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Title: Using Heat as a Predictor of CO2 Breakthrough in Highly Heterogeneous Reservoirs

Abstract

Injecting supercritical CO2 into the subsurface changes the temperature, pressure, and geochemistry of the storage reservoir. Understanding these perturbations within the reservoir may be used to monitor the CO2 plume during a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project. Here we analyze results from 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D numerical modeling studies to investigate how the thermal signature of the CO2-water system evolves during CCS. These models show that the thermodynamic processes of the CO2-water system results in a characteristic thermal profile within a homogeneous storage reservoir during a CO2 injection. This thermal signature is characterized by warming front of up to 4 °C, which is caused by CO2 dissolution and migrates contemporaneously with free-phase CO2 migration. When reservoir properties are highly heterogeneous, this thermal front travels well ahead of free-phase CO2, thus implying that thermal monitoring may be an effective predictor of CO2 breakthrough.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1580882
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1525332
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; FE0023381
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 46; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES

Citation Formats

Jayne, Richard S., Zhang, Yingqi, and Pollyea, Ryan M. Using Heat as a Predictor of CO2 Breakthrough in Highly Heterogeneous Reservoirs. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1029/2019gl083362.
Jayne, Richard S., Zhang, Yingqi, & Pollyea, Ryan M. Using Heat as a Predictor of CO2 Breakthrough in Highly Heterogeneous Reservoirs. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl083362
Jayne, Richard S., Zhang, Yingqi, and Pollyea, Ryan M. Fri . "Using Heat as a Predictor of CO2 Breakthrough in Highly Heterogeneous Reservoirs". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl083362. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1580882.
@article{osti_1580882,
title = {Using Heat as a Predictor of CO2 Breakthrough in Highly Heterogeneous Reservoirs},
author = {Jayne, Richard S. and Zhang, Yingqi and Pollyea, Ryan M.},
abstractNote = {Injecting supercritical CO2 into the subsurface changes the temperature, pressure, and geochemistry of the storage reservoir. Understanding these perturbations within the reservoir may be used to monitor the CO2 plume during a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project. Here we analyze results from 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D numerical modeling studies to investigate how the thermal signature of the CO2-water system evolves during CCS. These models show that the thermodynamic processes of the CO2-water system results in a characteristic thermal profile within a homogeneous storage reservoir during a CO2 injection. This thermal signature is characterized by warming front of up to 4 °C, which is caused by CO2 dissolution and migrates contemporaneously with free-phase CO2 migration. When reservoir properties are highly heterogeneous, this thermal front travels well ahead of free-phase CO2, thus implying that thermal monitoring may be an effective predictor of CO2 breakthrough.},
doi = {10.1029/2019gl083362},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 11,
volume = 46,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {6}
}

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