Physical Processes and Modeling Studies of CO2 Storage in Subsurface Formations
Co hosted by CERE and DTU-Kemi
Abstract
To address the world-wide concern regarding CO2-related greenhouse gas emission and its impact on climate change, CO2 geologic sequestration, i.e., injecting large amounts of CO2 into deep subsurface formations, such as brine aquifers, for long-term storage, is considered to be among most promising and few viable approaches for near-term implementation.
CO2 injection, movement and storage in formations are controlled by complicated multi-physical processes of multiphase flow, transport and storage, coupled with site-specific geothermal, geochemical and rock mechanical effects. To achieve significant reduction of CO2 atmospheric emission or concentration, large amounts of CO2 would need to be injected into geologic storing reservoirs, leading to large CO2 plumes with elevated pressure in formations.
To evaluate whether geologic storage is a viable technology to handle the CO2 problem, it is necessary to understand and investigate the conditions under which large amounts of the CO2 can be injected and stored safely for a long time (centuries to millennia) in geologic formations. For successful large-scale, field implementation of the CO2 geosequestration concept, quantitative assessment of the integrity and safety of a subsurface CO2 storage system is needed and demands a comprehensive laboratory, modeling and field studies.
In this talk, we will first discuss important multi-physical processes involved in CO2 geosequestration and the research effects made at EMG of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) to develop quantitative modeling tools for evaluating CO2 geosequestration. Specifically, we will discuss an advanced reservoir simulator, TOUGH2-CSM, for modeling CO2 storage under thermal-hydrologic-mechanical (THM) or thermal-hydrologic-mechanical chemical (THMC) effects in saline aquifers. we will present several application examples for demonstration of model application.
Yu-Shu Wu is a professor in petroleum reservoir engineering and director of Energy Modeling Group (EMG) research center in the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), USA. He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA). He held MS and PhD degrees in reservoir engineering from University of California at Berkeley, and B.S. (Eqv.)/MS degrees in petroleum engineering from Northeast and Southwest Petroleum Universities in China. He has been a Guest Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA, since 2008, participating in collaborated research projects on development on unconventional natural gas resources, nuclear waste disposal, CO2 sequestration, CCUS, enhanced or engineered geothermal systems (EGS), and cryogenic fracturing technology.
At CSM, he teaches and carries out research in reservoir engineering, multiphase fluid and heat flow, geomechanics, unconventional oil and gas reservoir dynamics, CO2 EOR and geosequestration, and geothermal engineering. He leads the EMG in its research effort in (1) flow and simulation in conventional and unconventional oil and gas reservoirs; (2) coupled processes of multiphase fluid and heat flow, geomechanics, and chemical reaction in porous and fractured rock; (3) Gas/CO2 EOR and sequestration application; (4) improved formation stimulation/cryogenic fracturing technologies; and (5) hydraulic fracturing modeling. Previously, he was a staff scientist with the Earth Sciences Division of LBNL for 14 years (1995–2008). During his career, he has authored or coauthored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal papers, 2 books, and 21 peer-reviewed book chapters as well as 80 SPE papers.