The role of CO 2 in CH 4 exsolution from deep brine: Implications for geologic carbon sequestration

Curtis M. Oldenburg, Christine Doughty and Nicolas Spycher

Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, 2013, vol. 3, issue 5, 359-377

Abstract: The partial pressure exerted by dissolved CO 2 in water (aqueous phase) containing dissolved CH 4 at concentrations near‐saturation can lead to the formation of a CH 4 ‐rich gas phase. We have used numerical simulation with TOUGH2/EOS7C to investigate the process of CH 4 exsolution caused by CO 2 injection for geologic carbon sequestration. We validated the solubility model in TOUGH2/EOS7C against published measurements of solubility and corresponding Henry's Law coefficients. We verified our simulation results against a previously published 1D test problem, and investigated the effects of numerical dispersion on the CH 4 exsolution and flow processes. In 2D radial simulations of a model system, we found that highly concentrated CH 4 gas regions form at the leading edge of the CO 2 injection front. Because the gas saturations are small in the CH 4 ‐rich gas regions in the generic system studied here, (i) CH 4 exsolution does not appear to be a problem for seismic monitoring of CO 2 plumes, (ii) reservoir pressurization due to dilution of supercritical CO 2 by CH 4 does not appear to be a concern, and (iii) relative permeability to water is not strongly reduced.

Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:greenh:v:3:y:2013:i:5:p:359-377

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