Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics (IGT) PhD Projects

An evaluation of the impact of voluntary sustainability management standards and guidelines

Supervisors: Prof Bruce Yardley

This fully-funded EPSRC PhD studentship is open to UK/EU candidates only.  The entry requirement is a British BSc Honours degree with a minimum 2.1 classification in Earth Sciences, Geochemistry or Chemistry.  You must have already graduated and be able to commence study no later than Easter 2011.

Closing date for applications:  February 1st 2011, to start as soon as possible thereafter.

This studentship is part of an EPSRC joint China-UK project on carbon sequestration and also involves earth scientists and engineers at Tsinghua  University and the University of Aberdeen. The overall aim is to develop a fundamental understanding and a quantitative description of CO2 migration in porous media at conditions relevant to saline aquifers encountered in carbon sequestration. This project involves experimental studies and theoretical modeling to investigate the nature and rates of CO2 – H2O mineral interactions within porous media in order to allow engineering models being developed to account for flow in inert media to be applied to the reactive rock environment. The successful candidate will visit with Chinese colleagues to select appropriate rock types and mineral assemblages for investigation, and will carry out a range of equilibrium and kinetic experiments, using both rock cores and mineral powders, to determine the chemical reactions that take place between solids and appropriate composition fluids, and their consequences for the physical properties of the system. The experimental results will be used to evaluate the success of existing thermodynamic models at predicting fluid mineral interactions at the relatively low temperatures and pressures applicable to CCS. The successful applicant will join an existing team carrying out geochemical studies relevant to CCS as part of the NERC CRIUS consortium.