Without ever leaving the Lab, NETL researchers are exploring the microscopic spaces in rocks, called pores, to take measurements as they seek a better understanding of how liquids and gases interact. These measurements are expanding scientific knowledge of the subsurface environment to ensure safe and effective carbon storage, enhanced resource recovery, and basic scientific understanding of subsurface phenomena.

Rather than shrinking scientists, NETL is using cutting-edge imaging technology that enables 3D visualization and analysis of volumetric data at the submillimeter scale. The innovative software, called SyGlass, brings data to life through virtual reality, allowing researchers to examine real-world energy challenges in three dimensions.

NETL’s Reservoir Engineering Team is using SyGlass to measure contact angles, where liquids and gases meet on a solid surface, as they investigate how carbon dioxide ( CO2) physically interacts with water (or brines) within rock pores. “When we can measure that contact angle, it tells us how easily CO2 will go into the rock or displace the liquid that’s already there,” said Johnathan Moore, a research geologist working with NETL’s Reservoir Engineering Team. “SyGlass gives us a better way of drawing our data markers. You can actually walk inside your data, inside the 3D volume of a rock pore, and zoom into little microscopic features to see them in a much higher resolution than you would on a two-dimensional screen.”

SyGlass was created by Michael Morehead, a former graduate student studying computer science at West Virginia University (WVU), at the request of George Spirou, a neuroscience professor who was seeking a better way to visualize images of brain tissue in mice that he had collected. The software is designed to incorporate a series of images into a 3D structure, using a virtual reality headset for enhanced scientific analysis. SyGlass is also engineered to minimize the simulation sickness that often occurs with virtual reality devices as a result of experiencing visual stimuli without corresponding physical stimuli.

Once the software was created, it attracted so much interest that Morehead, Spirou and Gianfranco Doretto, associate professor of computer science at WVU, decided to market the product. SyGlass is now being used at 40 universities around the world, primarily for biology and neuroscience research.

NETL first learned of SyGlass, then in its infancy, after Moore contacted Morehead about other software. Moore later reached out to Morehead again in late 2017, after discovering the SyGlass software had evolved into a powerful analysis tool. When NETL expressed interest, Morehead began developing additional tools to meet the Lab’s needs and expand the program’s capabilities.

Morehead said NETL offered a unique opportunity for SyGlass as the company’s first foray into other scientific areas.

“To hear NETL’s insights and needs is really useful from a product development standpoint. Since we’re so tied in with the biology side, we sort of know what the biologists need,” Morehead said. “But now that we’re hearing new feature requests from NETL, we can further refine SyGlass to make it useful to non-biologists, which is great. It’s SyGlass, not BiologyGlass. We want to make it general to all scientists.”

NETL researchers are already making notable scientific achievements using the new software. A paper by Laura Dalton, a graduate researcher through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education program, reflects different – and, arguably, more accurate – measurements for contact angles than previous studies from the past 20 years.

With Morehead’s help, Dalton began using the software before it was even purchased by NETL. Since early June, Moore and others at the Lab have been learning to navigate the virtual environment within SyGlass, starting in short increments and building up to hours at a time.

While SyGlass will primarily be used to investigate multiphase flow, relative permeability and other geophysical processes, Moore said other applications are being explored – modeling of advanced combustion turbines, for instance. The software will also likely be used to enhance NETL’s outreach efforts by creating engaging videos and graphics to help explain the Lab’s vital work to develop technological solutions for America’s energy challenges.

Contact:

• Shelley Martin, DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, 304-285-0228, contact.publicaffairs@netl.doe.gov