To ensure that the carbon dioxide captured during industrial processes is safely stored underground, it is essential to have a detailed understanding of the different mechanisms by which CO2 is trapped in geological aquifers. PhD student Ross Shepherd has been studying the long-term, post-injection fate of carbon dioxide in deep aquifers. During today’s seminar,
During the second part of today’s seminar, PhD student Ruiyang Wang discussed the results of his recent laboratory experiments on the dissolution of capillary-trapped CO2 in the subsurface. As CO2 is captured and injected into an aquifer, some of it migrates towards topographic highs within the aquifer, while some is trapped in the pore spaces
During the first part of today’s seminar, PhD student Haihan Li presented some of the most recent results of his work on bubble plumes in electrolysis. In electrolysis cells, hydrogen and oxygen bubbles are nucleated and grow on the surface of the electrodes, until they detach from the surface and rise through the surrounding fluid,
Lake Kivu is located on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, along the western branch of the East African Rift, a region of active volcanism and high seismicity. The lake deep waters contain nearly 60 cubic km of methane and over 300 cubic km of carbon dioxide. The methane can be extracted
Wind energy supplied approximately 30% of UK electricity in 2025, underscoring its central role in the energy transition. Tidal power, though still at the demonstration stage, has the potential to meet up to 11% of annual UK electricity demand. However, key fluid dynamic challenges continue to limit the performance, scalability, and environmental acceptability of turbine
Constraining the key controls on ice melting in glaciers and the ocean is essential for climate models. Edoardo Bellincioni is a PhD student, currently working in the Physics of Fluids group at the University of Twente under the supervision of Sander Husiman and Detlef Lohse. During his PhD, Edoardo has been running laboratory experiments to
The surface of old paintings often exhibits a series of cracks, reminiscent of the cracks which develop on parched ground during a drought. In both cases, the cracks develop over time as a result of surface desiccation. In fact, the evaporation of the solvent from a film of a colloidal suspension induces the formation of
Cleaning is a regular and important process in the food, bioprocessing and pharmaceutical sectors, and is essential to remove fouling deposits and avoid contamination or product crossover. Industrial cleaning is often performed in place, by circulating liquids through the processing equipment in order to remove any residual product. These operations incur penalties in terms of
Volcanic eruptions threaten more than one in ten people worldwide, with the greatest risk at volcanoes reawakening after long quiescence. In these settings, eruptions are often explosive and nearby communities may be unprepared. After obtaining his PhD at IEEF, Dr Eric Newland has been working on the NERC-funded project “FEVER: Forecasting Eruptions at Volcanoes after
Turbulent flows are known to broaden with downstream distance, owing to the entrainment and mixing of ambient fluid into the flow. In the special case where the background is non-turbulent, the entrainment across the interface between the turbulent flow and the non-turbulent ambient is driven by viscous diffusion of the turbulent fluid into the ambient.