Quarterly Report for LANL Activities: FY12-Q2 National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP): Industrial Carbon Capture Program

Pawar, Rajesh J.¹ 

[1]Los Alamos National Laboratory

关键词: Earth Sciences;    Energy Storage(25);    Environmental Sciences(54);    Geosciences(58);    BRINES;    CARBON;    CHEMISTRY;    CONTROL SYSTEMS;    EVALUATION;    FRACTURES;    LANL;    RISK ASSESSMENT;    SEISMICITY;    SENSITIVITY;    STIMULATION;    STORAGE;    STRESSES;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1038872
RP-ID  :  LA-UR-12-20623
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1038872
Others  :  TRN: US201209%%275

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

This report summarizes progress of LANL activities related to the tasks performed under the LANL FWP FE102-002-FY10, National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP): Industrial Carbon Capture Program. This FWP is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Overall, the NRAP activities are focused on understanding and evaluating risks associated with large-scale injection and long-term storage of CO{sub 2} in deep geological formations. One of the primary risks during large-scale injection is due to changes in geomechanical stresses to the storage reservoir, to the caprock/seals and to the wellbores. These changes may have the potential to cause CO{sub 2} and brine leakage and geochemical impacts to the groundwater systems. While the importance of these stresses is well recognized, there have been relatively few quantitative studies (laboratory, field or theoretical) of geomechanical processes in sequestration systems. In addition, there are no integrated studies that allow evaluation of risks to groundwater quality in the context of CO{sub 2} injection-induced stresses. The work performed under this project is focused on better understanding these effects. LANL approach will develop laboratory and computational tools to understand the impact of CO{sub 2}-induced mechanical stress by creating a geomechanical test bed using inputs from laboratory experiments, field data, and conceptual approaches. The Geomechanical Test Bed will be used for conducting sensitivity and scenario analyses of the impacts of CO{sub 2} injection. The specific types of questions will relate to fault stimulation and fracture inducing stress on caprock, changes in wellbore leakage due to evolution of stress in the reservoir and caprock, and the potential for induced seismicity. In addition, the Geomechanical Test Bed will be used to investigate the coupling of stress-induced leakage pathways with impacts on groundwater quality. LANL activities are performed under two tasks: (1) develop laboratory and computational tools to understand CO{sub 2}-induced mechanical impacts and (2) use natural analog sites to determine potential groundwater impacts. We are using the Springerville-St. John Dome as a field site for collecting field data on CO{sub 2} migration through faults and groundwater impacts as well as developing and validating computational models. During the FY12 second quarter we have been working with New England Research Company to construct a tri-axial core-holder. We have built fluid control system for the coreflood system that can be ported to perform in-situ imaging of core. We have performed numerical simulations for groundwater impacts of CO{sub 2} and brine leakage using the reservoir model for Springerville-St John's Dome site. We have analyzed groundwater samples collected from Springerville site for major ion chemistry and isotopic composition. We are currently analyzing subsurface core and chip samples acquired for mineralogical composition.