Supplement to PhD Dissertation: "Subsurface Computational Modeling and Policy Analysis of Large-Scale Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (2022)"

This dataset contains supplementary materials for Chapter 4 and Chapter 5
of Yiheng Tao's PhD dissertation (2022). The dissertation’s abstract
is provided here: Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)
mitigates climate change by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from
large point sources, or CO2 from the ambient air, and subsequently reusing
the captured CO2 or injecting it into deep geological formations for
long-term and secure storage. Almost all current decarbonization pathways
include large-scale CCUS, on the order of a billion tonnes (Gt) of CO2
captured and stored each year globally starting in 2030, yet the actual
deployment has lagged far behind (around 0.04 Gt CO2 was captured in
2021). In this dissertation, I contribute to several aspects of largescale
deployment of CCUS by (1) developing and applying efficient numerical
models to simulate geological CO2 storage and (2) identifying key policies
to address the bottlenecks of overall CCUS deployment. This dissertation
concerns the United States, China, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
region through research projects that are consistent with each location’s
current development stage of CCUS. Chapters 2 and 3 contain computational
modeling studies. In Chapter 2, I develop a new series of
vertical-equilibrium (VE) models in the dual-continuum modeling framework
to simulate CO2 injection and migration in fractured geological
formations. Those models are shown to be effective and efficient when
properties of the formation allow for the VE assumption. In Chapter 3, I
apply a VE model to simulate basin-scale CO2 injection in the Junggar
Basin of Northwestern China. The results show that current regional
emissions of more than 100 million tonnes of CO2 per year can be stored
effectively, thereby confirming the great potential of the Junggar Basin
for early CCUS deployment. Chapters 4 and 5 contain policy analyses. In
Chapter 4, I propose a dynamic system consisting of new CO2 pipelines and
novel Allam-cycle power plants in the Central United States, and examine
how government policies, including an extended Section 45Q tax credit, may
improve the economic feasibility of this system. Lastly, in Chapter 5, I
investigate and quantify CO2 emissions implications of power plant
projects associated with the BRI. I also propose a “greenness ratio” to
measure the level of environmental sustainability of BRI in the power
sector.