Impact of Mineral Reactive Surface Area on Forecasting Geological Carbon Sequestration in a CO 2 -EOR Field

Wei Jia, Ting Xiao, Zhidi Wu, Zhenxue Dai and Brian McPherson
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Wei Jia: Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
Ting Xiao: Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
Zhidi Wu: Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
Zhenxue Dai: College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
Brian McPherson: Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: Mineral reactive surface area (RSA) is one of the key factors that control mineral reactions, as it describes how much mineral is accessible and can participate in reactions. This work aims to evaluate the impact of mineral RSA on numerical simulations for CO 2 storage at depleted oil fields. The Farnsworth Unit (FWU) in northern Texas was chosen as a case study. A simplified model was used to screen representative cases from 87 RSA combinations to reduce the computational cost. Three selected cases with low, mid, and high RSA values were used for the FWU model. Results suggest that the impact of RSA values on CO 2 mineral trapping is more complex than it is on individual reactions. While the low RSA case predicted negligible porosity change and an insignificant amount of CO 2 mineral trapping for the FWU model, the mid and high RSA cases forecasted up to 1.19% and 5.04% of porosity reduction due to mineral reactions, and 2.46% and 9.44% of total CO 2 trapped in minerals by the end of the 600-year simulation, respectively. The presence of hydrocarbons affects geochemical reactions and can lead to net CO 2 mineral trapping, whereas mineral dissolution is forecasted when hydrocarbons are removed from the system.

Keywords: geological carbon sequestration; reactive surface area; mineral trapping; enhanced oil recovery with CO 2 (CO 2 -EOR); geochemical reactions; risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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