Unconventional Energy, Clean Energy and Carbon Sequestration: Progress in Technology

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 2325

Special Issue Editors

College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710054, China
Interests: unconventional gas; liquid nitrogen fracturing; coalbed methane recovery; carbon capture and storage; dust control
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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Interests: hydraulic fracturing; coalbed methane; microseismic monitoring; disaster control
School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Interests: unconventional gas resources; carbon sequestration; hazard control in coal mines
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Guest Editor
College of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
Interests: mechanism of enhancing permeability in deep coal seams; prevention and control of gas disasters; intelligent gas extraction technology and equipment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Driven by global concerns about environmental and climate change, scientists and engineers are looking for clean and renewable energies, and searching for a way to achieve a low carbon footprint for fossil fuel industries. Many researchers have made significant contributions to the development of unconventional energy resources (shale gas, coalbed methane, and natural gas hydrates), renewable energies (hydrogen, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind power, etc.), and carbon storage in underground formations. Industries with a high-intensity carbon footprint, for instance petroleum and mining industries, face more challenges to eliminate their great amount of carbon emissions. Until now, the ratio of unconventional and clean energies to the total global energy is still small. Few commercial projects have been built for large-scale carbon sequestration. Therefore, further research is required to investigate the intrinsic mechanism of clean and low-carbon energy development.

This Special Issue, “Unconventional Energy, Clean Energy and Carbon Sequestration: Progress in Technology”, presents recent advancements in the unconventional and clean energy development and carbon sequestration.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Development of unconventional gas resources;
  • Clean and renewable energy;
  • Gas extraction and hazard prevention in coal mines;
  • Advanced progress in reservoir stimulation techniques;
  • Carbon capture, sequestration, and utilization.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Lei Qin
Dr. Quangui Li
Dr. Xu Yu
Prof. Dr. Guanhua Ni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • unconventional energy resources
  • coalbed methane
  • shale gas
  • reservoir stimulation technology
  • geo-carbon sequestration
  • clean energy

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 8971 KiB  
Article
A Review of CO2 Capture Utilization and Storage in China: Development Status, Cost Limits, and Strategic Planning
by Mingqiang Hao, Ran Bi and Yang Liu
Processes 2025, 13(3), 905; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13030905 - 19 Mar 2025
Viewed by 317
Abstract
The CCUS industry is developing rapidly worldwide, and its projects are gradually transitioning from single-section initiatives to whole-industry applications. Capture targets have expanded from power plants and natural gas processing to include steel, cement, kerosene, fertilizer, and hydrogen production. This paper analyzes CO [...] Read more.
The CCUS industry is developing rapidly worldwide, and its projects are gradually transitioning from single-section initiatives to whole-industry applications. Capture targets have expanded from power plants and natural gas processing to include steel, cement, kerosene, fertilizer, and hydrogen production. This paper analyzes CO2 emissions in eight major industries around oil regions in China, including emission factors, emission scale, and the composition and distribution of emission sources. The cost of CO2 sources and CO2-EOR affordable cost limits under different scenarios are calculated for different oil regions. The main influencing factors of the cost are analyzed, and possible ways to fill the cost gap are proposed. This paper also constructs a CO2-EOR strategic planning framework and a mathematical programming model, formulating short-term, mid-term, and long-term strategic plans for CO2-EOR and storage in 10 oil regions. Full article
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15 pages, 4989 KiB  
Article
Simulating Horizontal CO2 Plume Migration in a Saline Aquifer: The Effect of Injection Depth
by Aboubakar Kone, Fathi Boukadi, Racha Trabelsi and Haithem Trabelsi
Processes 2025, 13(3), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13030734 - 3 Mar 2025
Viewed by 681
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of injection depth on CO2 plume migration dynamics in saline aquifers, a critical aspect of secure and efficient carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). While CCUS offers a vital pathway for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, challenges such [...] Read more.
This study investigates the impact of injection depth on CO2 plume migration dynamics in saline aquifers, a critical aspect of secure and efficient carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). While CCUS offers a vital pathway for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, challenges such as buoyancy-driven flow, salinity effects, and potential leakage threaten long-term CO2 containment. Using compositional reservoir simulation (CMG GEM 2021.10, Calgary, Canada) and Illinois Basin Decatur Project (IBDP) data, we modeled CO2 injection into a 10,000 ppm salinity aquifer, evaluating the effects of single- and multi-depth injection (5370 to 5385 ft). The results demonstrate that multi-depth injection significantly enhances CO2–brine contact area, promoting dissolution trapping and mitigating buoyancy-driven migration. This enhanced dissolution and residual trapping improves horizontal containment and overall storage security in the modeled salinity environment. The work provides valuable insights for optimizing injection strategies to maximize CO2 storage efficiency and minimize leakage risks. Full article
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14 pages, 4195 KiB  
Article
Effects of Liquid Nitrogen on Mechanical Deterioration and Fracturing Efficiency in Hot Dry Rock
by Hu Wang, Yong Hu, Na Luo, Chunbo Zhou and Chengzheng Cai
Processes 2025, 13(3), 696; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13030696 - 28 Feb 2025
Viewed by 431
Abstract
Geothermal energy can be obtained from hot dry rock (HDR). The target temperatures for heat extraction from HDR range from 100 to 400 °C. Artificial fracturing is employed to stimulate HDR and create a network of fractures for geothermal resource extraction. Liquid nitrogen [...] Read more.
Geothermal energy can be obtained from hot dry rock (HDR). The target temperatures for heat extraction from HDR range from 100 to 400 °C. Artificial fracturing is employed to stimulate HDR and create a network of fractures for geothermal resource extraction. Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is environmentally friendly and shows better performance in reservoir stimulation than does conventional fracturing. In this study, triaxial compression experiments and acoustic emission location techniques were used to evaluate the impacts of temperatures and confining pressures on the mechanical property deterioration caused by LN2 cooling. The numerical simulation of LN2 fracturing was performed, and the results were compared with those for water and nitrogen fracturing. The results demonstrate that the confining pressure mitigated the deterioration effect of LN2 on the crack initiation stress, crack damage stress, and peak stress. From 20 to 60 MPa, LN2-induced reductions in these three stress parameters ranged between 7.73–18.51%, 3.46–12.15%, and 2.51–8.50%, respectively. Cryogenic LN2 increased the number and complexity of cracks generated during rock failure, further enhancing the fracture performance. Compared with those for water and nitrogen fracturing, the initiation pressures of LN2 fracturing decreased by 61.54% and 68.75%, and the instability pressures of LN2 fracturing decreased by 20.00% and 29.41%, respectively. These results contribute to the theoretical foundation for LN2 fracturing in HDR. Full article
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