THE JANUARY SPE TECHNOLOGY LUNCHEON
Tuesday January 9th 11:30am

Petroleum Technology In-Person meeting December 13 at 11:30AM

DIRECTIONS:

From the 605 Freeway---

• Exit and go East on Katella
• Turn South onto Valley View
• Turn West onto Orangewood & you’re there!

From the 405 or the 22 Freeways---

• Carefully Follow Freeway signs to
• Exit at Valley View / Bolsa Chica
• Go North on Valley View for 1 mile
• Turn West onto Orangewood & you’re there!

Industry-University Collaboration to Meet Geologic CO2 Storage Needs During Energy Transition

Abstract:

Geologic CO2 storage (GCS) is recognized as a feasible approach to curbing CO2 emissions and achieving climate change mitigation goals during the transition to cleaner energy sources. The safe and effective deployment of commercial GCS requires advancements in various technological fronts, encompassing robust site screening and selection, accurate multi-physics modeling and prediction, cost-effective monitoring and verification, as well as efficient and dependable risk assessment and management workflows. Successful GCS implementation also hinges on strategic workforce development and outreach plans. To confront the challenges associated with GCS deployment it is imperative to form collaborative research programs across diverse disciplines in partnership with key stakeholders from industry and government. In this talk, I will present an overview of our recent initiative to establish a National Science Foundation Industry-University Collaborative Research Center (IUCRC), entitled CO2 Storage Modeling, Analytics, and Risk Reduction Technologies (CO2-SMART). CO2-SMART is a collaboration between USC and Penn State that aims to create a multidisciplinary research and technology development program that aims to address GCS deployment challenges through industry-driven research, workforce development, and outreach activities. I will present example projects to illustrate how recent advances in AI can be combined with domain knowledge to develop efficient modeling and decision support tools for GCS implementation.

Bio:

Behnam Jafarpour is a Professor in the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science at the University of Southern California, with joint courtesy appointments in the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering-Systems and Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research lab, the Subsurface Energy and Environmental Systems, focuses on developing new technologies for improved characterization, forecasting, and management of subsurface energy and natural resources by integrating advanced system-theoretic and machine learning techniques with fluid flow and transport modeling in porous media. Dr. Jafarpour received his Ph.D. and S.M. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, respectively, from MIT in 2008. He is a distinguished SPE member and the Energy Simulation Industrial Research Chair in Subsurface Energy Data Science. He serves as Associate Editor for Computational Geosciences and is on the Editorial Board of Mathematical Geosciences. Dr. Jafarpour is the Principal Investigator of the NSF-IUCRC Planning Grant to establish the CO2-SMART Center and serves as the Associate Director of the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.