Effect of brine salinity on CO2 plume migration and trapping capacity in deep saline aquifers
Emad A. Al-Khdheeawi A C , Stephanie Vialle B , Ahmed Barifcani A , Mohammad Sarmadivaleh A and Stefan Iglauer AA Department of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia.
B Department of Exploration Geophysics, Curtin University, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Emails: e.al-khdheeawi@postgrad.curtin.edu.au; emad.reading@gmail.com
The APPEA Journal 57(1) 100-109 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ16248
Accepted: 23 February 2017 Published: 29 May 2017
Abstract
CO2 migration and storage capacity are highly affected by various parameters (e.g. reservoir temperature, vertical to horizontal permeability ratio, cap rock properties, aquifer depth and the reservoir heterogeneity). One of these parameters, which has received little attention, is brine salinity. Although brine salinity has been well demonstrated previously as a factor affecting rock wettability (i.e. higher brine salinity leads to more CO2-wet rocks), its effect on the CO2 storage process has not been addressed effectively. Thus, we developed a three-dimensional homogeneous reservoir model to simulate the behaviour of a CO2 plume in a deep saline aquifer using five different salinities (ranging from 2000 to 200 000 ppm) and have predicted associated CO2 migration patterns and trapping capacities. CO2 was injected at a depth of 1408 m for a period of 1 year at a rate of 1 Mt year–1 and then stored for the next 100 years. The results clearly indicate that 100 years after the injection of CO2 has stopped, the salinity has a significant effect on the CO2 migration distance and the amount of mobile, residual and dissolved CO2. First, the results show that higher brine salinity leads to an increase in CO2 mobility and CO2 migration distance, but reduces the amount of residually trapped CO2. Furthermore, high brine salinity leads to reduced dissolution trapping. Thus, we conclude that less-saline aquifers are preferable CO2 sinks.
Keywords: CO2 migration, CO2 storage, trapping mechanisms.
Emad A. Al-Khdheeawi is a PhD student at the Department of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Western Australia. His current research focuses on reservoir simulation, reservoir engineering, rock wettability and CO2 capture and geological storage. |
Stephanie Vialle is a lecturer at the Western Australia School of Mines, Curtin University. She has an MS in Fundamental and Applied Geochemistry and did her PhD in Rock Physics, both at Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and University Paris Diderot. Her interests lie in rock properties upscaling, seismic signatures of geological processes and improved four-dimensional seismic monitoring for CO2 storage. |
Ahmed Barifcani has worked as an Associate Professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Curtin University since 2006. He has BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Birmingham. He is a Fellow and a Chartered Scientist of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE and CSci). He has published many papers on flow assurance, LNG enhanced oil recovery and CO2 capture and storage. He has over 30 years industrial experience in operation design, engineering, construction, project management, research and development in the fields of oil refining, gas processing, petrochemicals, flow assurance and CO2 capture. |
Mohammad Sarmadivaleh is a lecturer at the Department of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University and leads the Petroleum Geo-mechanics group (CPGG). He received his PhD from Curtin University in numerical and experimental studies on hydraulic fracturing in 2012. His research interests include hydraulic fracturing, sanding, geo-mechanical reservoir modelling and CO2 sequestration studies. He currently supervises 13 higher degree by research students and participates in academic and industrial research projects. |
Stefan Iglauer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Curtin University. His research interests are in CO2 geo-storage, wettability and multiphase flow through porous rock with a particular focus on atomic to pore-scale processes. He has authored more than 90 technical publications and holds a PhD in Material Science from Oxford Brookes University (UK) and an MSc in Chemistry from the University of Paderborn (Germany). |
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