Energy and resources

We develop new and advanced methods to sustainably extract and produce low-carbon energy, and for energy storage and decarbonisation. Our research seeks to improve the sustainability and mitigate the environmental impacts of energy production.

Our pure and applied research, computational analysis, modelling and fieldwork focuses on sustainability and innovation to address global energy challenges, covering topics such as:

• characterisation and modelling of subsurface reservoirs;
• carbon capture and storage;
• wind energy;
• mobile energy storage in batteries and fuel cells;
• large-scale subsurface energy storage;
• geothermal energy;
• nuclear energy; and
• lifecycle analysis of low-carbon energy.

We also investigate how to sustainably source, extract and use Earth's resources to support our growing global population and the hugely increased demand for metals associated with the green energy transition, while minimising direct and indirect environmental impacts. Topics studied include:

• Ore formation processes;
• Advanced mineral exploration techniques including isotope analysis and remote sensing;
• Rock mechanics and fracturing for improved block caving prediction;
• Environmental modelling and life cycle assessment; and
• Minerals processing equipment and circuit design, modelling and optimisation.

If you are interested in one of the projects listed below, we encourage you to contact the primary project supervisor or the alternative contact person for further information.

Current projects

Seeing the Invisible: Detecting and Predicting Small Faults and Fractures in the Subsurface [Info Sheet - Bell Detecting and Predicting]

Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Bell, Assef Hussain (SLB)

Pore-Scale Imaging, Analysis, and Data-Driven Pore-Scale Modelling [Info Sheet - Blunt Pore-Scale Imaging]

Supervisor: Professor Martin Blunt

Topology, wettability and fluid flow in porous materials [Info Sheet - Blunt Topology]‌

Supervisor: Professor Martin Blunt

Modelling and predicting flotation froth stability [Info Sheet - Brito-Parada Froth Stability]

Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling

AI Surrogate Models for Radiation Transport in Urban and Energy Systems [Info Sheet - Pain Surrogate Radiation]

Supervisors: Professor Christopher Pain, Dr Claire Heaney

Artificial Intelligence Modelling and Optimisation of Underground Water for Building Heating and Cooling [Info Sheet - Pain GeoThermal]

Supervisors: Professor Christopher Pain, Dr Claire Heaney

Exploring mineral and geothermal resources at active volcanoes [Info Sheet - Paulatto Exploring]

Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto, Ian Bastow, Matt Jackson

Modelling heat and metal co-production from subvolcanic brines [Info Sheet - Paulatto Modelling heat]

Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto, Carl Jacquemyn, Matt Jackson

Dynamic Isotopic and Probabilistic Modelling of Global Metal Flows: Integrating Isotope Geochemistry, Bayesian Inference, and System Dynamics to Advance Industrial Ecology [Info Sheet - Plancherel DIPMod]

Supervisors: Dr Yves Plancherel, Rupert Myers, Pablo Brito-Parada, Kolyan Ray

Data-Driven Detection and Attribution of Illegal Resource Extraction [Info Sheet - Plancherel IllegalResources]

Supervisor: Dr Yves Plancherel

Modelling groundwater flow and heat transport in fractured aquifers with application to geothermal and underground thermal energy storage [Info Sheet - Jackson fractured heat]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Meissam Bahlali (Imperial), Carl Jacquemyn (Imperial), Ed Hough (British Geological Survey), Andres Gonzalez Quiros (British Geological Survey)

Electrokinetic enhanced in-situ resource utilisation (EK-ISRU) for green copper production [Info Sheet - Jackson EK-ISRU]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling

From Source To Sink: Experimental and modelling constraints on copper mobilisation and deposition in sedimentary basins [Info Sheet - Wilkinson SedCu]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Jamie Wilkinson 

Monitoring Global groundwater change using seismic methods [Info Sheet - Kim Groundwater Seismology]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Professor Matthew Jackson

Global CO2 storage capacity: Modeling limitations of geography and injectivity [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2StorageCapacity]

Supervisor: Prof Sam Krevor

Reservoir characterisation and modelling of CO2 storage underground [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2StorageModelling]

Supervisor: Prof Sam Krevor

Fundamentals of carbon dioxide storage by mineralisation to carbonate minerals [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2Mineralisation]

Supervisor: Prof Sam Krevor

Using the magnetic signature of former hydrocarbon-rich environments to test for the suitability of carbon Sequestration: A numerical approach [Info sheet - Magnetic Signature of Hydrocarbon-rich Environments]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, and Prof. Wyn Williams (University of Edinburgh)

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability and its impact on CO2 mixing in saline aquifers [Info Sheet - Muggeridge the rayleigh]

Supervisor: Prof Ann Muggeridge 

The role of geological processes on long term CO2 storage security in aquifers [Info Sheet - Muggeridge the role]

Supervisors: Prof Ann Muggeridge, Craig Smalley and Lidia Lonergan

Mapping the Continental Hydrogen Kitchen [Info Sheet - Richards mapping]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Ann Muggeridge, Rebecca Bell, Valentin Laurent, and Michele Paulatto

Source-to-Sink Analysis of Critical Metal Mineralisation [Info Sheet - Richards source to sink]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Tom Lamont (UNLV) and Alex Lipp (UCL)

Supervisor: Professor Jamie Wilkinson

Machine learning for subsurface multiphase flow in the energy transition [Info sheet - Machine Learning for Multiphase Flow]

Supervisor: Dr. Gege Wen