Injection of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) into saline aquifers has been proposed as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (geological carbon sequestration). Large-scale injection of CO{sub 2} will induce a variety of coupled physical and chemical processes, including multiphase fluid flow, fluid pressurization and changes in effective stress, solute transport, and chemical reactions between fluids and formation minerals. This work addresses some of these issues with special emphasis given to the physics of fluid flow in brine formations. An investigation of the thermophysical properties of pure carbon dioxide, water and aqueous solutions of CO{sub 2} and NaCl has been conducted. As a result, accurate representations and models for predicting the overall thermophysical behavior of the system CO{sub 2}-H{sub 2}O-NaCl are proposed and incorporated into the numerical simulator TOUGH2/ECO{sub 2}. The basic problem of CO{sub 2} injection into a radially symmetric brine aquifer is used to validate the results of TOUGH2/ECO2. The numerical simulator has been applied to more complex flow problem including the CO{sub 2} injection project at the Sleipner Vest Field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and the evaluation of fluid flow dynamics effects of CO{sub 2} injection into aquifers. Numerical simulation results show that …

Self-assembly is a powerful tool in forming structures with nanoscale dimensions. Self-assembly of macromolecules provides an efficient and rapid pathway for the formation of structures from the nanometer to micrometer range that are difficult, if not impossible to obtain by conventional lithographic techniques [1]. Depending on the morphologies obtained (size, shape, periodicity, etc.) these self-assembled systems have already been applied or shown to be useful for a number of applications in nanotechnology [2], biomineralization [3, 4], drug delivery [5, 6] and gene therapy [7]. In this respect, amphiphilic block copolymers that self-organize in solution have been found to be very versatile [1]. In recent years, polymer-micellar systems have been designed that are adaptable to their environment and able to respond in a controlled manner to external stimuli. In short, synthesis of 'nanoscale objects' that exhibit 'stimulus-responsive' properties is a topic gathering momentum, because their behavior is reminiscent of that exhibited by proteins [8]. By integrating environmentally sensitive homopolymers into amphiphilic block copolymers, smart block copolymers with self assembled supramolecular structures that exhibit stimuli or environmentally responsive properties can be obtained [1]. Several synthetic polymers are known to have environmentally responsive properties. Changes in the physical, chemical or biochemical environment of …