Gel Reaction and Permeability Modification for CO2 Leakage Remediation and Flood Conformance

Gel Reaction and Permeability Modification for CO2 Leakage Remediation and Flood Conformance
Author: Kenechukwu Moneke
Publisher:
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) program, also known as CO2 sequestration, has been proposed as a long-term process to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the atmosphere. One of the biggest challenges associated with the CO2 sequestration process is the migration and leakage of the CO2 due to the formation of leakage pathways which weakens the integrity of the reservoir caprock. To ensure the CO2 storage effectiveness and minimize the environmental and economic risk, it is important to monitor the subsurface CO2 migration and apply a treatment method if leakage is detected. One of the potential treatment methods to mitigate the leakage challenge in the CCS program is the use of chemical sealants such as silicate gel. The concentrated potassium silicate solution (i.e. silicate gel) reacts with the dissolved CO2 species to form a silica gel barrier which prevents the captured CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere and reduces the reservoir permeability. This thesis aims to evaluate the potential of silica gel as leakage prevention and remediation measure during the CO2 sequestration process. The use of the silica gel as a permeability modifier, conformance control agent and an effective cap rock sealant was also investigated. The mother solution used in these experiments is Betol K28T diluted with deionized water (50 wt.%) which acts as the silicate gel being investigated. Bulk gelation experiments were initially performed to measure the gel time at different silicate content, acid concentrations, salinities, and temperatures. The results were then fit to an existing model for gelation time and then used as a predictive tool for the core flood experiments. Core flood experiments were then performed to investigate the reaction transport of silicate gel in porous media, compare the results obtained from gelation in porous media to the gelation results from the earlier bulk experiments and finally, investigate the capability of the gel in permeability reduction and sealing of the core. These core flood experiments were conducted in two conditions: ambient condition with an acetic acid solution as a CO2 substitute and the High-Pressure High-Temperature (1500 psi, 600C, 30,000ppm) condition with CO2 saturated brine. From the core flood experiments, it is shown that using potassium silicate reagents (Betol K28T) to form a silica gel barrier is an applicable strategy for mitigating the risk of CO2 leakage Reduction in the core permeability (up to 90%) of the Benthemier sandstone core was observed during barrier formation. However, to further validate the use of the silica gel to form a chemical barrier under CO2 storage conditions, additional modeling and experiments using micromodel chips and field-scale conditions are recommended

Application of Polymer Gels as Conformance Control Agents for Carbon Dioxide for Floods in Carbonate Reservoirs

Application of Polymer Gels as Conformance Control Agents for Carbon Dioxide for Floods in Carbonate Reservoirs
Author: Hussein A Ali (Al-Ali)
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

With the production from mature oil fields declining, the increasing demand of oil urges towards more effective recovery of the available resources. Currently, the CO2 Floods are the second most applied EOR processes in the world behind steam injection. With more than 30 years of experience gained from CO2 flooding, successful projects have showed incremental oil recovery ranging from 7 to 15 % of the oil initially in place. Despite all of the anticipated success of CO2 floods, its viscosity nature is in heterogeneous and naturally fractured reservoirs is challenging; CO2 will flow preferentially through the easiest paths resulting in early breakthrough and extraction ineffectiveness leaving zones of oil intact. This research aims at investigating gel treatments and viscosified water-alternating-gas CO2 mobility control techniques. A set of experiments have been conducted to verify the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed mobility control approaches. Our research employed an imaging technique integrating an X-Ray CT scanner with a CT friendly aluminum coreflood cell. With the integrated systems, we were able to obtain real time images when processed provide qualitative and qualitative evaluations to the coreflood. The research studies included preliminary studies of CO2 and water injection performance in fractured and unfractured cores. These experiments provided a base performance to which the performances of the mobility control attempts were compared. We have applied the same methodology in evaluation of the experimental results to both conformance control gel treatments and viscosified water-alternating-gas CO2 mobility control. The gel conformance control studies showed encouraging results in minimizing the effect of heterogeneities directing the injected CO2 to extract more oil from the low permeability zones; the gel strength was evaluated in terms of breakdown and leakoff utilizing the production data aided with CT imaging analysis. The viscosified water coupled with CO2 investigations showed great promising results proving the superiority over neat CO2 injection. This research serves as a preliminary understanding to the applicability of tested mobility control approaches providing a base to future studies in this category of research. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/148337

Experimental Evaluations of Selected Sealants to Remediate CO2 Leakage

Experimental Evaluations of Selected Sealants to Remediate CO2 Leakage
Author: Aaron Jeffrey Blue
Publisher:
Total Pages: 67
Release: 2016
Genre: Geological carbon sequestration
ISBN:

"Carbon Dioxide (CO2) sequestration into porous and permeable brine-filled aquifers is seen as one of the most feasible solutions for reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from coal-fired power plants. To safely store the CO2, it must be trapped under an impermeable rock acting as a seal. One of the concerns with CO2 sequestration is the generation of new fractures or reopening of existing fractures caused by CO2 injection in the sealing formation. This project evaluates the potential of sealing these fractures by injecting sealing materials into them. These sealing materials need also to stay in place over long term. Therefore the long term thermo-stability of the sealing materials exposed to CO2 has to be addressed. Four sealing materials have been investigated, at subsurface conditions, to study their ability to effectively seal CO2 migration through fractures ranging in size from 250 [mu] up to 1 mm. The four sealant materials were: paraffin wax, silica-based gel, polymer-based gel, and calcium aluminate-based cement. All four materials significantly reduced the fracture permeability. However, the calcium aluminate-based cement was the most effective sealant agent and was the only sealant that was able to withstand the large differential pressure caused by CO2 or brine injection pressure. Based on the experiments conducted, gels cannot be expected to withstand large pressure differentials in a parallel fracture and therefore the calcium aluminate-based cement is recommended for sealing of fracture widths above half a millimeter. Since cement exposed to CO2 is subjected to the reaction of carbonation, a potential injection scenario is to inject cement first to create a barrier to differential pressures and then follow with a gel as a secondary seal to create a chemically stable sealing agent exposed to CO2"--Abstract, page iii.

Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery
Author: Patrizio Raffa
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2019-07-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3110640430

This book aims at presenting, describing, and summarizing the latest advances in polymer flooding regarding the chemical synthesis of the EOR agents and the numerical simulation of compositional models in porous media, including a description of the possible applications of nanotechnology acting as a booster of traditional chemical EOR processes. A large part of the world economy depends nowadays on non-renewable energy sources, most of them of fossil origin. Though the search for and the development of newer, greener, and more sustainable sources have been going on for the last decades, humanity is still fossil-fuel dependent. Primary and secondary oil recovery techniques merely produce up to a half of the Original Oil In Place. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) processes are aimed at further increasing this value. Among these, chemical EOR techniques (including polymer flooding) present a great potential in low- and medium-viscosity oilfields. • Describes recent advances in chemical enhanced oil recovery. • Contains detailed description of polymer flooding and nanotechnology as promising boosting tools for EOR. • Includes both experimental and theoretical studies. About the Authors Patrizio Raffa is Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen. He focuses on design and synthesis of new polymeric materials optimized for industrial applications such as EOR, coatings and smart materials. He (co)authored about 40 articles in peer reviewed journals. Pablo Druetta works as lecturer at the University of Groningen (RUG) and as engineering consultant. He received his Ph.D. from RUG in 2018 and has been teaching at a graduate level for 15 years. His research focus lies on computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Climate Change and Water

Climate Change and Water
Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change / Working Group Technical Support Unit
Publisher:
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2008
Genre: Climatic changes
ISBN: 9789291691234

The Technical Paper addresses the issue of freshwater. Sealevel rise is dealt with only insofar as it can lead to impacts on freshwater in coastal areas and beyond. Climate, freshwater, biophysical and socio-economic systems are interconnected in complex ways. Hence, a change in any one of these can induce a change in any other. Freshwater-related issues are critical in determining key regional and sectoral vulnerabilities. Therefore, the relationship between climate change and freshwater resources is of primary concern to human society and also has implications for all living species. -- page vii.

Contaminants in the Subsurface

Contaminants in the Subsurface
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2005-04-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 030909447X

At hundreds of thousands of commercial, industrial, and military sites across the country, subsurface materials including groundwater are contaminated with chemical waste. The last decade has seen growing interest in using aggressive source remediation technologies to remove contaminants from the subsurface, but there is limited understanding of (1) the effectiveness of these technologies and (2) the overall effect of mass removal on groundwater quality. This report reviews the suite of technologies available for source remediation and their ability to reach a variety of cleanup goals, from meeting regulatory standards for groundwater to reducing costs. The report proposes elements of a protocol for accomplishing source remediation that should enable project managers to decide whether and how to pursue source remediation at their sites.

Alternatives for Managing the Nation's Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites

Alternatives for Managing the Nation's Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2013-02-27
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0309278139

Across the United States, thousands of hazardous waste sites are contaminated with chemicals that prevent the underlying groundwater from meeting drinking water standards. These include Superfund sites and other facilities that handle and dispose of hazardous waste, active and inactive dry cleaners, and leaking underground storage tanks; many are at federal facilities such as military installations. While many sites have been closed over the past 30 years through cleanup programs run by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. EPA, and other state and federal agencies, the remaining caseload is much more difficult to address because the nature of the contamination and subsurface conditions make it difficult to achieve drinking water standards in the affected groundwater. Alternatives for Managing the Nation's Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites estimates that at least 126,000 sites across the U.S. still have contaminated groundwater, and their closure is expected to cost at least $110 billion to $127 billion. About 10 percent of these sites are considered "complex," meaning restoration is unlikely to be achieved in the next 50 to 100 years due to technological limitations. At sites where contaminant concentrations have plateaued at levels above cleanup goals despite active efforts, the report recommends evaluating whether the sites should transition to long-term management, where risks would be monitored and harmful exposures prevented, but at reduced costs.

Engineering and Design

Engineering and Design
Author: Us Army Corps Of Engineers
Publisher: Military Bookshop
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2002-06-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9781780397702

This manual provides practical guidance for the design and operation of soil vapor extraction (SVE) and bioventing (BV) systems. It is intended for use by engineers, geologists, hydrogeologists, and soil scientists, chemists, project managers, and others who possess a technical education and some design experience but only the broadest familiarity with SVE or BV systems.