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Title: Quantitative assessment of soil CO2 concentration and stable carbon isotope for leakage detection at geological carbon sequestration sites

Abstract

This paper presents a quantitative method to evaluate CO2 concentration ([CO2]) and stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) as indicators for leakage detection at a geological carbon sequestration site by combining use of field release tests and a numerical modeling approach. A numerical model was developed to simulate CO2 dynamics by considering diffusion, dissolution in soil water, and soil respiration. The numerical model fits the background dynamics of [CO2] (360 to 550 ppm) and δ13C (-16‰ to -6‰) well and reproduces fairly the overall trend observed during the CO2 release test. The model was further applied to assess detection probability (DP) of [CO2] and δ13C for leakage detection in terms of various factors, such as CO2 leakage rate, background variations, δ13C of the CO2 leaked, and the threshold value of signal-to-noise ratio. Modeling results suggest that δ13C may have a higher DP than [CO2]. This study also shows that DP of δ13C for the IEA Weyburn project is close to 0, implying δ13C is inappropriate to be an indicator for CO2 leakage at the site. Finally, the quantitative method developed can also be used to design a monitoring plan or strategy in a near-surface environment for geological carbon sequestration.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Bureau of Economic Geology
  2. Amethyst Research, Inc., Austin, TX (United States)
  3. Hohai Univ., Nanjing (China). College of Hydrology and Water Resources
  4. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Jilin Univ., Changchun (China). College of Construction Engineering
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Hohai University, Nanjing (China); Jilin Univ., Changchun (China)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Chinese Ministry of Water Resources
OSTI Identifier:
1477686
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-27973
Journal ID: ISSN 2152-3878
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396; SC0011282; 41371052; U1203282; 20151059
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2152-3878
Publisher:
Society of Chemical Industry, Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; geological carbon sequestration; CO2 leakage detection; CO2 concentration; stable carbon isotope; numerical modeling

Citation Formats

Yang, Changbing, Jamison, Keith, Xue, Lianqing, Dai, Zhenxue, D. Hovorka, Susan, Fredin, Leif, and H. Treviño, Ramón. Quantitative assessment of soil CO2 concentration and stable carbon isotope for leakage detection at geological carbon sequestration sites. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/ghg.1679.
Yang, Changbing, Jamison, Keith, Xue, Lianqing, Dai, Zhenxue, D. Hovorka, Susan, Fredin, Leif, & H. Treviño, Ramón. Quantitative assessment of soil CO2 concentration and stable carbon isotope for leakage detection at geological carbon sequestration sites. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1679
Yang, Changbing, Jamison, Keith, Xue, Lianqing, Dai, Zhenxue, D. Hovorka, Susan, Fredin, Leif, and H. Treviño, Ramón. Fri . "Quantitative assessment of soil CO2 concentration and stable carbon isotope for leakage detection at geological carbon sequestration sites". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1679. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1477686.
@article{osti_1477686,
title = {Quantitative assessment of soil CO2 concentration and stable carbon isotope for leakage detection at geological carbon sequestration sites},
author = {Yang, Changbing and Jamison, Keith and Xue, Lianqing and Dai, Zhenxue and D. Hovorka, Susan and Fredin, Leif and H. Treviño, Ramón},
abstractNote = {This paper presents a quantitative method to evaluate CO2 concentration ([CO2]) and stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) as indicators for leakage detection at a geological carbon sequestration site by combining use of field release tests and a numerical modeling approach. A numerical model was developed to simulate CO2 dynamics by considering diffusion, dissolution in soil water, and soil respiration. The numerical model fits the background dynamics of [CO2] (360 to 550 ppm) and δ13C (-16‰ to -6‰) well and reproduces fairly the overall trend observed during the CO2 release test. The model was further applied to assess detection probability (DP) of [CO2] and δ13C for leakage detection in terms of various factors, such as CO2 leakage rate, background variations, δ13C of the CO2 leaked, and the threshold value of signal-to-noise ratio. Modeling results suggest that δ13C may have a higher DP than [CO2]. This study also shows that DP of δ13C for the IEA Weyburn project is close to 0, implying δ13C is inappropriate to be an indicator for CO2 leakage at the site. Finally, the quantitative method developed can also be used to design a monitoring plan or strategy in a near-surface environment for geological carbon sequestration.},
doi = {10.1002/ghg.1679},
journal = {Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology},
number = 4,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

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