Characterizing the Impact of Fractured Caprock Heterogeneity on Supercritical CO2 Injection

Hyman, Jeffrey De'Haven; Jimenez-Martinez, Joaquin; Gable, Carl Walter; Stauffer, Philip H.; Pawar, Rajesh J.

doi:10.1007/s11242-019-01372-1

Title: Characterizing the Impact of Fractured Caprock Heterogeneity on Supercritical CO₂Injection

Journal Article · 27 November 2019 · Transport in Porous Media

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-019-01372-1 · OSTI ID:1601404

^[1]; Jimenez-Martinez, Joaquin ^[2];

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Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Dept. Water Resources and Drinking Water, EAWAG, Dubendorf (Switzerland); ETH Zurich (Switzerland); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

We present a set of multiphase flow simulations where supercritical CO₂ (scCO₂) displaces water at hydrostatic conditions within three-dimensional discrete fracture networks that represent paths for potential leakage through caprock above CO₂ storage reservoirs. The simulations are performed to characterize and compare the relative impact of hydraulic and structural heterogeneity in fractured media on the initial movement of scCO₂ through these caprock formations. In one scenario, intrinsic fracture permeabilities are varied stochastically within a fixed network structure. In another scenario, we generate multiple independent, identically distributed network realizations with varying fracture network densities to explore a wide range of geometric and topological configurations. Analysis of the simulations indicates that network structure, specifically connectivity and the presence of hanging fractures, plays a larger role in controlling the displacement of water by scCO₂ than variations in local hydraulic properties. Finally, we identify active surface area of the network as a single-phase feature that could provide a lower bound on the percentage of the network surface area reached by scCO₂.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Clean Coal and Carbon (FE-20); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1601404

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--19-25316

Journal Information:: Transport in Porous Media, Journal Name: Transport in Porous Media Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 131; ISSN 0169-3913

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Characterizing the Impact of Fractured Caprock Heterogeneity on Supercritical CO2 Injection

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References (47)

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Title: Characterizing the Impact of Fractured Caprock Heterogeneity on Supercritical CO₂Injection