Jeffrey M Bielicki

Jeffrey M Bielicki
The Ohio State University | OSU · Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering

Ph.D.

About

99
Publications
27,125
Reads
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2,905
Citations
Introduction
Dr. Bielicki researches issues where energy and environmental systems and policy intersect. One line of present research combines carbon management and renewable energy to investigate the use of CO2 as a heat extraction and an energy storage medium in porous and permeable sedimentary basins and the implications in the broader energy system. In addition to this utilization of CO2, his research also seeks to improve the efficacy of geologic CO2 storage through brine production and alternative storage resources. Another line of inquiry combines renewable energy and the energy-water nexus, where he investigates how changes in environmental and economic conditions could affect energy and water systems, particularly with respect to weather, climate, and land use.
Additional affiliations
September 2010 - July 2013
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Position
  • Research Associate
August 2009 - September 2010
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Position
  • Weinberg Fellow
August 2006 - August 2009
Harvard University
Position
  • Research Associate
Education
September 2003 - June 2009
Harvard University
Field of study
September 2001 - June 2003
Harvard University
Field of study
September 1997 - March 2000
University of Chicago
Field of study

Publications

Publications (99)
Conference Paper
Full-text available
We introduce the idea of combining multi-fluid and multi-level geothermal systems with two reservoirs at depths of 3 and 5 km. In the base case, for comparison, the two reservoirs are operated independently, each as a multi-fluid (brine and carbon dioxide) reservoir that uses a number of horizontal, concentric injection and production well rings. W...
Article
Carbon dioxide (CO2) injected into geologic reservoirs for long-term sequestration, or the brine it displaces, may leak through natural or manmade pathways. Using a leakage estimation model, we simulated fluid leakage from a storage reservoir and its migration into overlying formations. The results are discussed in the context of policies that seek...
Article
Efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change will require deep reductions in anthropogenic CO2 emissions on the scale of gigatonnes/yr. CO2 capture and utilization and/or storage technologies are a class of approaches that can substantially reduce CO2 emissions. Even though examples of this approach, such as CO2 enhanced oil recovery, are alre...
Article
Full-text available
In the carbon capture and storage (CCS) process, CO2 sources and geologic reservoirs may be widely spatially dispersed and need to be connected through a dedicated CO2 pipeline network. We introduce a scalable infrastructure model for CCS (simCCS) that generates a fully integrated, cost-minimizing CCS system. SimCCS determines where and how much CO...
Article
Full-text available
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is critical for climate‐stabilizing energy transitions. In CCS, captured CO2 is sequestered in saline aquifers within sedimentary basins. The CO2 storage capacity and the rate of injection are functions of the geology of the saline aquifer, which is uncertain...
Article
Full-text available
Sedimentary basins are attractive for geothermal development due to their ubiquitous presence, high perme-ability, and extensive lateral extent. Geothermal energy from sedimentary basins has mostly been used for direct heating purposes due to their relatively low temperatures, compared to conventional hydrothermal systems. However, there is an incr...
Article
Water scarcity and climate change are dual challenges that could potentially threaten energy security. Yet, integrated water–carbon management frameworks coupling diverse water- and carbon-mitigation technologies at high spatial heterogeneity are largely underdeveloped. Here we build a global unit-level framework to investigate the CO2 emission and...
Preprint
Sedimentary basins are attractive for geothermal development due to their ubiquitous presence, high permeability, and extensive lateral extent. Geothermal energy from sedimentary basins has mostly been used for direct heating purposes due to their relatively low temperatures, compared to conventional hydrothermal systems. However, there is an incre...
Article
Full-text available
Water, energy, and food are all essential components of human societies. Collectively, their respective resource systems are interconnected in what is called the “nexus”. There is growing consensus that a holistic understanding of the interdependencies and trade-offs between these sectors and other related systems is critical to solving many of the...
Article
CO2-Plume Geothermal (CPG) power plants can use geologically stored CO2 to generate electricity. In this study, a Flexible CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG-F) facility is introduced, which can use geologically stored CO2 to provide dispatchable power, energy storage, or both dispatchable power and energy storage simultaneously—providing baseload power wit...
Preprint
Full-text available
Geothermal electricity generation may play a role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change in a cost-effective manner. Reservoir equations for pressure and temperature must be coupled to a power cycle model to calculate electricity generation from a geothermal power plant. This work focuses on sedimentary basin geothermal...
Article
High-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission infrastructure can transmit electricity from regions with high-quality variable wind and solar resources to those with high electricity demand. In these situations, bulk energy storage (BES) could beneficially increase the utilization of HVDC transmission capacity. Here, we investigate that benefit fo...
Preprint
Full-text available
p> Abstract Sedimentary basins are ubiquitous, naturally porous and permeable, and the geothermal heat in these basins can be extracted with geologic water or CO<sub>2</sub> and used to generate electricity. Despite this, the broad potential that these formations may have for electricity generation is unknown. Here we investigate this potential,...
Article
Full-text available
CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG) energy systems circulate geologically stored CO2 to extract geothermal heat from naturally permeable sedimentary basins. CPG systems can generate more electricity than brine systems in geologic reservoirs with moderate temperature and permeability. Here, we numerically simulate the temperature depletion of a sedimentary b...
Article
Full-text available
A direct CO2-Plume Geothermal (CPG) system is a novel technology that uses captured and geologically stored CO2 as the subsurface working fluid in sedimentary basin reservoirs to extract geothermal energy. In such a CPG system, the CO2 that enters the production well is likely saturated with H2O from the geothermal reservoir. However, direct CPG mo...
Article
Meeting global energy and environmental targets requires a new understanding of the science of large-scale injection and storage of CO 2 .
Article
Full-text available
CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology is likely to be widely deployed in the coming decades in response to major climate and economics drivers: CCS is part of every clean energy pathway that limits global warming to 2°C or less and receives significant CO2 tax credits in the United States. These drivers are likely to stimulate the capture, trans...
Preprint
Full-text available
CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology is likely to be widely deployed in coming decades in response to major climate and economics drivers: CCS is part of every clean energy pathway that limits global warming to 2C or less and receives significant CO2 tax credits in the United States. These drivers are likely to stimulate capture, transport, and...
Article
Full-text available
Coal power generation dominates electricity supply in Developing Asia, and more than 400 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired capacity is planned for operation by 2030. Past studies on thermal electricity-water nexus have not accounted for this new capacity, and use coarse spatial and temporal resolutions in the assessment of long-term power system rel...
Article
Full-text available
Interest in the various dimensions of environmental, economic, and social sustainability for food, energy, and water (FEW) systems, independently and collectively (i. e., the FEW nexus), has spawned an increasing amount of literature that seeks to understand the various linkages within the FEW nexus and provide guidance to inform decision-making to...
Article
The implementation of bulk energy storage (BES) technologies can help to achieve higher penetration and utilization of variable renewable energy technologies (e.g., wind and solar), but it can also alter the dispatch order in regional electricity systems in other ways. These changes to the dispatch order affect the total amount of carbon dioxide (C...
Article
A hopeful vision of the future is a world in which both people and nature thrive, but there is little evidence to support the feasibility of such a vision. We used a global, spatially explicit, systems modeling approach to explore the possibility of meeting the demands of increased populations and economic growth in 2050 while simultaneously advanc...
Article
Hydrocarbon depleted fractured shale (HDFS) formations could be attractive for geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage. Shale formations may be able to leverage existing infrastructure, have larger capacities, and be more secure than saline aquifers. We compared regional storage capacities and integrated CO2 capture, transport, and storage systems th...
Article
Global climate change is a pressing problem caused by the accumulation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage is a promising component of a portfolio of options to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Meaningful capture and storage requires the permanent isolation of enormous amoun...
Article
Statistical downscaling methods require the stationarity assumption, that is, the statistical relationship between the grid-scale input and the observed precipitation does not change between present-day and climate change conditions. We implemented a skill score to test the stationarity assumption in two simple and popular statistical downscaling m...
Article
Short-term electricity load forecasts and long-term projections of climate change impacts can benefit from understanding the relationship between electricity demand and meteorological conditions. We developed and applied a segmented regression technique to more than ten years of hourly electricity load data to estimate this relationship in two tran...
Article
Full-text available
This study investigated how subsurface and atmospheric leakage from geologic CO2 storage reservoirs could impact the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the global energy system. The Leakage Risk Monetization Model was used to estimate the costs of leakage for representative CO2 injection scenarios, and these costs were incorporated i...
Article
Full-text available
Carbon-dioxide (CO2) bulk energy storage (CO2-BES) is an emerging CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) approach that stores CO2 that is captured from large point sources (e.g., fossil-fuel power plants) to time-shift electricity generated from variable renewable energy technologies so that it matches demand. Excess electricity can be used t...
Article
Full-text available
In order to investigate whether it is desirable to implement carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) in saline aquifers or CO2 plume geothermal (CPG) power plants, we identified favorable locations for both technologies in Louisiana, Wyoming, and Colorado. To do so, we considered the estimated CO2 storage capacity of the saline aquifers, the...
Article
Full-text available
Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage, (CCS) has the potential to substantially mitigate CO2 emissions, but concerns over the potential for leakage of CO2 and brine from subsurface formations in which CO2 has been geologically stored have impeded the deployment of CCS. In three lines of work, we investigated the causes and consequences of the le...
Article
Full-text available
Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) can reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants by injecting CO2 into deep saline aquifers for storage. CCUS typically increases reservoir pressure which increases costs, because less CO2 can be injected, and risks such as induced seismicity. Extracting brine with enhanced water r...
Article
Global and regional climate change caused by greenhouse gases emissions has stimulated interest in developing various technologies (such as carbon dioxide (CO2) geologic sequestration in brine reservoirs) to reduce the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. This study develops a statistical framework to identify gravitational CO2 trapping process...
Article
Full-text available
We present an approach for managing geologic CO2 storage using wells that serve three sequential purposes (1) characterization and monitoring, (2) brine production, and (3) CO2 injection. Two reservoirs are deployed in tandem: (1) a CO2-storage reservoir and (2) a brine-storage reservoir. This approach provides data that can be analyzed prior to CO...
Article
Full-text available
Fractured shale formations are new potential target reservoirs for CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and provide several potential advantages over storage in saline aquifers in terms of storage capacity, leakage risk, and cost savings from brownfield development. We used a geospatial-optimization, engineering-economic model to investigate the sensitivi...
Article
Full-text available
Industry emits approximately 1 billion tonnes of CO2 each year (1 GTCO2/yr) in the United States–one-third of US stationary emissions–and an even greater amount in industry-heavy China. We hypothesize that capturing industrial CO2 offers a near-term pathway to jumpstart CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and is a long-term necessity to stabilize atmosph...
Article
Full-text available
Mitigating climate change requires a range of measures, including increased use of renewable and low-carbon energy and reducing the CO2 intensity of fossil energy use. We present an approach designed to address the major deployment barriers to CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and utility-scale energy storage needed to maximize use of va...
Article
Full-text available
Geothermal energy has been successfully employed in Switzerland for more than a century for direct use but presently there is no electricity being produced from geothermal sources. After the nuclear power plant catastrophe in Fukushima, Japan, the Swiss Federal Assembly decided to gradually phase out the Swiss nuclear energy program. Deep geotherma...
Article
We present an approach that uses the huge fluid and thermal storage capacity of the subsurface, together with geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage, to harvest, store, and dispatch energy from subsurface (geothermal) and surface (solar, nuclear, fossil) thermal resources, as well as excess energy on electric grids. Captured CO2 is injected into sal...
Article
Full-text available
Two of the most important challenges facing the global energy sector are to reduce the CO2 intensity and the water intensity of energy production. Because many economies will continue to depend on fossil fuels as primary energy sources, CO2 capture and storage (CCS) must play a major role in curbing CO2 emissions. A large portion of CO2 storage wil...
Article
We developed the Leakage Risk Monetization Model (LRiMM) which integrates simulation of CO2 leakage from geologic CO2 storage reservoirs with estimation of monetized leakage risk (MLR). Using geospatial data, LRiMM quantifies financial responsibility if leaked CO2 or brine interferes with subsurface resources, and estimates the MLR reduction achiev...
Article
Full-text available
CO2 capture and storage (CCS) in saline reservoirs can play a key role in curbing CO2 emissions. Buildup of pressure due to CO2 injection, however, can create hazards (wellbore leakage, caprock fracturing, and induced seismicity) to safe storage that must be carefully addressed. Reservoir pressure management by producing brine to minimize pressure...
Data
Full-text available
We created a three-dimensional model of the Michigan sedimentary basin underlying the lower peninsula of Michigan (USA). This model depicts the topography of the geologic units and the locations of wells as leakage pathways. Section 1 presents the data sources and background geology. Section 2 presents the methodology and procedure regarding how th...
Article
There is growing concern about how hydraulic fracturing affects public health because this activity involves handling large volumes of fluids that contain toxic and carcinogenic constituents, which are injected under high pressure through wells into the subsurface to release oil and gas from tight shale formations. The constituents of hydraulic fra...
Article
CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology has yet to be widely deployed at a commercial scale despite multiple high-profile demonstration projects. We suggest that developing a large-scale, visible, and financially viable CCUS network could potentially overcome many barriers to deployment and jumpstart commercial-scale CCUS. To date,...
Article
Full-text available
Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a part of the CO2 capture and storage (CCS) process has a large potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but its deployment will require accurate assessment of both the possibility and cost of leakage. In this study, we took the Michigan sedimentary basin as an example to investigate the monetize...
Article
Full-text available
Fractured shale formations could serve as an attractive target formation for geologic carbon sequestration once they have been depleted of hydrocarbons. The low intrinsic permeability of the shale matrix could reduce the CO2 leakage potential, the kerogen in the shale would provide a matrix within which the CO2 can be permanently sorbed, and the in...
Article
Full-text available
Efforts to sequester or otherwise manage carbon dioxide emissions on a large scale will require an improved understanding of the geospatial characteristics of anthropogenic CO2 sources. Recent work by the authors using newly collected data from the US Environmental Protection Agency showed that even though there are some regions of the US with acce...
Article
Full-text available
We present a reservoir management approach for geologic CO2 storage that combines CO2 injection with brine extraction. In our approach, dual-mode wells are initially used to extract formation brine and subsequently used to inject CO2 . These wells can also be used to monitor the subsurface during pre-injection brine extraction so that key data is a...
Article
Full-text available
We present an approach that uses the huge fluid and thermal storage capacity of the subsurface, together with geologic CO2 storage, to harvest, store, and dispatch energy from subsurface (geothermal) and surface (solar, nuclear, fossil) thermal resources, as well as energy from electrical grids. Captured CO2 is injected into saline aquifers to stor...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) is a key climate mitigation technology that can global CO2 emissions by thousands of megatonnes of CO2 annually. CCS is almost certainly required, along with a wide portfolio of other technologies in an "all of the above" strategy, to achieve the reductions in global CO2 emissions necessary to stabiliz...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
State renewable portfolio standards requiring more intermittent wind and solar generation will substantially increase the uncertainty and variability in grid operations. Geothermal power plant operators could mitigate variability and uncertainty by operating plants in a more flexible mode. This study explores economic incentives and innovative rese...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
State renewable portfolio standards requiring more intermittent wind and solar generation will substantially increase the uncertainty and variability in grid operations. Geothermal power plant operators could mitigate variability and uncertainty by operating plants in a more flexible mode. This study explores economic incentives and innovative rese...
Article
Policies, markets, and technologies interact to create the modern electrical system. Integrating large amounts of electricity generated by variable renewable resources, such as from wind and sunlight, into electricity systems may require energy storage technologies to synchronize electricity production with electricity demand. Electricity markets c...
Article
Planning for the deployment of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), infrastructure must consider numerous uncertainties regarding where and how much CO2 is produced and where captured CO2 can be geologically stored. We used the SimCCS engineering-economic geospatial optimization models to determine the characteristics of CCS deployment in Fran...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Stratigraphic reservoirs are attractive candidates for geothermal power production due to their high permeability and large areal extent, compared to typical hydrothermal geothermal reservoirs. Because they are often associated with a conductive thermal regime that require greater depths to reach economic temperatures, the commercial viability of s...
Data
Full-text available
This Supplemental Information provides more details and algorithms for "Causes and Financial Consequences of Geologic CO2 Storage Reservoir Leakage and Interference with other Subsurface Resources".
Article
Full-text available
Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage involves injecting CO2 into permeable geologic reservoirs. Candidate reservoirs will be overlain by an impervious caprock, but CO2 or brine may leak through this caprock via natural or manmade pathways into overlying units. Such leakage will incur multiple costs to a variety of stakeholders, as mobile fluids...
Article
Full-text available
Recent geotechnical research shows that geothermal heat can be efficiently mined by circulating carbon dioxide through naturally permeable rock formations -- a method called CO2 Plume Geothermal -- the same geologic reservoirs that are suitable for deep saline aquifer CO2 sequestration or enhanced oil recovery. This paper describes the effect of th...
Article
Full-text available
Leakage of brine or carbon dioxide (CO2) from geologic CO 2 storage reservoirs will trigger numerous costs. We present the Leakage Impact Valuation (LIV) method, a systematic and thorough scenario-based approach to identify these costs, their drivers, and who incurs them across four potential leakage outcomes: 1) Leakage only; 2) leakage that inter...