A screening-level life cycle greenhouse gas analysis of CO₂ enhanced oil recovery with CO₂ sourced from the Shute Creek natural gas-processing facility

Journal Article · Wed Sep 05 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2018.08.010· OSTI ID:1874350

Jensen, Melanie D. ^[1]; Azzolina, Nicholas D. ^[2]; Schlasner, Steven M. ^[2]; Hamling, John A. ^[2]; Ayash, Scott C. ^[2]; Gorecki, Charles D. ^[2]

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1. Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States); Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States). Energy & Environmental Research Center
2. Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)

This life cycle analysis (LCA) evaluates life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with a system that produces both natural gas and crude oil. Two systems are defined: System 1, which independently produces natural gas and oil, and System 2, which captures carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the natural gas-processing plant and utilizes this captured CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The LCA uses customized spreadsheet models with emission factors from peer-reviewed literature and publications of the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. The modeling results show that the CO₂ EOR scenario using captured CO₂ produces both natural gas and oil with lower life cycle GHG emissions than alternative systems producing natural gas and oil independently. Sensitivity analyses show that the model results are most sensitive to the fraction of CO₂ captured (or equivalently, the fraction of CO₂ vented) at the natural gas-processing facility and the incremental oil recovery factor and net CO₂ utilization factor of the EOR operations. The input variable driving the relative difference in life cycle GHG emissions between these two systems is the fraction of CO₂ captured at the natural gas-processing facility (i.e., the capture rate). Here, the results of this study highlight the necessity of linking processes in the life cycle modeling, as a change to one process can affect other processes within the coupled energy system comprised of natural gas and oil. In addition, this analysis shows, as prior work has also suggested, that CO₂ EOR using captured anthropogenic CO₂ provides a viable means for offsetting carbon emissions from oil production and combustion via the associated storage of CO₂ that occurs incidentally during this tertiary method of oil recovery.

• Research Organization: Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States). Energy & Environmental Research Center
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• Grant/Contract Number: FC26-05NT42592
• OSTI ID: 1874350
• Journal Information: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Journal Name: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control Vol. 78; ISSN 1750-5836
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
CO2 storage
CO2 utilization
Enhanced oil recovery
Life cycle analysis
PCOR
Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction Partnership