Simulation of CO2 Sequestration at Rock Spring Uplift, Wyoming: Heterogeneity and Uncertainties in Storage Capacity, Injectivity and Leakage

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2011

OSTI ID:1011475

Deng, Hailin ^[1]; Dai, Zhenxue ^[1]; Jiao, Zunsheng ^[2]; Stauffer, Philip H ^[1]; Surdam, Ronald C ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. Wyoming State Geological Survey

Many geological, geochemical, geomechanical and hydrogeological factors control CO{sub 2} storage in subsurface. Among them heterogeneity in saline aquifer can seriously influence design of injection wells, CO{sub 2} injection rate, CO{sub 2} plume migration, storage capacity, and potential leakage and risk assessment. This study applies indicator geostatistics, transition probability and Markov chain model at the Rock Springs Uplift, Wyoming generating facies-based heterogeneous fields for porosity and permeability in target saline aquifer (Pennsylvanian Weber sandstone) and surrounding rocks (Phosphoria, Madison and cap-rock Chugwater). A multiphase flow simulator FEHM is then used to model injection of CO{sub 2} into the target saline aquifer involving field-scale heterogeneity. The results reveal that (1) CO{sub 2} injection rates in different injection wells significantly change with local permeability distributions; (2) brine production rates in different pumping wells are also significantly impacted by the spatial heterogeneity in permeability; (3) liquid pressure evolution during and after CO{sub 2} injection in saline aquifer varies greatly for different realizations of random permeability fields, and this has potential important effects on hydraulic fracturing of the reservoir rock, reactivation of pre-existing faults and the integrity of the cap-rock; (4) CO{sub 2} storage capacity estimate for Rock Springs Uplift is 6614 {+-} 256 Mt at 95% confidence interval, which is about 36% of previous estimate based on homogeneous and isotropic storage formation; (5) density profiles show that the density of injected CO{sub 2} below 3 km is close to that of the ambient brine with given geothermal gradient and brine concentration, which indicates CO{sub 2} plume can sink to the deep before reaching thermal equilibrium with brine. Finally, we present uncertainty analysis of CO{sub 2} leakage into overlying formations due to heterogeneity in both the target saline aquifer and surrounding formations. This uncertainty in leakage will be used to feed into risk assessment modeling.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: Wyoming State Geological Survey
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1011475
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-11-10385
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BRINES
CAP ROCK
CAPACITY
Earth Sciences
Energy Sciences
Environmental Sciences (54)
GEOTHERMAL GRADIENTS
Geosciences (58)
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
INJECTION WELLS
MULTIPHASE FLOW
Mathematics & Computing (97)
PERMEABILITY
PLUMES
POROSITY
PROBABILITY
PUMPING
RESERVOIR ROCK
RISK ASSESSMENT
SALINE AQUIFERS
SIMULATORS
STORAGE
TARGETS
THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM