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Technologies of Energy Storage, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 821

Special Issue Editors

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H5, Canada
Interests: characterization of reservoir pores; three-dimension reconstruction based FIB-SEM or uCT; supercritical gas adsorption; geological storage of CO2; thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) simulation of fluid flow in porous media

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Guest Editor
Department de Física de La Matèria Condensada, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelon, Spain
Interests: petroleum engineering; shale gas mining engineering

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Guest Editor
School of Petroleum Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Interests: CO2 fracturing; CO2 flooding; rock mechanics

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Guest Editor
1. CNPC Bohai Drilling Engineering Company Limited, Tianjin, China
2. Enterprise Key Laboratory of Complex Conditions Drilling Fluid, Tianjin, China
Interests: colloid and interfacial chemistry; future-oriented drilling technologies and oil and gas field development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of global efforts to combat climate change, the commitment to reducing carbon emissions and achieving sustainable development is increasingly strengthening worldwide. Energy storage and carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies play a crucial role in mitigating carbon emissions. Moreover, large-scale energy storage can significantly enhance the utilization of renewable energy, balance grid load, reduce energy costs, and improve the flexibility and security of energy systems.

Nonetheless, these technologies encounter a variety of challenges, including the need to enhance energy storage efficiency, lower costs, improve the economic viability of carbon capture, guarantee the long-term stability and safety of large-scale energy storage and carbon sequestration, and discover more effective methods for integrating renewable energy systems. For example, mechanical energy storage (such as pumped hydro storage and compressed air energy storage) primarily faces geographical and efficiency limitations, while electrochemical energy storage (such as batteries and hydrogen storage) is challenged by costs, material sustainability, efficiency, and insufficient infrastructure. In particular, underground energy storage and carbon sequestration technologies, as potential solutions for long-duration, large-scale energy storage and carbon sequestration, also face substantial technical and economic challenges in their development.

Dr. Ke Hu
Dr. Honglian Li
Dr. Xiang Ao
Dr. Xiaochen Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • energy storage technologies
  • large-scale energy storage
  • underground energy storage
  • carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)
  • hydrogen storage
  • electrochemical energy storage
  • mechanical energy storage
  • renewable energy integration
  • carbon negative technologies
  • carbon neutral challenges

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 9520 KiB  
Article
An Integrated Assessment Approach for Underground Gas Storage in Multi-Layered Water-Bearing Gas Reservoirs
by Junyu You, Ziang He, Xiaoliang Huang, Ziyi Feng, Qiqi Wanyan, Songze Li and Hongcheng Xu
Sustainability 2025, 17(14), 6401; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146401 - 12 Jul 2025
Viewed by 385
Abstract
In the global energy sector, water-bearing reservoir-typed gas storage accounts for about 30% of underground gas storage (UGS) reservoirs and is vital for natural gas storage, balancing gas consumption, and ensuring energy supply stability. However, when constructing the UGS in the M gas [...] Read more.
In the global energy sector, water-bearing reservoir-typed gas storage accounts for about 30% of underground gas storage (UGS) reservoirs and is vital for natural gas storage, balancing gas consumption, and ensuring energy supply stability. However, when constructing the UGS in the M gas reservoir, selecting suitable areas poses a challenge due to the complicated gas–water distribution in the multi-layered water-bearing gas reservoir with a long production history. To address this issue and enhance energy storage efficiency, this study presents an integrated geomechanical-hydraulic assessment framework for choosing optimal UGS construction horizons in multi-layered water-bearing gas reservoirs. The horizons and sub-layers of the gas reservoir have been quantitatively assessed to filter out the favorable areas, considering both aspects of geological characteristics and production dynamics. Geologically, caprock-sealing capacity was assessed via rock properties, Shale Gouge Ratio (SGR), and transect breakthrough pressure. Dynamically, water invasion characteristics and the water–gas distribution pattern were analyzed. Based on both geological and dynamic assessment results, the favorable layers for UGS construction were selected. Then, a compositional numerical model was established to digitally simulate and validate the feasibility of constructing and operating the M UGS in the target layers. The results indicated the following: (1) The selected area has an SGR greater than 50%, and the caprock has a continuous lateral distribution with a thickness range from 53 to 78 m and a permeability of less than 0.05 mD. Within the operational pressure ranging from 8 MPa to 12.8 MPa, the mechanical properties of the caprock shale had no obvious changes after 1000 fatigue cycles, which demonstrated the good sealing capacity of the caprock. (2) The main water-producing formations were identified, and the sub-layers with inactive edge water and low levels of water intrusion were selected. After the comprehensive analysis, the I-2 and I-6 sub-layer in the M 8 block and M 14 block were selected as the target layers. The numerical simulation results indicated an effective working gas volume of 263 million cubic meters, demonstrating the significant potential of these layers for UGS construction and their positive impact on energy storage capacity and supply stability. Full article
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