrocarbon production and emerging geothermal heat extraction more efficient, cost effective and have a reduced environmental footprint through research on the chemistry of water management; (2) Make CO₂ and H₂ storage more effective, robust and secure at lower cost; and (3) Explore interactions between CCS and remaining hydrocarbon recovery that may address (1) and (2) above together, thereby improving the carbon foot print associated with remaining hydrocarbon consumption and reducing the cost burden for CCS.