Bulletin of the American Physical Society
64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics
Volume 56, Number 18
Sunday–Tuesday, November 20–22, 2011; Baltimore, Maryland
Session L27: Minisymposium: The Fluid Dynamics of Geological CO2 Sequestration |
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Chair: Jerome Neufeld, University of Cambridge Room: Ballroom I-II |
Monday, November 21, 2011 3:35PM - 4:01PM |
L27.00001: Fluid dynamics of CO$_2$ sequestration Invited Speaker: A means of reducing environmental damage due to anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) is through geological storage in porous reservoir rocks until well past the end of the fossil fuel era. Here we discuss the propagation and form of the buoyancy-driven propagation of multiphase CO$_2$-brine plumes bounded by an impermeable barrier or cap rock. Long-term containment of CO$_2$ is important, and we will quantify some of the risks due to leakage in this system. Finally, stable sequestration through capillary forces or through dissolution of CO$_2$ into the brine is greatly enhanced by mixing, which is often dominated by layered stratigraphy. Here we describe injection into a two-layered porous medium, and show the sensitive dependence of propagation and mixing on the input flux, Q. For two-layered systems we find that above a critical flux, Q$_C$, fluid injected at the base of a relatively low permeability layer preferentially flows in the more permeable upper layer leading to an overriding current, thus enhancing mixing. Finally, we apply these ideas to examine the storage of CO$_2$ within the Sleipner field, where CO$_2$ has been injected since 1996. The talk will be illustrated by some desktop experiments. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2011 4:01PM - 4:27PM |
L27.00002: Monitoring pressure evolution during geological CO$_2$ storage Invited Speaker: Pressure build-up near the injection well is a critical factor limiting injection rates during CO$_2$ storage and leads to measurable deformation at the surface above the injection site. The radial solutions for pressure and saturation in two-phase compressible flow are self-similar and they illustrate that the pressure outside the two- phase region is comparable to single-phase flow. However, pressure dissipation into ambient rocks reduces lateral pressure propagation significantly. Pressure build-up also leads to surface deformation and provides a monitoring tool to invert for reservoir parameters. We formulate an inverse problem to infer the permeability distribution in a quasi-static poroelastic model. Here, we neglect two-phase flow and focus on pressure dissipation into ambient formations. The misfit between model and observations is minimized under the constraint of the poroelastic equations. A numerical study of injection into a deep layer illustrates the possibilities and limitations of retrieving lateral permeability variations from a coupled inversion. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2011 4:27PM - 4:53PM |
L27.00003: CO$_2$ migration and sequestration by combined capillary and solubility trapping: theory, experiments, and capacity estimates at the basin scale Invited Speaker: The large-scale injection and storage of carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) into deep saline aquifers is a promising tool for reducing atmospheric CO$_2$ emissions to mitigate climate change. Success of geologic sequestration relies on trapping the buoyant CO$_2$, to minimize the risk of leakage into shallower formations through pre- existing wells, fractures or faults. However, traditional reservoir-simulation tools are currently unable to resolve the impact of small-scale trapping processes on fluid flow at the scale of a geologic basin. Here, we formulate a sharp-interface mathematical model for the post-injection migration of a CO$_2$ plume driven by groundwater flow in a sloping aquifer, subject to both capillary trapping and CO$_2$ dissolution by convective mixing. We develop semi-analytical solutions that elucidate the nontrivial interplay between the two trapping mechanisms, and how their synergetic action controls plume migration. We validate the theory by means of laboratory experiments with analogue fluids to study how convective mixing arrests the buoyant current. We use our findings to estimate the dimensionless rate of solubility trapping for several large saline aquifers in the United States, and assess the importance of solubility trapping in practice. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2011 4:53PM - 5:19PM |
L27.00004: Multiphase, multicomponent simulations and experiments of reactive flow, relevant for combining geologic CO$_2$ sequestration with geothermal energy capture Invited Speaker: Understanding the fluid dynamics of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) in brine- filled porous media is important for predictions of CO$_2$ flow and brine displacement during geologic CO$_2$ sequestration and during geothermal energy capture using sequestered CO$_2$ as the subsurface heat extraction fluid. We investigate multiphase fluid flow in porous media employing particle image velocimetry experiments and lattice-Boltzmann fluid flow simulations at the pore scale. In particular, we are interested in the motion of a drop (representing a CO$_2$ bubble) through an orifice in a plate, representing a simplified porous medium. In addition, we study single-phase/multicomponent reactive transport experimentally by injecting water with dissolved CO$_2$ into rocks/sediments typically considered for CO$_2$ sequestration to investigate how resultant fluid-mineral reactions modify permeability fields. Finally, we investigate numerically subsurface CO$_2$ and heat transport at the geologic formation scale. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, November 21, 2011 5:19PM - 5:45PM |
L27.00005: Practical applications of CO$_2$ flow modeling in commercial scale sequestration projects Invited Speaker: We review various challenges related to modeling of CO$_2$ flow through porous media, in the specific context of commercial scale sequestration projects of multiple millions of tons per year. Proper understanding and modeling of the physics of rock- CO$_2$ and rock-brine interactions have dramatic implications for CO$_2$ plume spread, and the final ``fate'' of the injected CO$_2$. We demonstrate the practical relevance of these concepts on specific geologic sites that are currently being developed for commercial scale sequestration in the United States. [Preview Abstract] |
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