Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Intermediate-Scale Experimental Study to Improve Fundamental Understanding of Attenuation Capacity for Leaking CO2 in Heterogeneous Shallow Aquifers

Journal Article · · Water Resources Research
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2];  [1]
  1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Center for Experimental Study of Subsurface Environmental Processes, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Abstract To assess the risks of Geologic Carbon Sequestration (GCS), it is crucial to understand the fundamental physicochemical processes that may occur if and when stored CO 2 leaks upward from a deep storage reservoir into the shallow subsurface. Intermediate‐scale experiments allow for improved understanding of the multiphase evolution processes that control CO 2 migration behavior in the subsurface, because the boundary conditions, initial conditions, and porous media parameters can be better controlled and monitored in the laboratory than in field settings. For this study, a large experimental test bed was designed to mimic a cross section of a shallow aquifer with layered geologic heterogeneity. As water with aqueous CO 2 was injected into the system to mimic a CO 2 ‐charged water leakage scenario, the spatiotemporal evolution of the multiphase CO 2 plume was monitored. Similar experiments were performed with two different sand combinations to assess the relative effects of different types of geologic facies transitions on the CO 2 evolution processes. Significant CO 2 attenuation was observed in both scenarios, but by fundamentally different mechanisms. When the porous media layers had very different permeabilities, attenuation was caused by local accumulation (structural trapping) and slow redissolution of gas phase CO 2 . When the permeability difference between the layers was relatively small, on the other hand, gas phase continually evolved over widespread areas near the leading edge of the aqueous plume, which also attenuated CO 2 migration. This improved process understanding will aid in the development of models that could be used for effective risk assessment and monitoring programs for GCS projects.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Clean Coal and Carbon (FE-20); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1409795
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1410889
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-30118
Journal Information:
Water Resources Research, Vol. 53, Issue 12; ISSN 0043-1397
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 10 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (53)

Migration of exsolved CO 2 following depressurization of saturated brines : Short Communication: Migration of exsolved CO journal October 2013
Monitoring CO2 gas-phase migration in a shallow sand aquifer using cross-borehole ground penetrating radar journal June 2015
Onset of convection in a gravitationally unstable diffusive boundary layer in porous media journal February 2006
Simulations of long-column flow experiments related to geologic carbon sequestration: effects of outer wall boundary condition on upward flow and formation of liquid CO2 journal August 2012
On leakage and seepage of CO2 from geologic storage sites into surface water journal April 2006
Modeling vertical stratification of CO2 injected into a deep layered aquifer journal March 2009
Pore-scale multiphase flow modeling and imaging of CO2 exsolution in Sandstone journal July 2017
Heterogeneity-enhanced gas phase formation in shallow aquifers during leakage of CO 2 -saturated water from geologic sequestration sites journal December 2014
Experimental and modeling investigation of CO 2 flow and transport in a coupled domain of porous media and free flow journal November 2015
Influence of capillary-pressure models on CO2 solubility trapping journal December 2013
Process-dependent residual trapping of CO 2 in sandstone : Zuo and Benson: Process Dependent Trapping journal April 2014
Large-scale impact of CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers: A sensitivity study on pressure response in stratified systems journal March 2009
What controls carbon dioxide gas phase evolution in the subsurface? Experimental observations in a 4.5m-long column under different heterogeneity conditions journal September 2013
A Simple Method for Calibrating Dielectric Soil Moisture Sensors: Laboratory Validation in Sands journal January 2011
Influence of small-scale heterogeneity on upward CO2 plume migration in storage aquifers journal September 2015
The impact of local diffusion upon mass arrival of a passive solute in transport through three-dimensional highly heterogeneous aquifers journal December 2011
Characterization of Miller-Similar Silica Sands for Laboratory Hydrologic Studies journal January 1996
Mass transfer coefficient measurement during brine flush in a CO2-filled packed bed by X-ray CT scanning journal December 2017
Mass transfer correlations for nonaqueous phase liquid dissolution from regions with high initial saturations: DISSOLUTION MODEL FOR HIGH NAPL SATURATIONS journal February 2003
Comparison of height-averaged and point-measured capillary pressure-saturation relations for sands using a modified Tempe cell: TECHNICAL NOTE journal December 2007
Pore-scale supercritical CO2 dissolution and mass transfer under imbibition conditions journal June 2016
Elucidating geochemical response of shallow heterogeneous aquifers to CO2 leakage using high-performance computing: Implications for monitoring of CO2 sequestration journal March 2013
Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies journal August 2004
CO2 leakage in shallow aquifers: A benchmark modeling study of CO2 gas evolution in heterogeneous porous media journal August 2015
The critical gas saturation in a porous medium in the presence of gravity journal February 2004
Modeling Gas Transport in the Shallow Subsurface During the ZERT CO2 Release Test journal April 2009
On Leakage and Seepage from Geologic Carbon Sequestration Sites journal January 2003
Multi-scale Experimentation and Numerical Modeling for Process Understanding of CO2 Attenuation in the shallow subsurface journal January 2014
Micromodel investigations of CO2 exsolution from carbonated water in sedimentary rocks journal March 2013
Spatial and temporal features of density-dependent contaminant transport: Experimental investigation and numerical modeling journal October 2009
Experimental study on effects of geologic heterogeneity in enhancing dissolution trapping of supercritical CO 2 journal March 2015
Effects of geologic heterogeneity on migration of gaseous CO 2 using laboratory and modeling investigations journal December 2015
Experimental study of gas evolution in heterogeneous shallow subsurface formations during leakage of stored CO2 journal March 2014
Rise velocity of an air bubble in porous media: Theoretical studies: AIR BUBBLE IN POROUS MEDIA journal April 2004
CO2 Leakage Into Shallow Aquifers: Modeling CO2 Gas Evolution and Accumulation at Interfaces of Heterogeneity journal January 2014
High CO2 emissions through porous media: transport mechanisms and implications for flux measurement and fractionation journal July 2001
Origin of the patchy emission pattern at the ZERT CO2 release test journal January 2010
A breakthrough curve analysis of unstable density-driven flow and transport in homogeneous porous media: BTC ANALYSIS OF UNSTABLE DENSITY-DRIVEN FLOW AND TRANSPORT journal March 2004
Capillary heterogeneity trapping of CO 2 in a sandstone rock at reservoir conditions : CAPILLARY HETEROGENEITY TRAPPING OF CO journal August 2011
Surface CO 2 leakage during two shallow subsurface CO 2 releases journal January 2007
Modeling plume behavior for nonlinearly sorbing solutes in saturated homogeneous porous media journal May 1998
A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated porous media journal June 1976
Empirical two-point α -mixing model for calibrating the ECH 2 O EC-5 soil moisture sensor in sands : TWO-POINT journal April 2008
Gas exsolution and flow during supersaturated water injection in porous media: I. Pore network modeling journal January 2011
A natural gradient experiment on solute transport in a sand aquifer: 2. Spatial moments and the advection and dispersion of nonreactive tracers journal December 1986
Assessing health impacts of CO2 leakage from a geological storage site into buildings: Role of attenuation in the unsaturated zone and building foundation journal July 2012
Gas exsolution and flow during supersaturated water injection in porous media: II. Column experiments and continuum modeling journal January 2011
A Closed-form Equation for Predicting the Hydraulic Conductivity of Unsaturated Soils1 journal January 1980
Modeling Gas Transport in the Shallow Subsurface in Maguelone Field Experiment journal January 2013
Effect of groundwater flow dimensionality on mass transfer from entrapped nonaqueous phase liquid contaminants journal April 2000
Groundwater chemical evolution in a sandy silicate aquifer in northern Wisconsin: 1. Patterns and rates of change journal February 1992
On Leakage and Seepage from Geologic Carbon Sequestration Sites: Unsaturated Zone Attenuation journal August 2003
Spatial and temporal features of dense contaminant transport: experimental investigation and numerical modeling text January 2009

Similar Records

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Earth Sciences