Injection and Monitoring at the Wallula Basalt Pilot Project

McGrail, B. Peter; Spane, Frank A.; Amonette, James E.; Thompson, Christopher J.; Brown, Christopher F.

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.316

Title: Injection and Monitoring at the Wallula Basalt Pilot Project

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Energy Procedia (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.316· OSTI ID:1178502

McGrail, B. Peter ^[1]; Spane, Frank A. ^[1]; Amonette, James E. ^[1]; Thompson, Christopher J. ^[1]; Brown, Christopher F. ^[1]

Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Continental flood basalts represent one of the largest geologic structures on earth but have received comparatively little attention for geologic storage of CO2. Flood basalt lava flows have flow tops that are porous, permeable, and have large potential capacity for storage of CO2. In appropriate geologic settings, interbedded sediment layers and dense low-permeability basalt rock flow interior sections may act as effective seals allowing time for mineralization reactions to occur. Previous laboratory experiments showed the relatively rapid chemical reaction of CO2-saturated pore water with basalts to form stable carbonate minerals. However, recent laboratory tests with water-saturated supercritical CO2 show that mineralization reactions occur in this phase as well, providing a second and potentially more important mineralization pathway than was previously understood. Field testing of these concepts is proceeding with drilling of the world’s first supercritical CO2 injection well in flood basalt being completed in May 2009 near the township of Wallula in Washington State and corresponding CO2 injection permit granted by the State of Washington in March 2011. Injection of a nominal 1000 MT of CO2 was completed in August 2013 and site monitoring is in progress. Well logging conducted immediately after injection termination confirmed the presence of CO2 predominantly within the upper flow top region, and showed no evidence of vertical CO2 migration outside the well casing. Shallow soil gas samples collected around the injection well show no evidence of leakage and fluid and gas samples collected from the injection zone show strongly elevated concentrations of Ca, Mg, Mn, and Fe and 13C/18O isotopic shifts that are consistent with basalt-water chemical reactions. If proven viable by this field test and others that are in progress or being planned, major flood basalts in the U.S., India, and perhaps Australia would provide significant additional CO2 storage capacity and additional geologic sequestration options in regions of these countries where conventional storage options are limited.

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Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1178502

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-107959; AA7020000

Journal Information:: Energy Procedia (Online), Vol. 63, Issue C; ISSN 1876-6102

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 32 works

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References (15)

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Cited By (3)

Effect of carbon dioxide sequestration on the mechanical properties of Deccan basalt Guha Roy, Debanjan; Vishal, Vikram; Singh, Trilok Nath Environmental Earth Sciences, Vol. 75, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-5587-4	journal	April 2016
Carbon dioxide storage through mineral carbonation Snæbjörnsdóttir, Sandra Ó.; Sigfússon, Bergur; Marieni, Chiara Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, Vol. 1, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-019-0011-8	journal	January 2020
Rate equations for modeling carbon dioxide sequestration in basalt Pollyea, Ryan M.; Rimstidt, J. Donald Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 81 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2017.03.020	journal	June 2017

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