Research

Who We Are

Mines CCUS Innovation Center

The Mines CCUS Innovation Center is an independently sponsored research center that highlights applied research whose goal is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by millions of metric tons and enabling communities to transition toward zero-emissions energy generation utilizing multidisciplinary teams of engineering students.

Current Research

Geologic Reservoir Characterization and Storage

  • Fluid-rock interactions to evaluate carbon mineralization
  • Geochemical indicators of CO2 leakage
  • Geophysical quantification of CO2 in place
  • CO2 storage capacity in the seal and reservoir formations
  • CO2 leakage into the seal formation

Capture

  • Capture membranes
  • Chemical looping
  • Carbon capture in concrete
  • Blue hydrogen
  • Biocapture

Decarbonizing Industrial Operations

  • Mining
  • Manufacturing (cement, steel)

Utilization

  • Upgrade captured CO2 to commodity chemicals
  • CO2 to fuels
  • EOR

Capture Policy and Economics

  • Carbon pricing
  • Industry CCUS policy
  • Regulatory approaches to CCUS
  • Data analytics for characterizing successful CCUS projects

MCIC Director

Dr. Manika Prasad is a professor in the Geophysics Department, the director of the Mines CCUS Innovation Center, and a co-director of Center for Rock & Fluid Multiphysics. Her research interests are multidisciplinary research on rock, sediment and fluid properties, multiphysics, quantitative nano- and microscale characterizations, flow zone mapping, and nondestructive materials characterization. She recently led a Department of Energy project on CO2 storage and is leading the Mines’ portion of the DOE SMART initiative. Through her teaching and research, she engages the next generation of industry professionals through her own clear understanding of rock physics and perceptive questioning of her students.

Active Projects

G&G: Ali Tura, Hossein Kazemi, Brandon Dugan, Ilya Tsvankin, Pejman Tahmasebi, Piret Plink-Bjorklund, Thomas Monecke, Yu-Shu Wu, Zane Jobe, Manika Prasad, Katharina Pfaff

Economics and Policy: Benjamin Gilbert, Ian Lange, Jared Carbone

Capture: Carolyn Koh, Jason Porter,  Mike McGuirk, Ryan O’Hayre, Ryan Richards

Sociology: Jessica Smith