Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers

CO2 will remain in supercritical (SC) state (i.e. p>7.382MPa and T>31.04°C) under the pressure (p) and temperature (T) conditions appropriate for geological storage. Thus, it is usually assumed that CO2 will reach the aquifer in SC conditions. However, inflowing CO2 does not need to be in ther...

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Authors: Vilarrasa, Víctor, Silva, Orlando, Carrera, Jesús, Olivella, Sebastià
Format: article
Publication Date:2013
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/74308
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/74308
Access Level:Open access
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spelling Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifersVilarrasa, VíctorSilva, OrlandoCarrera, JesúsOlivella, SebastiàCO2 will remain in supercritical (SC) state (i.e. p>7.382MPa and T>31.04°C) under the pressure (p) and temperature (T) conditions appropriate for geological storage. Thus, it is usually assumed that CO2 will reach the aquifer in SC conditions. However, inflowing CO2 does not need to be in thermal equilibrium with the aquifer. In fact, surface operations are simpler for liquid than for SC CO2, because CO2 is transported in liquid state. Yet, problems might arise because of thermal stresses induced by cold CO2 injection and because of phase changes in the injection tubing or in the formation. Here, we propose liquid CO2 injection and analyze its evolution and the thermo-hydro-mechanical response of the formation and the caprock. We find that injecting CO2 in liquid state is energetically more efficient than in SC state because liquid CO2 is denser than SC CO2, leading to a lower overpressure not only at the wellhead, but also in the reservoir because a smaller fluid volume is displaced. Cold CO2 injection cools down the formation around the injection well. Further away, CO2 equilibrates thermally with the medium in an abrupt front. The liquid CO2 region close to the injection well advances far behind the SC CO2 interface. While the SC CO2 region is dominated by gravity override, the liquid CO2 region displays a steeper front because viscous forces dominate (liquid CO2 is not only denser, but also more viscous than SC CO2). The temperature decrease close to the injection well induces a stress reduction due to thermal contraction of the media. This can lead to shear slip of pre-existing fractures in the aquifer for large temperature contrasts in stiff rocks, which could enhance injectivity. In contrast, the mechanical stability of the caprock is improved in stress regimes where the maximum principal stress is the vertical. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.V.V. wishes to acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCI), through the “Formación de Profesorado Universitario” Program, and the “Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos – Catalunya” for their financial support. This work has been funded by Fundación Ciudad de la Energía (Spanish Government) (www.ciuden.es) through the project ALM/09/018 and by the European Union through the “European Energy Programme for Recovery” and the Compostilla OXYCFB300 project. We also want to acknowledge the financial support received from the ‘MUSTANG’ (www.co2mustang.eu) and ‘PANACEA’ (www.panacea-co2.org) projects (from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 under grant agreements nos. 227286 and 282900, respectively).Peer ReviewedElsevier2013201320132013info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501http://hdl.handle.net/10261/74308reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE##PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/227286info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/282900http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.01.015info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/743082026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
title Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
spellingShingle Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
Vilarrasa, Víctor
title_short Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
title_full Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
title_fullStr Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
title_full_unstemmed Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
title_sort Liquid CO2 injection for geological storage in deep saline aquifers
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Vilarrasa, Víctor
Silva, Orlando
Carrera, Jesús
Olivella, Sebastià
author Vilarrasa, Víctor
author_facet Vilarrasa, Víctor
Silva, Orlando
Carrera, Jesús
Olivella, Sebastià
author_role author
author2 Silva, Orlando
Carrera, Jesús
Olivella, Sebastià
author2_role author
author
author
description CO2 will remain in supercritical (SC) state (i.e. p>7.382MPa and T>31.04°C) under the pressure (p) and temperature (T) conditions appropriate for geological storage. Thus, it is usually assumed that CO2 will reach the aquifer in SC conditions. However, inflowing CO2 does not need to be in thermal equilibrium with the aquifer. In fact, surface operations are simpler for liquid than for SC CO2, because CO2 is transported in liquid state. Yet, problems might arise because of thermal stresses induced by cold CO2 injection and because of phase changes in the injection tubing or in the formation. Here, we propose liquid CO2 injection and analyze its evolution and the thermo-hydro-mechanical response of the formation and the caprock. We find that injecting CO2 in liquid state is energetically more efficient than in SC state because liquid CO2 is denser than SC CO2, leading to a lower overpressure not only at the wellhead, but also in the reservoir because a smaller fluid volume is displaced. Cold CO2 injection cools down the formation around the injection well. Further away, CO2 equilibrates thermally with the medium in an abrupt front. The liquid CO2 region close to the injection well advances far behind the SC CO2 interface. While the SC CO2 region is dominated by gravity override, the liquid CO2 region displays a steeper front because viscous forces dominate (liquid CO2 is not only denser, but also more viscous than SC CO2). The temperature decrease close to the injection well induces a stress reduction due to thermal contraction of the media. This can lead to shear slip of pre-existing fractures in the aquifer for large temperature contrasts in stiff rocks, which could enhance injectivity. In contrast, the mechanical stability of the caprock is improved in stress regimes where the maximum principal stress is the vertical. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
publishDate 2013
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2013
2013
2013
2013
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
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dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/74308
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/74308
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/227286
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/282900
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.01.015
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
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