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Title: Simulations of carbon dioxide push-pull into a conjugate fault system modeled after Dixie Valley—Sensitivity analysis of significant parameters and uncertainty prediction by data-worth analysis

Journal Article · · Geothermics
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  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA (United States)
  3. Schlumberger-Doll Research, Cambridge, MA (United States)
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Characterizing the faults and fractures that provide flow pathways for efficient geothermal energy production is critical for design of sustainable geothermal energy production. Both natural faults and stimulated fractures in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are difficult to image and map by seismic methods because hot brine filling the fractures and faults does not create a strong seismic property contrast relative to surrounding rock. We investigate here the technical feasibility of using supercritical CO2 (scCO2) injection into faults in a single-well push-pull scenario to characterize the hydraulic properties of the fault zone by emplacing scCO2 that can serve as a contrast fluid for seismic monitoring. We develop a conceptual and numerical reservoir model of two intersecting faults based on the Dixie Valley geothermal system in Nevada, USA.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE); Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1477326
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1496280
Journal Information:
Geothermics, Vol. 74, Issue C; ISSN 0375-6505
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (7)

Simulations of CO2 injection into fractures and faults for improving their geophysical characterization at EGS sites journal September 2017
Solving iTOUGH2 simulation and optimization problems using the PEST protocol journal July 2011
Practical notes on local data-worth analysis: NOTES ON DATA-WORTH ANALYSIS journal December 2015
Propagation pathways and fluid transport of hydrofractures in jointed and layered rocks in geothermal fields journal August 2002
The Basin and Range Dixie Valley Geothermal Wellfield, Nevada, USA—A test bed for developing an Enhanced Geothermal System exploration favorability methodology journal September 2016
A Closed-form Equation for Predicting the Hydraulic Conductivity of Unsaturated Soils1 journal January 1980
Characterization of a fracture zone using seismic attributes at the In Salah CO2 storage project journal May 2015

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Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
enhanced geothermal sites (EGS)
CO2 push-pull
Dixie Valley geothermal system
sensitivity analysis
data-worth analysis