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Title: Experimental Investigation of Supercritical CO2 Trapping Mechanisms at the Intermediate Laboratory Scale in Well-defined Heterogeneous Porous Media

Abstract

The heterogeneous nature of typical sedimentary formations can play a major role in the propagation of the CO2 plume, eventually dampening the accumulation of mobile phase underneath the caprock. From core flooding experiments, it is also known that contrasts in capillary threshold pressure due to different pore size can affect the flow paths of the invading and displaced fluids and consequently influence the build- up of non-wetting phase (NWP) at interfaces between geological facies. The full characterization of the geologic variability at all relevant scales and the ability to make observations on the spatial and temporal distribution of the migration and trapping of supercritical CO2 is not feasible from a practical perspective. To provide insight into the impact of well-defined heterogeneous systems on the flow dynamics and trapping efficiency of supercritical CO2 under drainage and imbibition conditions, we present an experimental investigation at the meter scale conducted in synthetic sand reservoirs packed in a quasi-two-dimensional flow-cell. Two immiscible displacement experiments have been performed to observe the preferential entrapment of NWP in simple heterogeneous porous media. The experiments consisted of an injection, a fluid redistribution, and a forced imbibition stages conducted in an uncorrelated permeability field and a homogeneous base casemore » scenario. We adopted x-ray attenuation analysis as a non-destructive technique that allows a precise measurement of phase saturations throughout the entire flow domain. By comparing a homogeneous and a heterogeneous scenario we have identified some important effects that can be attributed to capillary barriers, such as dampened plume advancement, higher non-wetting phase saturations, larger contact area between the injected and displaced phases, and a larger range of non-wetting phase saturations.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); National Science Foundation, Arlington VA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1829164
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1207935
Grant/Contract Number:  
FE0004630; AC02-05CH11231; EAR-1045282
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Energy Procedia (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Energy Procedia (Online) Journal Volume: 63 Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1876-6102
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
Netherlands
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; capillary trapping; immiscible displacement experiments; surrogate fluids; x-ray attenuation method; heterogeneous porous media

Citation Formats

Trevisan, Luca, Pini, Ronny, Cihan, Abdullah, Birkholzer, Jens T., Zhou, Quanlin, and Illangasekare, Tissa H. Experimental Investigation of Supercritical CO2 Trapping Mechanisms at the Intermediate Laboratory Scale in Well-defined Heterogeneous Porous Media. Netherlands: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.597.
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Trevisan, Luca, Pini, Ronny, Cihan, Abdullah, Birkholzer, Jens T., Zhou, Quanlin, & Illangasekare, Tissa H. Experimental Investigation of Supercritical CO2 Trapping Mechanisms at the Intermediate Laboratory Scale in Well-defined Heterogeneous Porous Media. Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.597
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Trevisan, Luca, Pini, Ronny, Cihan, Abdullah, Birkholzer, Jens T., Zhou, Quanlin, and Illangasekare, Tissa H. Wed . "Experimental Investigation of Supercritical CO2 Trapping Mechanisms at the Intermediate Laboratory Scale in Well-defined Heterogeneous Porous Media". Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.597.
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@article{osti_1829164,
title = {Experimental Investigation of Supercritical CO2 Trapping Mechanisms at the Intermediate Laboratory Scale in Well-defined Heterogeneous Porous Media},
author = {Trevisan, Luca and Pini, Ronny and Cihan, Abdullah and Birkholzer, Jens T. and Zhou, Quanlin and Illangasekare, Tissa H.},
abstractNote = {The heterogeneous nature of typical sedimentary formations can play a major role in the propagation of the CO2 plume, eventually dampening the accumulation of mobile phase underneath the caprock. From core flooding experiments, it is also known that contrasts in capillary threshold pressure due to different pore size can affect the flow paths of the invading and displaced fluids and consequently influence the build- up of non-wetting phase (NWP) at interfaces between geological facies. The full characterization of the geologic variability at all relevant scales and the ability to make observations on the spatial and temporal distribution of the migration and trapping of supercritical CO2 is not feasible from a practical perspective. To provide insight into the impact of well-defined heterogeneous systems on the flow dynamics and trapping efficiency of supercritical CO2 under drainage and imbibition conditions, we present an experimental investigation at the meter scale conducted in synthetic sand reservoirs packed in a quasi-two-dimensional flow-cell. Two immiscible displacement experiments have been performed to observe the preferential entrapment of NWP in simple heterogeneous porous media. The experiments consisted of an injection, a fluid redistribution, and a forced imbibition stages conducted in an uncorrelated permeability field and a homogeneous base case scenario. We adopted x-ray attenuation analysis as a non-destructive technique that allows a precise measurement of phase saturations throughout the entire flow domain. By comparing a homogeneous and a heterogeneous scenario we have identified some important effects that can be attributed to capillary barriers, such as dampened plume advancement, higher non-wetting phase saturations, larger contact area between the injected and displaced phases, and a larger range of non-wetting phase saturations.},
doi = {10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.597},
journal = {Energy Procedia (Online)},
number = C,
volume = 63,
place = {Netherlands},
year = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.597
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