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

Title: Merits of pressure and geochemical data as indicators of CO2/brine leakage into a heterogeneous, sedimentary aquifer

Journal Article · · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Dept. of Geophysics
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

This study assesses the merits of pressure data and geochemical data as indicators of a combined CO2/brine leakage into a heterogeneous, sedimentary aquifer. We simulate the changes in three aquifer responses (pressure, total dissolved solids (TDS), and pH) due to CO2/brine leakage at an abandoned well with an uncertain location and hypothesize that these changes can only be observed from a single shallow monitoring well, mimicking the low density of observation wells for the considered aquifer. Specifically, detection likelihoods are calculated to describe how frequently pressure, TDS, and pH signals will coincide with a leak for observations made at different distances and times from the initiation of the CO2/brine leakage rate. The pressure signal gives a more spatially extensive signal than either TDS or pH, and pressure detection probabilities increase upstream of flow barriers (pressurizing-affect). The pH and TDS rebound down-stream of the flow barriers. Finally, when only considering the samples that experience the highest leakage volumes, there is a 50% likelihood of detecting a pressure change 400 m away at times ≥30 years. However, the TDS and pH detection likelihoods are <20% at 100 m distance for times ≥30 years.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1466953
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1396560
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-737589; 890471
Journal Information:
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 52, Issue C; ISSN 1750-5836
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (26)

Hydro-geochemical impact of CO2 leakage from geological storage on shallow potable aquifers: A field scale pilot experiment journal November 2013
Key factors for determining groundwater impacts due to leakage from geologic carbon sequestration reservoirs journal October 2014
Monitoring CO 2 Intrusion and Associated Geochemical Transformations in a Shallow Groundwater System Using Complex Electrical Methods journal July 2012
Time-lapse crosswell seismic and VSP monitoring of injected CO2 in a brine aquifer journal July 2007
Analysis of Potential Leakage Pathways and Mineralization within Caprocks for Geologic Storage of CO2 report May 2013
Inducing a CO2 Leak into a Shallow Aquifer (CO2FieldLab Eurogia+ Project): Monitoring the CO2 Plume in Groundwaters journal January 2013
Gravity monitoring of C O2 movement during sequestration: Model studies journal November 2008
Optimizing Monitoring Designs under Alternative Objectives journal January 2014
The impact of CO2 on shallow groundwater chemistry: observations at a natural analog site and implications for carbon sequestration journal June 2009
Effective detection of CO2 leakage: a comparison of groundwater sampling and pressure monitoring journal January 2014
Monitoring CO2 gas-phase migration in a shallow sand aquifer using cross-borehole ground penetrating radar journal June 2015
Derivation of groundwater threshold values for analysis of impacts predicted at potential carbon sequestration sites journal June 2016
Atmospheric monitoring and verification technologies for CO2 geosequestration journal July 2008
Uncertainty quantification of CO 2 leakage through a fault with multiphase and nonisothermal effects journal December 2012
Post-Injection monitoring of stored CO2 at the Nagaoka pilot site: 5 years time-lapse well logging results journal January 2011
Detecting leakage of brine or CO2 through abandoned wells in a geological sequestration operation using pressure monitoring wells journal January 2011
rosetta : a computer program for estimating soil hydraulic parameters with hierarchical pedotransfer functions journal October 2001
Application of a Vertical Electrical Resistivity Array (VERA) for monitoring CO2 migration at the Ketzin site: First performance evaluation journal January 2011
Assessing leakage detectability at geologic CO2 sequestration sites using the probabilistic collocation method journal June 2013
Value of information methodology for assessing the ability of electrical resistivity to detect CO2/brine leakage into a shallow aquifer journal October 2013
Effect of Dissolved CO 2 on a Shallow Groundwater System: A Controlled Release Field Experiment journal August 2012
Satellite-based measurements of surface deformation reveal fluid flow associated with the geological storage of carbon dioxide: FLUID FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH THE STORAGE OF CO journal February 2010
Modeling the performance of large-scale CO2 storage systems: A comparison of different sensitivity analysis methods journal September 2013
A Bayesian approach to CO2 leakage detection at saline sequestration sites using pressure measurements journal November 2014
Integrated geophysical and geochemical research programs of the IEA GHG Weyburn-Midale CO2 monitoring and storage project journal February 2009
Uncertainty quantification of CO2 saturation estimated from electrical resistance tomography data at the Cranfield site journal August 2014

Cited By (2)

Sensitivity thresholds of groundwater parameters for detecting CO2 leakage at a geologic carbon sequestration site journal October 2019
Analytical Model for Leakage Detection in CO2 Sequestration in Deep Saline Aquifers: Application to ex Situ and in Situ CO2 Sequestration Processes journal December 2019

Similar Records

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
CO2 storage
CO2 and brine leakage
Monitoring
Reactive transport
Detectability