David Dempsey

My subsurface engineering group is working on some major challenges for a safe, low-emissions future. How can we pull CO2 out of the atmosphere at low cost? How can we safely store massive amounts of hydrogen? How can we anticipate volcanic eruptions and human-triggered seismicity?

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗼𝘅𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹 - we are designing systems that combust forestry waste and dissolve the CO2 in geothermal systems. This boosts renewable electricity and reduces CO2 in the atmosphere. Our goal is to find a pathway beyond 1 million tonnes of removals each year at a cost less than $100 per tonne.

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘆𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 - we are predicting the costs and consequences of injecting hydrogen (a low density, reactive gas that is appetising to microbes) into depleted natural gas fields. The goal is to, later, recover as much gas as possible while also meeting the size of the future industrial demand, which is expected to exceed the capacity of surface tanks.

𝗩𝗼𝗹𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗘𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 - we are trialling machine learning systems that can receive real-time seismic data from GeoNet and use this to suggest how likely an eruption will be. We use data from volcanoes around the world, looking for the common patterns between them that occur before eruptions.

𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻-𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 - we build systems that learn how underground injection of geothermal fluids, or extraction of natural gas, changes the forces on buried faults in a way that triggers earthquakes. We use these systems to make predictions of how many earthquakes might be caused by large energy projects and how these risks can be minimised.