Collaboration Boosts GeoEnergy Research and Education
The University of Adelaide and bp have signed a AUS$10 million agreement that will support GeoEnergy research, educational and outreach activities into the geological storage of hydrogen and carbon dioxide over five years.
This will include establishing a new geomodelling facility to support research that will accelerate Australia’s decarbonisation. The geomodelling facility, which will be located on the University’s North Terrace campus, is expected to be operational in early 2025, and will be a centre for world-leading research capability and include a purpose-built lab, experimental equipment and dedicated spaces for research, training, and outreach. The geomodelling laboratory will be led by the University of Adelaide’s Professor Simon Holford, South Australian State Chair in Petroleum Geoscience.
Research funding will support engineering and science-focused projects, including PhD student projects and post-doctoral research fellowships, whose research will focus on the safe and economic storage of hydrogen underground, and the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. Translation of this research into higher education learning materials will also be funded.
The collaboration will also fund education and outreach projects aimed at primary and secondary school students, which will inspire them to learn more about the geology, environment and resources of South Australia.
The Earth’s subsurface plays an important role in the world’s energy transition to meet net-zero emissions targets. Included within the International Energy Agency roadmap to net zero is a substantial increase in the amount of CO2 being captured and stored, by 190 times the present amount by 2050. Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels will have an important role to play in reducing emissions from heavy industry and transport, and this requires developing capacity for storing hydrogen - the most economically viable option for large-scale hydrogen storage is underground.
As part of this collaboration the University of Adelaide will investigate fundamental research questions that are important for future geological storage of CO2 and hydrogen. Hydrogen gas is produced naturally in the subsurface, but we have much to learn about the ways in which it flows along tiny pathways between grains within rock, and about the conditions which will be optimal for its storage and recovery.
The University of Adelaide’s Professor Kathryn Amos, Chair in GeoEnergy
This research aims to examine the properties of geological formations that lie deep beneath the surface of Australia, in order to identify the most suitable places for permanent trapping of CO2, and for storage of hydrogen which will enable industry to balance the cyclicity of supply and demand of this low carbon fuel.”
A Chair in GeoEnergy will be endowed with the funding, to provide academic leadership in subsurface energy resources as Australia transitions to a net zero emissions future. The University of Adelaide’s Professor Kathryn Amos, who is an award-winning expert in the geology of sedimentary basins, has been appointed to this position.
The University of Adelaide is looking forward to collaborating with bp on this significant agreement. The University is one of the world’s leading centres in sustainability, energy and geological science and engineering research.