Víctor Vilarrasa Riaño
437731
victor.vilarrasa@idaea.csic.es
https://www.georest.eu/people/victor-vilarrasa
ORCID:
0000-0003-1169-4469
Research group: Groundwater and Hydrogeochemistry
I am staff scientist at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research of the Spanish National Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC). I obtained my M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain. I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, USA and was awarded with an ‘EPFL Fellows’ Fellowship co-funded by Marie Curie at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. My research deals with dimensional analysis and numerical modeling of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes related to geo-energy and geo-engineering applications. I apply my research to CO2 geological storage, geological nuclear waste disposal and enhanced geothermal systems, with special focus on the geomechanical aspects that may lead to induce seismicity. Actually, I have been awarded with an ERC Starting Grant to investigate induced seismicity prediction. I have given some 30 invited talks at conferences and seminars at international institutions. I serve as a reviewer for many geoscience journals, conferences and funding agencies. I am actively involved in the organization of conferences and sessions on coupled processes and induced seismicity. I have more than 40 papers in JCR journals, 5 book chapters and more than 100 conference participations. I have received the Special Doctoral Award of the UPC, the Alfons Bayó Award to Young Researchers awarded by the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) – Spanish Group, the MIT Technology Review Award to Innovators Under 35 and the Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award of the Energy, Resources and the Environment (ERE) Division of the European Geoscience Union (EGU).
Easy Geo-Carbon
Experimental and numerical study of geologic carbon storage
EASY GEO-CARBON proposes an integrated experimental-modeling workflow to substantially improve the knowledge of CO2 interactions with rocks and their potential impacts on short- and long-term response of the subsurface to CO2 storage. To achieve this goal, we will inject CO2 into reservoir rock samples in the laboratory under representative underground conditions to reach an in-depth understanding and develop a mathematical formulation of coupled Hydraulic-Mechanical-Chemical (HMC) processes that occur in rock as a result of CO2 injection. We will incorporate the model into an open-access numerical code and validate it by reproducing laboratory observations. We will finally use this numerical tool to simulate megatonne-scale CO2 injection at two sites. The developed knowledge of coupled HMC processes in rock during CO2 injection puts more reliable constraints on reservoir injectivity and storage capacity and provides a more realistic understanding of the risks associated with induced seismicity and CO2 leakage towards the surface, two obstacles that in part fed into delays in widespread deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage in deep geological formations, also referred to as geologic carbon storage. Thus, the successful development of EASY GEO-CARBON will pave the way for optimized geologic carbon storage and its rapid and vast scale-up.
Funding: MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR in the framework of International Collaboration Projects- MSCA IF-ST 2020 under grant agreement number PCI2021-122077-2B
Start Date: 01/05/2022 – End Date: 30/04/2024
Project Leader: Iman Rahimzadeh Kivi
Researchers: Víctor Vilarrasa Riaño
Funding: European Project, National Project
https://easygeocarbon.com/
ARMISTICE
Analysis and risk mitigation measures for induced seismicity in supercritical geothermal systems
Predicting earthquakes caused by deep fluid injection for geothermal energy production:
We need a combination of multiple solutions for reaching carbon neutrality to mitigate climate change. An innovative one is to combine carbon capture and storage (CCS) and exploitation of supercritical geothermal systems (SCGS) in volcanic areas. One hurdle of this promising geo-energy is the seismic risk resulting from deep fluid injection. Assessing its seismic hazard is challenging due to the complexity of the problem. This is why the EU-funded ARMISTICE project will couple CO2 flow models with high-temperature rheology of rock and faults. It will also extend current models of subsurface CO2 and water flow to very high temperatures, above 375 ºC. Ultimately, it will determine the potential for induced seismicity in CCS-SCGS and the conditions for safe exploitation.
European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action ARMISTICE with grant agreement No. 882733
Start Date: 01/09/2021 – End Date: 31/08/2023
Project Leader: Francesco Parisio , Víctor Vilarrasa Riaño
Funding: European Project
https://armistice-energy.eu/
GEoREST (ERC StG)
GEoREST aims at developing a novel methodology to predict and mitigate induced seismicity.
GEoREST aims at developing a novel methodology to predict and mitigate induced seismicity. Fluid injection related to underground resources has become widespread, causing numerous cases of induced seismicity. If felt, induced seismicity has a negative effect on public perception and may jeopardise wellbore stability and infrastructure, which has led to the cancellation of several projects. Therefore, forecasting injection-induced earthquakes is a big challenge that must be overcome to deploy geo-energies to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and thus mitigate climate change and reduce related health issues.