Pore Scale Observations of Trapped CO<sub>2</sub> in Mixed-Wet Carbonate Rock: Applications to Storage in Oil Fields

Al-Menhali, Ali; Menke, Hannah P.; Blunt, Martin J.; Krevor, Samuel

doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b03111

Cited by 64 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Importantly, these characteristics curves have a significant influence on CO 2 migration . Furthermore, CO 2 migration increases with decreasing S gr 16 and thus with decreasing water‐wettability (note that S gr decreases when water wettability is reduced …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Importantly, S gr decreases with increasing brine salinity, because higher salinity increases CO 2 ‐wettability and S gr is a function of wettability (i.e. increasing CO 2 wettability reduces S gr ) . Furthermore, lower salinity (i.e., lower CO 2 ‐wettability) shifts the k rw curves downwards, and the k rw ‐k rg intercept point toward the right (i.e., to a higher residual water saturation, Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Impact of salinity on CO₂containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

et al. 2017

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It is well established that brine salinity can vary substantially in prospective CO2 geo‐storage reservoirs. However, the impact of salinity on containment security has received only little attention. We thus used a compositional reservoir simulation to evaluate the effect of salinity on CO2 plume migration and CO2 trapping capacities in a 3D heterogeneous reservoir. The used heterogeneous reservoir consists of two formations: the bottom part of the reservoir is a fluvial reservoir, and the top part represents a near‐shore environment. Our results clearly indicate that salinity has a significant influence on CO2 migration and the relative amount of mobile, residual, and dissolved CO2. Lower salinity decreases CO2 mobility and migration distance, and enhances residual and solubility trapping significantly. We thus conclude that brine salinity is an important impact factor in the context of CO2 geo‐storage, and that less saline reservoirs are preferable CO2 sinks due to increased storage capacity and containment security. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Impact of salinity on CO₂containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

et al. 2017

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“…In CGS, structural CO 2 trapping is the principal storage mechanism whereby shale (in its classical caprock role), if strongly water‐wet, provides an efficient seal to the reservoir disallowing upward CO 2 migration [ Arif et al ., ; Armitage et al ., ; Chaudhary et al ., ; Iglauer et al ., ]. However, rock material can be even strongly CO 2 ‐wet [ Arif et al ., ; Iglauer et al ., ; Iglauer , ]—which would massively reduce storage capacity [ Al‐Menhali et al ., ; Chaudhary et al ., ; Iglauer et al , , ]—and shale wettability has so far only been reported for low‐total organic content (TOC) shales [ Chaudhary et al ., ; Iglauer et al ., ; Roshan et al ., ; Shojai Kaveh et al ., ] despite the fact that shales can be very rich in organic carbon, i.e., high TOC [ Vernik and Milovac , ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of shale‐total organic content on CO₂ geo‐storage potential

Arif

Lebedev

Barifcani

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

120

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Shale CO2 wettability is a key factor which determines the structural trapping capacity of a caprock. However, the influence of shale‐total organic content (TOC) on wettability (and thus on storage potential) has not been evaluated despite the fact that naturally occurring shale formations can vary dramatically in TOC, and that even minute TOC strongly affects storage capacities and containment security. Thus, there is a serious lack of understanding in terms of how shale, with varying organic content, performs in a CO2 geo‐storage context. We demonstrate here that CO2‐wettability scales with shale‐TOC at storage conditions, and we propose that if TOC is low, shale is suitable as a caprock in conventional structural trapping scenarios, while if TOC is ultrahigh to medium, the shale itself is suitable as a storage medium (via adsorption trapping after CO2 injection through fractured horizontal wells).

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“…The qualitative observations of residual water structures in Figure are similar to Han et al () who examined the distribution of residual water structures with XCT and noted larger multipore water ganglia in mixed‐wetting systems. Similarly, Al‐Menhali et al () noted that residual CO 2 structures also favored larger, multipore ganglia in mixed‐wetting systems. Bench‐scale experimental studies of scCO 2 trapping have hypothesized the formation of large, multipore residual ganglia in IW systems (e.g., Alyafei & Blunt, ); however, this has never been confirmed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…The disruption of water films in altered wetting media reduces film straining, an important colloid retention mechanism in unsaturated systems, increasing colloid transport (Han et al, ; Wan & Tokunaga, ). Geologic reservoirs that are either IW or NW will possess lower carbon trapping efficiencies than WW reservoirs (Al‐Menhali et al, ; Al‐Menhali & Krevor, ; Alyafei & Blunt, ; Broseta et al, ; Chaudhary et al, ; Chiquet et al, ; Iglauer et al, ; Krevor et al, ; Krevor et al, ; Pentland et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wettability Effects on Primary Drainage Mechanisms and NAPL Distribution: A Pore‐Scale Study

Molnar

Gerhard

Willson

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

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The pore-scale processes governing water drainage behavior in porous media have implications for geoscience multiphase scenarios including carbon capture and storage, contaminant site remediation, oil recovery, and vadose zone processes. However, few studies report directly observed pore-scale water drainage phenomena in 3-D soils. This knowledge gap limits our ability to verify assumptions underlying existing models and develop optimal solutions. This paper utilizes synchrotron X-ray microtomography to present an experimental pore-scale examination of nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL)/water distribution along a primary drainage front as dense NAPL was injected upward into water wetting (WW) and intermediate wetting (IW) sand-packed columns. Pore-network structures were extracted from imaged data sets and mapped onto segmented NAPL/water data sets which allowed quantitative examinations of wettability impacts on (a) the extent to which NAPL fills individual pore bodies and (b) relationships between pore size and the phase occupying the pore, with both considered as a function of distance (and capillary pressure) relative to the NAPL front. These results revealed that several hypotheses treating IW sand similarly to WW sands are simplistic. IW systems exhibited a sequence of pore filling that deviated from traditional capillary pressure-based model predictions: NAPL invades smaller pores, while larger, adjacent pores are bypassed leaving multipore residual water ganglia. NAPL pore saturations were close to 1 and did not change with capillary pressure in IW systems. Overall, the results illustrate how a relatively small change in operative contact angle alters NAPL distribution during water drainage, with important implications for geoscience multiphase flow scenarios.

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Pore Scale Observations of Trapped CO₂ in Mixed-Wet Carbonate Rock: Applications to Storage in Oil Fields

Cited by 64 publications

References 47 publications

Impact of salinity on CO₂containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

Impact of salinity on CO₂containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

Influence of shale‐total organic content on CO₂ geo‐storage potential

Wettability Effects on Primary Drainage Mechanisms and NAPL Distribution: A Pore‐Scale Study

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Pore Scale Observations of Trapped CO2 in Mixed-Wet Carbonate Rock: Applications to Storage in Oil Fields

Cited by 64 publications

References 47 publications

Impact of salinity on CO2containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

Impact of salinity on CO2containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

Influence of shale‐total organic content on CO2 geo‐storage potential

Wettability Effects on Primary Drainage Mechanisms and NAPL Distribution: A Pore‐Scale Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Pore Scale Observations of Trapped CO₂ in Mixed-Wet Carbonate Rock: Applications to Storage in Oil Fields

Impact of salinity on CO₂containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

Impact of salinity on CO₂containment security in highly heterogeneous reservoirs

Influence of shale‐total organic content on CO₂ geo‐storage potential