Renewable energy-based artificial ground freezing as an adaptation solution for sustainability of permafrost in post-climate change conditions

• Published in: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
• Main Authors: Alzoubi, Mahmoud, Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh, Seyed, Sasmito, Agus P., Kunz, Nadja, Guimaraes, Alice
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: IOP Publishing 2019
• Subjects: permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/268/1/012128; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/268/1/012128/pdf; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/268/1/012128

Abstract Climate change is expected to impose higher ground temperatures, seriously challenging the sustainability of permafrost regions by thawing irreversibly, compromising ground stability and causing high seepage flows. Mining operations are particularly vulnerable to permafrost removal, and in extreme cases may face catastrophic consequences in their waste management systems, such as tailings dams. So far, artificial ground freezing has been promoted as a reliable and technologically possible solution to maintain permafrost against raises in ground temperature. However, considerable amounts of electric power are required which can be challenging especially in remote areas. A solution can be sought by taking advantage of cold winter temperatures to provide artificial ground freezing. In this renewable energy-based technique, thermosyphons use subfreezing winter temperatures to create enough freezing in the permafrost layer which can last during the summer as well. The present paper underlines the importance of developing the proposed technology and evaluates its techno-economic feasibility through numerical and experimental studies. It offers a numerical model for a renewable energy-based artificial ground freezing system and validates its results against laboratory experiments. The results suggest that the utilization of thermosyphon along with cold-energy storage increases and maintains the thickness of the permafrost, especially during the summer season.