CO2 migration and distribution in multiscale-heterogeneous deep saline aquifers

Jie Ren, Yuan Wang, Di Feng, Jiakun Gong

Abstract view|1329|times       PDF download|279|times

Abstract


Large volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) captured from carbon emission source can be stored in deep saline aquifers as a mean of mitigating climate change. The deep saline aquifers are naturally heterogeneous at multiple scales. It is important to generate representative multiscale heterogeneous fields of various hydrogeologic properties and understand storage safety by studying CO2 migration and distribution in such fields. In this work, a new multiscale heterogeneous model with partly fine multi-facies heterogeneous domain is proposed. A method based on transition probability theory is referred to establish a multi-facies model. A new multiscale heterogeneous model with partly fine multi-facies heterogeneous domain is built up according to the categorized permeability data obtained from the Geological Carbon Storage Frio site in USA. TOUGH2/ECO2N is applied to simulate CO2 migration and distribution in such a multiscale heterogeneous model. The CO2 plume shows obvious viscous fingering and non-uniform migration both in layered and vertical directions, implying vertical and horizontal heterogeneity which cannot be represented by a single-scale model or simulated with the assumption of homogeneous formation. The profile of CO2 migration shown in the numerical simulation at a time of 10 days is in a good accordance with the seismic data of Frio situ in qualitative and quantitative aspects.

Cited as: Ren, J., Wang, Y., Feng, D., Gong, J. CO2 migration and distribution in multiscale-heterogeneous deep saline aquifers. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2021, 5(3): 333-346, doi: 10.46690/ager.2021.03.08


Keywords


CO2 migration and distribution, multi-scale, multi-facies, heterogeneous aquifers, transition probability, viscous fingering flow

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bachu, S., Adams, J. J. Sequestration of CO2 in geological media in response to climate change: Capacity of deep saline aquifers to sequester CO2 in solution. Energy Conversion & Management, 2003, 44(20): 3151-3175.

Basirat, F., Fagerlund, F., Denchik, N., et al. Numerical modelling of CO2 injection at small-scale field experimental site in Maguelone, France. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2016, 54(1): 200-210.

Berkowitz, B., Balberg, I. Percolation approach to the problem of hydraulic conductivity in porous media. Transport in Porous Media, 1992, 9(3): 275-286.

Birkholzer, J. T., Zhou, Q. L. Basin-scale hydrogeologic impacts of CO2 storage: Capacity and regulatory implications. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2009a, 3(6): 745-756.

Birkholzer, J. T., Zhou, Q. L., Tsang, C. F. Large-scale impact of CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers: A sensitivity study on pressure response in stratified systems. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2009b, 3(2): 181-194.

Carle, S. F. T-PROGS: Transition probability geostatistical software. University of California, Davis, 1999.

Cavanagh, A., Ringrose, P. Simulation of CO2 distribution at the In Salah storage site using high-resolution field-scale models. Energy Procedia, 2011, 4: 3730-3737.

Daley, T. M., Myer, L. R., Peterson, J. E., et al. Time-lapse cross well seismic and VSP monitoring of injected CO2 in a brine aquifer. Environmental Geology, 2008, 54(8): 1657-1665.

Deng, H., Stauffer, P. H., Dai, Z., et al. Simulation of industrial-scale CO2 storage: Multi-scale heterogeneity and its impacts on storage capacity, injectivity and leakage. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2012, 10: 397-418.

Deutsch, C. V., Journel, A. G. GSLIB: Geostatistical Software Library and User’s Guide, Second Edition. Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press, 1998.

Doughty, C. Investigation of CO2 plume behavior for a largescale pilot test of geologic carbon storage in a saline formation. Transport in Porous Media, 2009, 82(1): 49-76.

Doughty, C., Pruess, K. Modeling supercritical carbon dioxide injection in heterogeneous porous media. Vadose Zone Journal, 2004, 3(3): 837-847.

Doughty, C., Pruess, K., Benson, S. M. Flow modeling for the frio brine pilot. Presented at Fourth Annual Conference on Carbon Capture & Sequestration. Alexandria, Virginia, 2-5 May, 2005.

Ershadnia, R., Wallace, C. D., Soltanian, M. R. CO2 geological sequestration in heterogeneous binary media: Effects of geological and operational conditions. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2020, 4(4): 392-405.

Flett, M., Gurton, R., Weir, G. Heterogeneous saline formations for carbon dioxide disposal: Impact of varying heterogeneity on containment and trapping. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2007, 57(1-2): 106-118.

Freifeld, B. M., Trautz, R. C., Kharaka, Y. K., et al. The Utube: A novel system for acquiring borehole fluid samples from a deep geologic CO2 sequestration experiment. Journal of Geophysical Research, 2005, 110: B10203.

Gershenzon, N. I., Ritzi Jr, R. W., Dominic, D. F., et al. Influence of small-scale fluvial architecture on CO2 trapping processes in deep brine reservoirs. Water Resources Research, 2015, 51(10): 8240-8256.

Gershenzon, N. I., Ritzi Jr, R. W., Dominic, D. F., et al. Capillary trapping of CO2 in heterogeneous reservoirs during the injection period. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2017a, 59: 13-23.

Gershenzon, N. I., Ritzi Jr, R. W., Dominic, D. F., et al. CO2 trapping in reservoirs with fluvial architecture: Sensitivity to heterogeneity in permeability and constitutive relationship parameters for different rock types. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2017b, 155: 89-99.

Hovorka, S. D., Benson, S. M., Doughty, C., et al. Measuring permanence of CO2 storage in saline formations: The Frio experiment. Environmental Geosciences, 2006, 13(2): 105-121.

Hovorka, S. D., Doughty, C., Benson, S. M., et al. The impact of geological heterogeneity on CO2 storage in brine formations: A case study from the Texas Gulf Coast. Geological Society London Special Publications, 2004, 233(1): 147-163.

IPCC. IPCC special report on carbon dioxide capture and storage, Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Ivandic, M., Yang, C., Luth, S., et al. Time-lapse analysis of sparse 3D seismic data from the CO2 storage pilot site at Ketzin, Germany. Journal of Applied Geophysics, 2012, 84: 14-28.

Jahangiri, H. R., Zhang, D. X. Effect of spatial heterogeneity on plume distribution and dilution during CO2 sequestration. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2011, 5(2): 281-293.

Kharaka, Y. K., Thordsen, J. J., Hovorka, S. D., et al. Potential environmental issues of CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers: Geochemical results from the Frio-I Brine Pilot test, Texas, USA. Applied Geochemistry, 2009, 24(6): 1106-1112.

Koltermann, C. E., Gorelick, S. M. Heterogeneity in sedimentary deposits: A review of structure-imitating, process-imitating, and descriptive approaches. Water Resources Research, 1996, 32(9): 2617-2658.

Kumar, A., Noh, M., Pope, G. A., et al. Reservoir simulation of CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers. SPE Journal, 2005, 10(3): 336-348.

Liu, Y. Z., Huang B. W., Wang, L. Characteristics of injection pressure and saturation distributions of supercritical CO2 injecting into heterogeneous saline aquifers. CIESC Journal, 2010, 61(1): 32-42. (in Chinese)

Middleton, R. S., Keating, G. N., Stauffer, P. H., et al. The cross-scale science of CO2 capture and storage: From pore scale to regional scale. Energy & Environmental Science, 2013, 5(6): 7328-7345.

Nordbotten, J. M., Celia, M. A., Bachu, S. Injection and storage of CO2 in deep saline aquifers: Analytical solution for CO2 plume evolution during injection. Transport in Porous Media, 2005, 58(3): 339-360.

Oruganti, Y. D., Mishra, S. An improved simplified analytical model for CO2 plume movement and pressure buildup in deep saline formations. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2013, 14: 49-59.

Pacala, S., Socolow, R. Stabilization wedges: Solving the climate problem for the Next 50 years with current technologies. Science, 2004, 305(5686): 968-972.

Panja, P., McLennan, J., Green, S. Impact of permeability heterogeneity on geothermal battery energy storage. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2021, 5(2): 127-138.

Pruess, K. ECO2N: A TOUGH2 fluid property module for mixtures of water, NaCl, and CO2 . Berkeley, Univercity of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2005.

Pruess, K., Curt, O., George, M. TOUGH2 user’s guide. Berkeley, Univercity of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1999.

Ramanathan, R., Guin, A., Ritzi Jr, R. W., et al. Simulating the heterogeneity in braided channel belt deposits: Part 1. A geometric-based methodology and code. Water Resources Research, 2010, 46(4): 475-478.

Raza, A., Rezaee, R., Gholami, R., et al. Injectivity and quantification of capillary trapping for CO2 storage: A review of influencing parameters. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 2015, 26: 510-517.

Ren, J., Wang, Y., Zhang, Y. Q. A numerical simulation of a dry-out process for CO2 sequestration in heterogeneous deep saline aquifers. Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, 2018, 8(6): 1090-1109.

Ronald, W. F., Lin, Z., Sally, M. B. Migration of exsolved CO2 following depressurization of saturated brines. Berkeley, Univercity of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2012.

Sahimi, M., Imdakm, A. O. Hydrodynamics of particulate motion in porous media. Physical Review Letters. 1991, 66(9): 1169-1172.

Sakurai, S., Ramakrishnan, T. S., Boyd, A., et al. Monitoring saturation changes for CO2 sequestration: Petrophysical support of the Frio brine pilot experiment. Paper SPWLA 2005 Presented at the SPWLA 46th Annual Logging Symposium, New Orleans, Louisiana, 26-29 June, 2005.

Sardini, P., Siitari, K. M., Beaufort, D., et al. On the connected porosity of mineral aggregates in crystalline rocks. American Mineralogist. 2006, 91(7): 1069-1080.

Slatt, R. M. Stratigraphic reservoir characterization for petroleum geologists, geophysicists, and engineers. University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, 2006.

Soeder, D. J. Greenhouse gas sources and mitigation strategies from a geosciences perspective. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2021, 5(3): 274-285.

Soltanian, M. R., Amooie, M. A., Gershenzon, N., et al. Dissolution trapping of carbon dioxide in heterogeneous aquifers. Environmental Science & Technology, 2017, 51(13): 7732-7741.

Soltanian, M. R., Hajirezaie, S., Hosseini, S. A., et al. Multicomponent reactive transport of carbon dioxide in fluvial heterogeneous aquifers. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 2019, 65: 212-223.

Soltanian, M. R., Ritzi, R. W. A new method for analysis of variance of the hydraulic and reactive attributes of aquifers as linked to hierarchical and multiscaled sedimentary architecture. Water Resources Research. 2014, 50(12): 9766-9776.

Teodoru, C. R., Prairie, Y. T., Giorgio, P. A. Spatial heterogeneity of surface CO2 fluxes in a newly created eastmain-1 reservoir in northern quebec, Canada. Ecosystems, 2011, 14(1): 28-46.

van Genuchten, M. Th. A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 1980, 44(5): 892-898.

Yang, Z., Chen, Y. F., Niemi, A. Gas migration and residual trapping in bimodal heterogeneous media during geological storage of CO2 . Advances in Water Resources, 2020, 142(11): 103608.

Zhou, Q., Birkholzer, J. T., Mehnert, E., et al. Modeling basin-and plume-scale processes of CO2 storage for full-scale deployment. GroundWater, 2010, 48(4): 494-514.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 The Author(s)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Copyright ©2018. All Rights Reserved