CO2 Saline Storage Demonstration in Colorado Sedimentary Basins. Applied Studies in Reservoir Assessment and Dynamic Processes Affecting Industrial Operations
- Trustees Of The Colorado School Of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
This multitask research project was conducted in anticipation of a possible future increase in industrial efforts at CO2 storage in Colorado sedimentary basins. Colorado is already the home to the oldest Rocky Mountain CO2 storage site, the Rangely Oil Field, where CO2-EOR has been underway since the 1980s. The Colorado Geological Survey has evaluated storage options statewide, and as part of the SW Carbon Sequestration Partnership the Survey, is deeply engaged in and committed to suitable underground CO2 storage. As a more sustainable energy industry is becoming a global priority, it is imperative to explore the range of technical options available to reduce emissions from fossil fuels. One such option is to store at least some emitted CO2 underground. In this NETL-sponsored CO2 sequestration project, the Colorado School of Mines and our partners at the University of Colorado have focused on a set of the major fundamental science and engineering issues surrounding geomechanics, mineralogy, geochemistry and reservoir architecture of possible CO2 storage sites (not limited to Colorado). Those are the central themes of this final report and reported below in Tasks 2, 3, 4, and 6. Closely related to these reservoir geoscience issues are also legal, environmental and public acceptance concerns about pore space accessibility—as a precondition for CO2 storage. These are addressed in Tasks 1, 5 and 7. Some debates about the future course of the energy industry can become acrimonius. It is true that the physics of combustion of hydrocarbons makes it impossible for fossil energy to attain a carbon footprint anywhere nearly as low as that of renewables. However, there are many offsetting benefits, not the least that fossil energy is still plentiful, it has a global and highly advanced distribution system in place, and the footprint that the fossil energy infrastructure occupies is orders of magnitude smaller than renewable energy facilities with equivalent energy capacity. Finally, inexpensive natural gas here in North America is pushing coal for electricity generation off the market, thus reducing US CO2 emissions faster than any other large industrialized nation. These two big factors argue for renewed efforts to find technology solutions to reduce the carbon footprint (carbon dioxide as well as methane and trace gases) of conventional and unconventional oil and gas. One major such technology component is likely to be carbon capture, utilization and storage.
- Research Organization:
- Trustees Of The Colorado School Of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FE0000730
- OSTI ID:
- 1177424
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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