IEAGHG Investigation of Extraction of Formation Water from CO2 Storage

Probabilistic cost estimation methods for treatment of water extracted during CO2 storage and EOR

“…State-of-the-art reverse osmosis (RO) treatment for marine-type water chemistries (TDS ∼35,000-40,000 mg/L) is well understood and readily assessed for costs and process choices (Fritzmann et al, 2007;Campos, 2013). However, marine-type chemistry conditions are not common among extracted waters (Klapperich et al, 2012;Sullivan et al, 2013;Greenlee et al, 2009;Bourcier et al, 2011). Higher salinities (>45,000 mg/L TDS) in extracted waters will require thermal methods (e.g., multi-stage flash [MSF] or multipleeffect distillation [MED]); we have shown these methods to be more cost effective than membrane treatments in some circumstances (Sullivan et al, 2013).…”

“…Pretreatment includes acid and/or antiscalent chemical additions to prevent mineral scale formation, aeration, and micro-or ultrafiltration to remove particulates. Water types requiring pretreatment based on their affinity for fouling are discussed by El-Manharawy and Hafez (2003); many of the waters extracted for carbon storage purposes are expected to have not only high chloride concentrations (>100 mMol/kg Cl − or >10,000 mg/L TDS by EPA regulation) (EPA, 2014), but will also have high sulfate fouling potential based upon SO 4 /Alkalinity ratios (>10; seawater ∼10) and high carbonate fouling potentials (typically found in waters between 4000 mg/L and ∼45,000 mg/L TDS) (Klapperich et al, 2012;Bourcier et al, 2011;Aines et al, 2011;Millero et al, 1998). A similar situation exists for oil and gas produced waters (Collins, 1975;Tibbetts, 1992).…”

“…There are currently no models for treatment of extracted water that adequately address organic pretreatment (Klapperich et al, 2012;IAEA, 2011). The use of EOR reservoirs for carbon storage means a likelihood that extracted water will contain organic constituents from oil residues.…”

“…Higher salinities (>45,000 mg/L TDS) in extracted waters will require thermal methods (e.g., multi-stage flash [MSF] or multipleeffect distillation [MED]); we have shown these methods to be more cost effective than membrane treatments in some circumstances (Sullivan et al, 2013). The International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas (IEAGHG) program presented treatment cost analyses for four specific locations worldwide; variance in costs was related to water extraction rate but not to transportation; variable salinity was considered, but not other aspects of geochemistry (Klapperich et al, 2012). Others have examined treatment of extracted water within the inorganic geochemical constraints of carbon storage on aquifer geochemistry (Bourcier et al, 2011;Wolery et al, 2009;Buscheck et al, 2011).…”

“…Here we describe use of the CO 2 -PENS water treatment module (WTM) to assess potential CO 2 storage-extracted waters for costs of some primary and secondary processes that are significant to risk analysis and decision making. We examine the importance of transportation by truck and pipeline, the importance of pretreatment methods (for inorganic and organic foulants), the relationships of these costs with disposal choices, and show a relative performance comparison of the WTM with an engineering-based treatment design model (Klapperich et al, 2012;IAEA, 2011).…”