Using Pressure and Volumetric Approaches to Estimate CO2 Storage Capacity in Deep Saline Aquifers

Thibeau, Sylvain; Bachu, Stefan; Birkholzer, Jens; Holloway, Sam; Neele, Filip; Zhou, Quanlin

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.560

Using Pressure and Volumetric Approaches to Estimate CO2 Storage Capacity in Deep Saline Aquifers

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

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.560· OSTI ID:1207904

Thibeau, Sylvain ^[1]; Bachu, Stefan ^[2]; Birkholzer, Jens ^[3]; Holloway, Sam ^[4]; Neele, Filip ^[5]; Zhou, Quanlin ^[3]

Total, Pau (France)
Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, Edmonton (Canada)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
British Geological Survey, Nottingham (United Kingdom)
TNO, Utrecht (Netherlands)

Various approaches are used to evaluate the capacity of saline aquifers to store CO₂, resulting in a wide range of capacity estimates for a given aquifer. The two approaches most used are the volumetric “open aquifer” and “closed aquifer” approaches. We present four full-scale aquifer cases, where CO₂ storage capacity is evaluated both volumetrically (with “open” and/or “closed” approaches) and through flow modeling. These examples show that the “open aquifer” CO₂ storage capacity estimation can strongly exceed the cumulative CO₂ injection from the flow model, whereas the “closed aquifer” estimates are a closer approximation to the flow-model derived capacity. An analogy to oil recovery mechanisms is presented, where the primary oil recovery mechanism is compared to CO₂ aquifer storage without producing formation water; and the secondary oil recovery mechanism (water flooding) is compared to CO₂ aquifer storage performed simultaneously with extraction of water for pressure maintenance. This analogy supports the finding that the “closed aquifer” approach produces a better estimate of CO₂ storage without water extraction, and highlights the need for any CO₂ storage estimate to specify whether it is intended to represent CO₂ storage capacity with or without water extraction.

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1207904

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

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cost Implications of Uncertainty in CO2 Storage Resource Estimates: A Review Anderson, Steven T. Natural Resources Research, Vol. 26, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-016-9310-7	journal	August 2016
Assessment of CO2 storage capacity based on sparse data: Skade Formation Elenius, Maria; Skurtveit, Elin; Yarushina, Viktoriya International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 79 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2018.09.004	journal	December 2018
Response surface modeling of CO ₂ dynamic storage efficiency factor in high permeability thick sandstones Zulqarnain, Muhammad; Zeidouni, Mehdi; Hughes, Richard G. Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Vol. 9, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1918	journal	August 2019

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Using Pressure and Volumetric Approaches to Estimate CO2 Storage Capacity in Deep Saline Aquifers

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