Researchers delve into the intricate world of shale, exploring its potential as a geological seal for resource recovery and underground storage. This blog post dives deep into their groundbreaking work, uncovering the insights gained from studying shale at the micro and nanoscale.
The Shale Gospel: Energy And Climate Solutions
One key player in this changing energy and environmental landscape is the sedimentary rock, shale. Scientists are starting a year-long, multi-faceted examination of what makes this material tick, and shape — an essential step if we’re to open up new realms for resource recovery and storage.
Tiny nano-sized pores and millimeter- scale fractures are part of what makes shale so unique and an interesting subject of study. Fluids — including natural gas, oil, and even carbon dioxide — flow through these pores and fractures in unconventional ways that defy similar simple models traditionally used to analyze fluid flow. Now, scientists are creating new instruments that allow them to probe and model these hydraulic phenomena.
The implications of this research are vast. Shale has emerged as a key source of oil and natural gas for the United States, helping reduce reliance on foreign supplies and boosting energy security. Shale also has a role to play as a cap rock — or seal in the geological sense — in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, which are key to combating climate change. Moreover, shale could be the answer to storing hydrogen and other clean fuels in a bid for a greener energy landscape.
Enter Electron Tomography: The Key to the Shale Secret
Central to this research are newer imaging technologies like electron tomography that allows researchers to probe shale at the micro or nanoscale.
Given the intricate pore and fracture network of shale, traditional imaging methods have fallen short to capture its complex structure. Although, the researchers team is now using electron tomography to look into this material even deeper.
Electron tomography, a method where multiple two-dimensional images are taken by electron microscopy to form a three-dimensional reconstruction of the sample. The setup enables scientists to see inside shale at the nanoscale, giving them access to information that was previously unavailable.
Using electron tomography in conjunction with other methodologies, including simulations of methane adsorption and transport, as well as supercritical carbon dioxide effects on shale pore structure to study processes involving fluid flow through the material.
While this knowledge is essential for maximizing the utility of shale in energy applications as diverse as enhancing natural gas and oil production and maintaining the integrity of carbon dioxide storage sites over the long term. The lessons to be learnt from these state-of-the-art studies will provide insights into the development of future energy and environmental technologies.
Conclusion
This is an essential first step towards probing the micro and nanoscale characteristics of shale or tight rock that have huge potential benefits. But advances in understanding how fluids flow through shale are being made using new tools and these illuminate the prospects both for resource recovery and also for carbon dioxide storage, as well as storage of alternative fuels. As our planet faces these challenges, the findings opened up by this work bring some possible lights to a healthier and greener future.
