Time-Dependent Injectivity During CO2 Storage in Aquifers

Burton, McMillan; Kumar, Naveen; Bryant, Steven L.

doi:10.2118/113937-ms

Cited by 63 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…[3][4][5][6][7][8] Although dozens of experimental studies have measured CO 2 -brine relative permeabilities in different rocks and at different temperature and pressures, there is a surprising amount of inconsistency between the data sets. 1,2 When modeling CO 2 injection into deep saline aquifers or depleted oil reservoirs, CO 2 relative permeability is one of the key parameters that determine CO 2 injectivity and CO 2 plume migration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurements of CO₂‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

2016

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We measured CO2‐brine relative permeability by performing five steady‐state primary drainage experiments in a 116 mD Berea sandstone core at 20°C and 10.34 MPa. We used a long (60.8 cm) core and four pressure taps to study and minimize end effects that can plague CO2‐brine relative permeability measurements, and we obtained in situ saturation profiles using a medical X‐ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanner. We found that entrance and exit effects propagated ∼5 cm into the core, but the center sections of the core had uniform saturation. From the saturations and pressure drops, we obtained both CO2 and brine relative permeability in the center sections. We also obtained CO2 relative permeability at the entrance section where the brine saturation was lower and not uniform. The 15‐cm long exit section of the core had non‐uniform saturation and a measured pressure drop that was on the order of the capillary pressure and hence was unreliable for calculating relative permeability. We found that the CO2 and brine relative permeabilities determined in five experiments were consistent with each other and followed two simple Corey‐type models that are similar to those seen in oil‐brine relative permeability measurements. We discuss why end effects are much greater in the CO2‐brine system than in oil‐brine systems, and how this is a possible explanation of the low CO2 relative permeabilities recently reported for the CO2‐brine systems. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurements of CO₂‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

2016

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“…[8] Clearly, it would be advantageous to extend the pressure build-up equations of Mathias et al [2009cMathias et al [ , 2011 to account for partial miscibility of CO 2 with brine. The pressure buildup equations of Burton et al [2008] and Ehlig-Economides and Economides [2010] account for partial miscibility in this way. However, their solutions rely on the specification of a heuristic function to describe relative permeability distribution in space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of partial miscibility on pressure buildup due to constant rate injection of CO₂ into closed and open brine aquifers

Mathias

Gluyas

Miguel

et al. 2011

Water Resources Research

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[1] This work extends an existing analytical solution for pressure buildup because of CO 2 injection in brine aquifers by incorporating effects associated with partial miscibility. These include evaporation of water into the CO 2 rich phase and dissolution of CO 2 into brine and salt precipitation. The resulting equations are closed-form, including the locations of the associated leading and trailing shock fronts. Derivation of the analytical solution involves making a number of simplifying assumptions including: vertical pressure equilibrium, negligible capillary pressure, and constant fluid properties. The analytical solution is compared to results from TOUGH2 and found to accurately approximate the extent of the dry-out zone around the well, the resulting permeability enhancement due to residual brine evaporation, the volumetric saturation of precipitated salt, and the vertically averaged pressure distribution in both space and time for the four scenarios studied. While brine evaporation is found to have a considerable effect on pressure, the effect of CO 2 dissolution is found to be small. The resulting equations remain simple to evaluate in spreadsheet software and represent a significant improvement on current methods for estimating pressure-limited CO 2 storage capacity.

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“…The estimation of the CO 2 -storage efficiency is sensitive to the relative permeability data (Burton et al 2008). The measured and published relative permeability curves by Bennion and Bachu (2005) for CO 2 /brine systems were used for this study.…”

Section: Case Study: Woodbine Aquifermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(modified from Burton et al 2008). If the mechanical skin s for each well is zero, the ratio of the productivity to the injectivity is…”

Section: Aquifer-management Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing CO2-Storage Efficiency Through a CO2/Brine-Displacement Approach

et al. 2013

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Previous studies have shown that bulk carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) injection in deep saline aquifers supplies insufficient aquifer storage efficiency and causes excessive risk because of aquifer pressurization. To avoid pressurization, we propose to produce the same volume of brine as is injected as CO 2 in a CO 2 /brine displacement. Two approaches to CO 2 /brine displacement are considered-an external brine-disposal strategy in which brine is disposed of into another formation such as oilfield brine and an internal saturated brine-injection strategy with which the produced brine is desalinated and reinjected into the same formation. The displacement strategies increase the storage efficiency from 0.48% for the bulk-injection case to more than 7%. A conceptual case study with documented aquifer properties of the Woodbine aquifer in Texas indicates that the available volume is sufficient to store all the CO 2 being generated by power plants in the vicinity for approximately 20 years only. However, the CO 2 /brine displacement increases storage efficiency enough to store the CO 2 produced for at least 240 years at the current rate of coal-fired electric-power generation. Sensitivity analyses on relative permeability, permeability, and temperature were conducted to see the effects of these reservoir parameters on storage efficiency.For bulk injection, increased permeability resulted in increased storage efficiency, but for the CO 2 /brine-displacement strategies, decreased permeability increased storage efficiency because this resulted in higher average pressure that increased CO 2 storage per unit of pore volume (PV) and increased CO 2 viscosity. Also, storage efficiencies for the displacement strategies were highly sensitive to relative permeability. There is an optimal CO 2 -injection temperature below which the formation-fracturing pressure is lowered and above which CO 2 breakthrough occurs for a smaller injection mass. The CO 2 /brine-displacement approach increased capital expenditures for additional wells and an operating expense for produced-brine disposal, but these additional costs are offset by increased CO 2 -storage efficiency at least 12 times that achieved by the bulk-injection strategy.

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Time-Dependent Injectivity During CO2 Storage in Aquifers

Cited by 63 publications

References 7 publications

Measurements of CO₂‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

Measurements of CO₂‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

Role of partial miscibility on pressure buildup due to constant rate injection of CO₂ into closed and open brine aquifers

Increasing CO2-Storage Efficiency Through a CO2/Brine-Displacement Approach

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Time-Dependent Injectivity During CO2 Storage in Aquifers

Cited by 63 publications

References 7 publications

Measurements of CO2‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

Measurements of CO2‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

Role of partial miscibility on pressure buildup due to constant rate injection of CO2 into closed and open brine aquifers

Increasing CO2-Storage Efficiency Through a CO2/Brine-Displacement Approach

Contact Info

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Resources

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Measurements of CO₂‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

Measurements of CO₂‐brine relative permeability in Berea sandstone using pressure taps and a long core

Role of partial miscibility on pressure buildup due to constant rate injection of CO₂ into closed and open brine aquifers