Biography
With a background in basic engineering courses and a geoscience major, work experience in the Energy Research and Innovation, Srikumar is currently involved in both pure and applied research topics where he investigates the marine sedimentary processes and assesses renewable energy systems such as, geothermal and wind energy. He investigates the applications of “Gas Hydrate systems”, which are ice-like crystalline solids formed of water and gas molecules, specifically in the High Arctic and the northeast Atlantic Margin. Gas hydrates trap enormous amounts of methane gas (clean energy and greenhouse gas) globally in oceanic and permafrost environments, which will be released with the warming climate, and contribute further to the greenhouse effect.
He did his PhD in seabed fluid flow and seepage studies in the western Spitsbergen fjords of the High Arctic, at the University of Bergen and the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway. He was working as a commercialization geophysicist with Schlumberger before joining iCRAG. He graduated with a Joint MS in Applied Geophysics from ETH Zurich, RWTH Aachen and TU Delft; and a BSc in Exploration Geophysics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
Natural gas hydrates are important because of their potential importance as a near-future clean energy resource and their role in climate. Large concentrations of gas hydrates exist below the seafloor along the continental margins and trapped under the permafrost in the Arctic. A lot of energy is stored in hydrates: a cubic meter of methane hydrate compresses as much as 168 m3 of natural gas (methane). And there are gigatonnes of it stored in the sediments of the oceans. Gas hydrates will dissociate (separate or split) as a consequence of global warming. Ocean warming-induced gas hydrate dissociation can create gas plumes at the seafloor, releasing greenhouse methane gas into the ocean and atmosphere.
Project title: Commercialization of natural gas hydrates: geological attributes, environmental factors, and new exploration and production technology
Technical description
My project addresses two main objectives:
1) Develop an integrated geological, geophysical and geotechnical approach to analyze the seismic and well data for natural gas hydrate identification and evaluation that is optimized for Irish continental margin conditions. Evaluation of “fluid flow” and a “working hydrocarbon system – source rock, migration pathways and reservoir” is necessary for the existence of gas hydrate deposits. Hence, these two research areas are being explored with researchers from the Energy Security and Safeguarding the Gomarine Environment research challenges. Rock physics studies are being carried out on hydrate bearing sediments (artificially grown gas hydrate) acquired from the Irish offshore region which is within the hydrate stability zone.
2) Currently depressurization, carbon dioxide exchange with hydrate’s methane, thermal stimulation, inhibitor injection, and downhole combustor are some of the processes which are used individually or in tandem for production of gas hydrates. We want to develop new models and technology for lowering exploration and production costs by taking advantage of the special opportunities offered by natural gas hydrate reservoirs.
Read more here and on Dr Roy's Google Scholar profile.
Role
- Postdoctoral Researcher
Institution
- UCD
Research Area
- Earth Resources
Expertise
- Offshore basins
