Clean Energy Capability Portfolio | Storage Technologies |
Digital Rock Physics and Characterisation
Porous media are a ubiquitous class of materials important in many industrial applications . The behaviour of such systems is controlled largely by their microstructure . Based on micro-computed X-ray tomography , digital rock physics delivers enhanced system analysis capabilities for heterogeneous material characterisation . |
Competitive Advantage • Morphological , topological and spatial analysis of porous materials
• Innovative , massively parallel physical property calculations ( electrical conductivity , elastic properties , fluid flow , NMR responses ) for complex porous micro-structures
• Embedded classification structures for upscaling of physical properties
• Ability to integrate experiment and simulation
Impact • Digital Rock Physics ( DRP ) is a key technology to uncover the mechanisms controlling reservoir performance at the pore scale
• Regional classification and characterisation of microstructural features allows the integration of these measures into industry workflows to optimise the long-term geostorage of CO2 or seasonal storage of hydrogen
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Capabilities and Facilities • Tyree X-ray micro-CT facility
• High-pressure , high-temperature NMR low-field laboratory
• ‘ Morphy ’ – MPI parallel Morphology and Petrophysical Software Suite – implementation on National Computing Infrastructure gadi ( NCI )
Our Collaborators • BP
• OMV
• Petrobras
• PETRONAS
• Saudi Aramco
• Shell
• Total
• Wintershall
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Successful Applications • Technology commercialised through spin-off company Digital Core , which merged with Numerical Rocks AS to form Lithicon – In 2014 , Lithicon was acquired by FEI for A $ 76 million ( now part of ThermoFisher )
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More Information Professor Christoph Arns School of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineering T : + 61 2 9385 5658 E : c . arns @ unsw . edu . au
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• Morphy installation at several Fortune 500 companies |
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