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Noteworthy & New

Celebrating And Investing In Research At SMU

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One of SMU’s oldest and most distinguished academic departments has new resources to support its research and teaching, thanks to a gift of more than $10 million from the Honorable Roy M. Huffington of Houston, who died July 11. The gift endows the Department of Earth Sciences in SMU’s Dedman College, now renamed the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences. Earth sciences research at SMU has achieved international recognition in the areas of seismology, experimental petrology, geothermal studies and paleoclimatology, which integrates stable isotope geology, sedimentology and paleontology. Currently, research projects of the Earth Sciences faculty have external funding totaling more than $4 million from agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Energy. Research sites include Asia, Arabia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, Pacific Islands, the Americas and Europe.

Major Earth Sciences research facilities at SMU include:

• Geothermal Laboratory – the major repository for geothermal resource data in the United States.
• Hydrothermal Laboratory – can simulate subsurface conditions and fluid-rock interactions to a depth of eight miles.
• Seismology and Infrasound Program – specializing in seismo-acoustic arrays and the sources of earthquakes, an integral part of the U.S. nuclear test detection efforts.
• Shuler Museum of Paleontology – major repository of vertebrate and plant fossils from North America and significant holdings from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
• Stable Isotope Laboratory – center for studies of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotopes of fluids and rocks with applications to Earth’s major cycles, including ancient and modern climate.

“An expanding need for earth science professionals has resulted from increased environmental concerns and other growing demands,” says Paul W. Ludden, SMU provost and vice president for academic affairs. “As SMU has responded to previous national needs, we are poised to prepare the next generation of earth scientists to address new national problems.” SMU’s nationally recognized geothermal energy team provided an alternative energy “how-to” forum in June, demonstrating how oil and gas producers can breathe new life into low-producing wells and generate low-cost electricity by tapping the “nuisance” hot water generated by drilling operations. The Geothermal Energy Utilization Associated with Oil and Gas Development Conference, the third SMU geothermal/oil and gas conference, attracted a record 220 participants. Although geo-thermal scientists, inventors and developers have dominated previous events, the 2008 conference drew larger numbers of participants from the oil and gas industry who are seeking ways to enter the alternative energy market.

“For the first time we also had significant participation by endusers who are pushing the geothermal community to determine ways to make geothermal projects happen,” says Maria richards, SMU Geothermal Lab coordinator and conference organizer. “They want to buy the renewable resource for their projects.” A highlight of the conference was the formal announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy of its “Enhanced Geothermal Systems Research, Development and Demonstration” funding program, which will award $10.5 million in fiscal year 2008, with an additional $79 million in funding anticipated over fiscal years 2009 and 2010. SMU’s geothermal team will compete for a share of the funding, partnering with various companies and individuals to submit projects and proposals, Richards says. The conference was a natural fit for the University: Half the nation’s active oil and gas land rigs are located in Texas, and SMU’s geothermal scientists are the acknowledged experts in this emerging field. Although geothermal energy often is associated with large, hightemperature hydrothermal power plants, the technology exists to draw clean, affordable power from lower-temperature water. For example, the process of pumping oil and gas frequently brings with it waste fluids that carry substantial heat to the surface from areas of unusually hot rock. The installation of a binary pump at the wellhead can produce enough energy to run the well, mitigating production costs for low-volume wells.

In addition, an oil field full of geothermal pumps could be linked to distribute surplus electricity, at a profit, to outside users. SMU researchers have documented large amounts of hot water that Texas oil and gas producers must reinject into the ground at considerable expense. In West Texas, for every barrel of oil produced, nearly 100 barrels of hot water are co-produced.

The idea of using CO2 instead of water as a heat and oil extraction mechanism drew much discussion. A power plant using this method would be carbon negative, says David Blackwell, SMU’s W.B. Hamilton Professor of Geophysics. But the geothermal and oil and gas industries can succeed with either fluid. Blackwell and Richards were part of an 18-member panel assembled by MIT in September 2005 to evaluate the potential of geothermal energy becoming a major energy source for the United States by 2050. Blackwell and Richards also developed the Geothermal Map of North America, released by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in 2004. The SMU Geothermal Lab is partially funded by a grant from the Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) for geothermal outreach and networking. The goal of this program is to increase geothermal awareness among Texas residents and development of additional geothermal projects in the state.