Best Practice for the Commercial Deployment of Carbon Dioxide Geologic Storage: Adaptive Management Approach

Technical Report · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1874353· OSTI ID:1874353

Ayash, Scott C. ^[1]; Nakles, David V. ^[2]; Wildgust, Neil ^[2]; Peck, Wesley D. ^[2]; Sorensen, James A. ^[2]; Glazewski, Kyle A. ^[2]; Aulich, Ted R. ^[2]; Klapperich, Ryan J. ^[2]; Azzolina, Nicholas A. ^[2]; Gorecki, Charles D. ^[2]

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

The Plains CO₂ Reduction (PCOR) Partnership is one of seven regional partnerships formed as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSP) Initiative. The RCSP Initiative is focused on the safe and long-term storage of CO₂ to support the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS). To that end, the PCOR Partnership has spent over 10 years developing, testing, and validating the best methods and technologies to conduct the geologic storage of CO₂ (hereafter referred to as CO₂ storage). Through this effort, the PCOR Partnership has formalized an adaptive management approach (AMA) for the commercial development of CO₂ storage projects. The use of this approach, which draws upon the collective experience and lessons learned from the PCOR Partnership, represents best practice for advancing CO₂ storage projects toward commercial deployment. At the heart of the AMA are four technical elements necessary for any successful CO₂ storage project: 1) site characterization; 2) modeling and simulation; 3) risk assessment; and 4) monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA). Each of these elements plays a key role in gathering and assessing site-specific data that provide a fundamental understanding of the storage complex and its performance. While each of the four technical elements can provide useful data independently, integrating them through the AMA yields a streamlined, fit-for-purpose strategy for the commercial deployment of CO₂ storage. Key to this integration and resulting best practice are feedback loops that allow the results of each element to serve as inputs to the others. Each iteration of the AMA creates an improved understanding of the storage complex and thus more targeted and efficient applications of the technical elements. For the purpose of establishing an adaptive management framework, hard lines have been drawn between the technical elements of the AMA. However, in practice, the rapid and seamless interaction between the elements can blur these lines. For example, to aid in the analysis and interpretation of site characterization data, a static geocellular model is often required. While this model development is part of the technical element, modeling and simulation, it is an integral part of the site characterization effort. Likewise, much of the monitoring data collected as part of the MVA technical element can be used to inform site characterization. This back-and-forth flow of data and use of models between the technical elements continues throughout the project.

• Research Organization: Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States). Energy and Environmental Research Center
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• DOE Contract Number: FC26-05NT42592
• OSTI ID: 1874353
• Report Number(s): DOE-EERC-42592-36; 2017-EERC-05-01
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
PCOR
Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction Partnership
Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership
carbon capture and storage
geologic CO2 storage