Reactive transport of CO 2 -rich fluids in simulated wellbore interfaces: Flow-through experiments on the 1–6 m length scale

Wolterbeek, T.K.T.; Peach, C. J.; Raoof, Amir; Spiers, Christopher J.

doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.08.034

Cited by 32 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…However, even this limited expansion could still be effective, particularly in remedying leakage of CO 2 -bearing fluids. For CO 2 -rich fluids, it may be sufficient to reduce the aperture of fractures and debonding defects only to the point where reactive transport leads to self-sealing behaviour [17,20,53,130], rather than completely closing interfacial flaws by purely mechanical means. Yet, it would not be trivial to expand conventional casing strings by even 1-2% using the pull-through mandrel methods that are now being applied to expandable wellbore casing tubes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reaction-driven casing expansion: potential for wellbore leakage mitigation

2017

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It is generally challenging to predict the postabandonment behaviour and integrity of wellbores. Leakage is, moreover, difficult to mitigate, particularly between the steel casing and outer cement sheath. Radially expanding the casing with some form of internal plug, thereby closing annular voids and fractures around it, offers a possible solution to both issues. However, such expansion requires development of substantial internal stresses. Chemical reactions that involve a solid volume increase and produce a force of crystallisation (FoC), such as CaO hydration, offer obvious potential. However, while thermodynamically capable of producing stresses in the GPa range, the maximum stress obtainable by CaO hydration has not been validated or determined experimentally. Here, we report uniaxial compaction/expansion experiments performed in an oedometer-type apparatus on precompacted CaO powder, at 65°C and at atmospheric pore fluid pressure. Using this set-up, the FoC generated during CaO hydration could be measured directly. Our results show FoC-induced stresses reaching up to 153 MPa, with reaction stopping or slowing down before completion. Failure to achieve the GPa stresses predicted by theory is attributed to competition between FoC development and its inhibiting effect on reaction progress. Microstructural observations indicate that reaction-induced stresses shut down pathways for water into the sample, hampering ongoing reaction and limiting the magnitude of stress build-up to the values observed. The results nonetheless point the way to understanding the behaviour of such systems and to finding engineering solutions that may allow large controlled stresses and strains to be achieved in wellbore sealing operations in future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reaction-driven casing expansion: potential for wellbore leakage mitigation

2017

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“…6 The importance of safe and effective long-term storage of CO 2 requires that the behavior of geologic storage sites can be predicted sufficiently accurately and that the geologic storage systems perform in conformance with expectations and engineering tolerances. In this regard, the focus of past studies has been to understand the behavior of these systems, including migration within the storage reservoir, [7][8][9] chemical reaction with geologic media, 10,11 potential leakage through wells, [12][13][14][15][16] leak through the caprock, [17][18][19][20] potential leakage through faults and fractures, 19,21,22 and impact of variable injection schemes. 23 Some studies have also considered the impact of these phenomena as a function of scale [24][25][26][27][28] and various multiphase modeling approaches for CO 2 storage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two risk metrics for CO₂storage reservoirs with varying domain size, heterogeneity, and injection rate

Singh

Bromhal

2019

Greenhouse Gases

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Two parameters that play the most important role in the appraisal of environmental risk performance at carbon dioxide (CO2) storage sites are the prospective impact of the pore pressure increase and CO2 saturation. In this context, this study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution of pressure buildup and CO2 saturation as a function of flow region's size, average porosity and permeability, and heterogeneity, as well as the injection rate and total volume of injected fluid. The practical importance of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the extent of pressure buildup and areal extent of CO2 plume both during and after injection, which will impact risk assessment as well as influence effective monitoring operations. This study pursues the above objective using two risk metrics that are based on numerical simulations and illustrated using representative models of three realistic storage sites with varying volumetric storage potential and geological settings, all with open geologic systems. The two metrics (the spatiotemporal extent of pressure buildup and CO2 saturation plume, respectively) used in this study are able to capture the geologic (structural and petrophysical) and operational complexities that cannot be incorporated into analytical or semianalytical solutions. The results of this study suggest that in addition to the average permeability, the areal extent of the pressure buildup during the injection period is strongly related to the injection rate, whereas the postinjection period may be more strongly influenced by the reservoir heterogeneity. The areal extent of the saturation plume during active injection is highly correlated to the mass of injected fluid, and the postinjection behavior is impacted by the shape of the reservoir–seal interface. These findings are consistent with other recent studies by the National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) on characteristic reservoir behavior. The results have been used to generate pressure and saturation plume profiles (over time) that can be used to support risk‐based decision making. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…To help address this issue, we recently reported lab experiments exploring reactive transport of CO 2 -rich fluids along debonded cement-casing interfaces over lengths of several meters. 44 Four flow-through experiments were performed, at 60–80 °C and 10–15 MPa fluid pressure, on long cement-filled steel tubes measuring 1–6 m in length and 6–8 mm in diameter, with hydraulically imposed debonding defects at their steel-cement interfaces. Figure 1 shows the key results from one of these experiments, T60-1, with an initial apparent permeability (κ app ) of ∼3.4 × 10 –13 m 2 ( Figure 1 a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The other three laboratory experiments showed similar behavior, with decreases in permeability of 2–4 orders, associated with carbonate precipitation in the defect apertures. 44 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Meter-Scale Reactive Transport Modeling of CO₂-Rich Fluid Flow along Debonded Wellbore Casing-Cement Interfaces

Wolterbeek

Raoof

2018

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Defects along wellbore interfaces constitute potential pathways for CO2 to leak from geological storage systems. In previous experimental work, we demonstrated that CO2-induced reaction over length-scales of several meters can lead to self-sealing of such defects. In the present work, we develop a reactive transport model that, on the one hand, enables μm-mm scale exploration of reactions along debonding defects and, on the other hand, allows simulation of the large, 6 m-long samples used in our experiments. At these lengths, we find that interplay between flow velocity and reaction rate strongly affects opening/sealing of interfacial defects, and depth of chemical alteration. Carbonate precipitation in initially open defects decreases flow rate, leading to a transition from advection-dominated to diffusion-dominated reactive transport, with acidic conditions becoming progressively more confined upstream. We investigate how reaction kinetics, portlandite content, and the nature of the carbonate products impact the extent of cement alteration and permeability reduction. Notably, we observe that nonuniformity of the initial defect geometry has a profound effect on the self-sealing behavior and permeability evolution as observed on the meter scale. We infer that future wellbore models need to consider the effects of such aperture variations to obtain reliable upscaling relations.

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Reactive transport of CO 2 -rich fluids in simulated wellbore interfaces: Flow-through experiments on the 1–6 m length scale

Cited by 32 publications

References 77 publications

Reaction-driven casing expansion: potential for wellbore leakage mitigation

Reaction-driven casing expansion: potential for wellbore leakage mitigation

Two risk metrics for CO₂storage reservoirs with varying domain size, heterogeneity, and injection rate

Meter-Scale Reactive Transport Modeling of CO₂-Rich Fluid Flow along Debonded Wellbore Casing-Cement Interfaces

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Reactive transport of CO 2 -rich fluids in simulated wellbore interfaces: Flow-through experiments on the 1–6 m length scale

Cited by 32 publications

References 77 publications

Reaction-driven casing expansion: potential for wellbore leakage mitigation

Reaction-driven casing expansion: potential for wellbore leakage mitigation

Two risk metrics for CO2storage reservoirs with varying domain size, heterogeneity, and injection rate

Meter-Scale Reactive Transport Modeling of CO2-Rich Fluid Flow along Debonded Wellbore Casing-Cement Interfaces

Contact Info

Product

Resources

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Two risk metrics for CO₂storage reservoirs with varying domain size, heterogeneity, and injection rate

Meter-Scale Reactive Transport Modeling of CO₂-Rich Fluid Flow along Debonded Wellbore Casing-Cement Interfaces