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Laboratory core flooding of formation water, N2 and CO2

Project Summary

When it comes to underground CO2 storage there are a number of factors related to the candidate storage medium which needs to be thoroughly investigated before the commencement of the CO2 injection, including: storage capacity, containment integrity, injectivity, the behaviour of the CO2 plume and how it would evolve.

ANLEC R&D commissioned research to assess innovative ways to evaluate these uncertainties.

This project examined the concept of using N2 as a surrogate for CO2 in trial subsurface injections to characterise a storage resource. The technique would make regulatory compliance much simpler.

Methodology:

  • Two sets of four conventional unsteady state core-flood experiments were conducted, one set using CO2-water and the other using CO2-N2-water fluid systems.
  • Three x-ray imaged core-flood experiments conducted using the CO2-N2-water system.
  • Core-flood numerical simulations performed investigating the effect of a number of possible core-scale heterogeneities on the results of the core-flood experiments.

Dispersion coefficients were measured for the N2-CO2 system under reservoir conditions.

Key conclusions are:

  • The levels of residually trapped N2 during an N2 trial injection may be an overestimation of that which may be achieved during a subsequent CO2 storage process.
  • Buoyancy forces during N2 injection can reveal vertical pathways for subsequently injected CO2 and therefore gain a better site characterisation.
  • Sensitivity to capillary pressure and heterogeneity appears to be determined by core properties rather than by invading fluid. Therefore, N2 trial injection provides an inexpensive and low-risk way of understanding the heterogeneity structure of a reservoir, which is a critical unknown for CO2
  • The concept of site characterisation using the injection of an inert gas such as N2 may deliver valuable information to any CO2 geo-sequestration site.

Available Reports

Laboratory Core Flooding of Formation Water, N2 and CO2

The main objective of this project has been to examine the concept of a N2 trial injection in the lab using an extensive high pressure–high temperature core–flood program accompanied by a number of other auxiliary fluid flow and fluid property measurements.

To access the final report from this project, please make a request through the enquiry form.

To access this report, please complete the following:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Project Name:
Laboratory core flooding of formation water, N2 and CO2

Research Organisation:
WA ERA, Curtin University

Status:
Completed, 2015

Authors:
Ali Saeedi, Reza Rezaee, Stefan Iglauer, Michael Johns, Tara LaForce & Keyu Liu

Reference:
7-0912-0207

Research Program: Carbon Transport + Storage
Demonstration: Gippsland Basin
Research Focus: Capacity, Rapid Characterisation Methods, Rock properties and relative perm

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ANLEC R&D is a not-for-profit organisation supported by Low Emission Technology Australia (LETA) and the Australian Government through the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

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