Numerical simulations of CO2 arrival times and reservoir pressure coincide with observations from the Ketzin pilot site, Germany

Abstract

Numerical simulations of CO 2 migration for the period June 2008-December 2011 were performed based on a unique data set including a recently revised static geological 3D model of the reservoir formation of the Ketzin pilot site in Brandenburg, Germany. We applied the industrial standard ECLIPSE 100 and scientific TOUGH2-MP simulators for this task and implemented a workflow to allow for integration of complex model geometries from the Petrel software package into TOUGH2-MP. Definition of a near-and a far-field well area allowed us to apply suitable permeability modifiers, and thus to successfully match simulation results with pressure measurements and arrival times in observation wells. Coincidence was achieved for CO 2 arrival times with deviations in the range of 5.5-15 % and pressure values in the injection well CO2 Ktzi 201/2007 and the observation well CO2 Ktzi 202/2007 with even smaller deviations. It is shown that the integration of unique operational and observation data in the workflow improves the setup of the geological model. Within such an iteration loop model uncertainties are reduced and enable advanced predictions for future reservoir behaviour with regard to pressure development and CO 2 plume migration in the storage formation at the Ketzin pilot site supporting the implementation of monitoring campaigns and guiding site operation.

Geoenergy: new concepts for utilization of geo-reservoirs as potential energy sources

“…Mitiku and Bauer (2013) quantify the different amounts of CO 2 that can be stored in a geological anticline reservoir dependent on different possible scenarios of well configuration and reservoir properties. Kempka and Kühn (2013) provide another example for predictive CO 2 modelling and validate numerical simulations of CO 2 arrival times and reservoir pressure with observations from the Ketzin pilot site in Germany. This natural laboratory allows identifying a variety of technological aspects for safe and sustainable CO 2 storage.…”

A coupling alternative to reactive transport simulations for long-term prediction of chemical reactions in heterogeneous CO<sub>2</sub> storage systems

“…The minerals' volume fractions listed in Table 2 are assigned to the medium. The rest of pore space not occupied by the brine is assumed filled with CO 2 at an initial pressure of 70 bar, which is an average value derived by the analysis of the hydrodynamic simulations of Kempka and Kühn (2013). The impact of pore pressure was investigated by Klein et al (2013) by means of batch models with constant pressure, and found negligible with respect to the speed of reactions at least in the range of pressure expected in Ketzin.…”

“…Two distinct cases were investigated: an homogeneous medium with constant porosity ϕ = 0.2 and permeability of 1 × 10 −13 m 2 , and a spatially heterogeneous medium with porosity ranging from 0.08 to 0.22 and permeability from 2.8 × 10 −14 to 3.0 × 10 −12 m 2 . The heterogeneous distributions of porosity and permeability have been obtained by upscaling to the simulation grid respectively with arithmetic and geometric average the reservoir model described by Norden and Frykman (2013) and Kempka et al (2013a) and history matched by Kempka and Kühn (2013). No further refinement of the upscaling was done, i.e.…”

Numerical Investigation into the Impact of CO2-Water-Rock Interactions on CO2 Injectivity at the Shenhua CCS Demonstration Project, China

“…Currently, a number of CO 2 storage operations and demonstration projects (e.g., Sleipner, Norway, 1996; Weyburn, Canada, 2000; Ketzin, Germany, 2006; Cranfield, USA, 2008; Otway, Australia, 2008) have been conducted around the world [3][4][5][6][7]. The first pilot project of CO 2 capture and storage (CCS) in China, the Shenhua CCS demonstration project, successfully completed its goal of injecting CO 2 at a rate of 100,000 tons/year into the onshore saline aquifer in the Ordos Basin [8].…”