THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY (CE)
The Circular Economy as a concept calls for recycling as much as possible materials that we extract from Mother Earth such as through mining, extracting of geofluids and gases such as water and hydrocarbons, for our energy generations, transport devices, products manufacturing, agriculture, just to name a few. This calls for the deployment of all necessary new technology especially in Chemistry, with, alongside, a conscious meticulous management of the waste products, from small scale in our households up to the large scale in industry and agriculture.
New processes need to be put in place to convert already used and previously processed materials back into usable crude substances, which in many cases shows the need of introducing other specific chemical substances and especially large amounts of energy. Verifying whether or not these processes are both sustainable and low-carbon is one of the main difficult tasks for the near future.
Geosciences, Engineering and Geophysics all play fundamental roles in making the Circular Economy principle a success, and our Global Experts Network is implied in various projects regarding many sectors that are involved.
We distinguish the following focus Sectors in the Realm of The Circular Economy:
Sector CE.1 – Underground Water Management – Hydrology
Sector CE.2 – Mineral Resources – Onshore-Offshore Mining; Landscape Management
Sector CE.3 – Underground Waste Disposal
An example of a representation of the Circular Economy. From: Rowen (2020).
The following type of Projects and Activities are especially involved in the Realm of The Circular Economy:
Geology:
- Territorial Management – Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Drone Site Surveys (UAV; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) – 3dmodeling
- Micro seismicity studies and monitoring
- Earthquake analyses and Modelling
- Remote Sensing Acquisition, Elaboration and Interpretations including InSAR
- Terrain Subsidence-Uplift Studies
- Analyses and Modelling of Faulted and Fractured Rocks
- Geological Field Work s.l.
- Core Studies, Conventional and Special, Geomechanics
- Seismic Interpretation, Mapping, and 3d Structure Modelling
Geophysics:
- Offshore High-Resolution Geophysical site-surveys
- Magnetotelluric (MT) studies
- Seismic Acquisition, Planning, and (re)Processing
- Well Bore Seismics
- Grav-Mag Acquisition and Modelling
Portfolio Management:
- HC and Mining – Prospect Generation, Risking and Ranking
- Asset Evaluation, Peer Reviews, Economics, QC, Competent Person’s Reporting
Engineering:
- Well Drilling, Logging, Completion and Work-over
- Log interpretation, Petrophysics, and Modelling
- Reservoir Modelling, Production Planning
- Facilities Planning and Management
- Civil Engineering Planning, Construction and Management
To examine all the Tasks involved in this Sector, the OCRE Geoscience Services GEG List and CATALOGUE can be consulted.