The role of wellbore remediation on the evolution of groundwater quality from CO₂ and brine leakage

Journal Article · Wed Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Energy Procedia

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.510· OSTI ID:1201548

Mansoor, Kayyum ^[1]; Carroll, Susan A. ^[1]; Sun, Yunwei ^[1]

---

1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Long-term storage of CO₂ in underground reservoirs requires a careful assessment to evaluate risk to groundwater sources. The focus of this study is to assess time-frames required to restore water quality to pre-injection levels based on output from complex reactive transport simulations that exhibit plume retraction within a 200-year simulation period. We examined the relationship between plume volume, cumulative injected CO₂ mass, and permeability. The role of mitigation was assessed by projecting falloffs in plume volumes from their maximum peak levels with a Gaussian function to estimate plume recovery times to reach post-injection groundwater compositions. The results show a strong correlation between cumulative injected CO₂ mass and maximum plume pH volumes and a positive correlation between CO₂ flux, cumulative injected CO₂, and plume recovery times, with secondary dependence on permeability.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 1201548
• Journal Information: Energy Procedia, Vol. 63, Issue C; ISSN 1876-6102
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
uncertainty quantification
CO₂
storage
risk assessment
reactive transport
groundwater
wellbore mitigation
plume recovery