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Title: Development of robust pressure management strategies for geologic CO2 sequestration

Journal Article · · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [4]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States). Carbon Management Inst.
  3. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States). Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering
  4. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States). Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs
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Injecting CO2 into deep geologic formations for permanent storage can potentially lead to leakage or induced seismicity if the overpressures exceed the fracture gradient or fault re-activation pressure. Strategies that remove reservoir fluids before or after injection may reduce these risks. But, even extensively characterized reservoirs can have substantial gaps in characterization necessary for developing optimal deterministic or even probabilistic pressure management strategies. The characterization data may not provide well-defined bounds or distributions of reservoir parameters or conditions (permeability, fault locations, fracture gradient, fault reactivation pressure). To assess the impact of these uncertainties, we present an approach for evaluating alternative pressure management strategies based on their robustness of meeting project performance criteria. We quantify the robustness of alternative strategies against several criteria: (1) exceeding fault re-activation pressure, (2) failing to inject a desired quantity of CO2, (3) exceeding a maximum quantity of extracted brine, and (4) failing to reach a desired extraction efficiency. Our approach allows nuances of competing and complimentary criteria to be quantitatively evaluated in a manner and in a level of detail not possible with optimization approaches. We illustrate the fundamentals of the approach on a simple one-dimensional analytical example using the Thiem equation. Here, we demonstrate the approach using a numerical flow and transport model with uncertain heterogeneous permeabilities using data and site characteristics from the Rock Springs Uplift Carbon Storage Site in southwestern Wyoming.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States). Clean Energy Research Center and US-China Advanced Coal Technology Consortium (CERC-ACTC); USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
Contributing Organization:
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, and Morgantown, WV (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396; FE0026159
OSTI ID:
1463473
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1549821
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-16-28892
Journal Information:
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 64, Issue C; ISSN 1750-5836
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 23 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Application of a new reduced-complexity assessment tool to estimate CO 2 and brine leakage from reservoir and above-zone monitoring interval (AZMI) through an abandoned well under geologic carbon storage conditions : Modeling and Analysis: Application of a new reduced-complexity assessment tool to estimate CO journal September 2018
Potential of $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$CO2 based geothermal energy extraction from hot sedimentary and dry rock reservoirs, and enabling carbon geo-sequestration journal January 2020

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58 GEOSCIENCES
Pressure management
Decision analysis
Brine extraction
Robustness