skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Comparison of methods for geologic storage of carbon dioxide in saline formations

Journal Article · · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

Preliminary estimates of CO{sub 2} storage potential in geologic formations provide critical information related to Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies to mitigate CO{sub 2} emissions. Currently multiple methods to estimate CO{sub 2} storage and multiple storage estimates for saline formations have been published, leading to potential uncertainty when comparing estimates from different studies. In this work, carbon dioxide storage estimates are compared by applying several commonly used methods to general saline formation data sets to assess the impact that the choice of method has on the results. Specifically, six CO{sub 2} storage methods were applied to thirteen saline formation data sets which were based on formations across the United States with adaptations to provide the geologic inputs required by each method. Methods applied include those by (1) international efforts – the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (Bachu et al., 2007); (2) United States government agencies – U.S. Department of Energy – National Energy Technology Laboratory (US-DOE-NETL, 2012) and United States Geological Survey (Brennan et al., 2010); and (3) the peer-reviewed scientific community – Szulczewski et al. (2012) and Zhou et al. (2008). A statistical analysis of the estimates generated by multiple methods revealed that assessments of CO{sub 2} storage potential made at the prospective level were often statistically indistinguishable from each other, implying that the differences in methodologies are small with respect to the uncertainties in the geologic properties of storage rock in the absence of detailed site-specific characterization.

Research Organization:
National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, and Morgantown, WV (United States). In-house Research; National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
OSTI ID:
1127502
Report Number(s):
A-NETL-PUB-008
Journal Information:
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 18; ISSN 1750-5836
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English