Numerical investigation concerning the impact of CO2 geologic storage on regional groundwater flow

Yamamoto, Hajime; Zhang, Keni; Karasaki, Kenzi; Marui, Atsunao; Uehara, Hiroki; Nishikawa, Noriaki

doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2009.04.007

Cited by 105 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Table 1 summarises the initial conditions and essential results of numerical simulations concerning this issue. The models applied are either synthetic (Birkholzer et al, 2009(Birkholzer et al, , 2011Oldenburg and Rinaldi, 2011) or refer to a certain study area (Tillner et al, 2013a;Zouh et al, 2010;Yamamoto et al, 2009;Nicot, 2008). Several studies examine pressure perturbation and resulting brine migration in a multi-barrier system without considering vertical conduits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fault damage zone volume and initial salinity distribution determine intensity of shallow aquifer salinisation in subsurface storage

Tillner

Langer

Kempka

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Injection of fluids into deep saline aquifers causes a pore pressure increase in the storage formation, and thus displacement of resident brine. Via hydraulically conductive faults, brine may migrate upwards into shallower aquifers and lead to unwanted salinisation of potable groundwater resources. In the present study, we investigated different scenarios for a potential storage site in the Northeast German Basin using a three-dimensional (3-D) regional-scale model that includes four major fault zones. The focus was on assessing the impact of fault length and the effect of a secondary reservoir above the storage formation, as well as model boundary conditions and initial salinity distribution on the potential salinisation of shallow groundwater resources. We employed numerical simulations of brine injection as a representative fluid.Our simulation results demonstrate that the lateral model boundary settings and the effective fault damage zone volume have the greatest influence on pressure build-up and development within the reservoir, and thus intensity and duration of fluid flow through the faults. Higher vertical pressure gradients for short fault segments or a small effective fault damage zone volume result in the highest salinisation potential due to a larger vertical fault height affected by fluid displacement. Consequently, it has a strong impact on the degree of shallow aquifer salinisation, whether a gradient in salinity exists or the saltwater-freshwater interface lies below the fluid displacement depth in the faults. A small effective fault damage zone volume or low fault permeability further extend the duration of fluid flow, which can persist for several tens to hundreds of years, if the reservoir is laterally confined. Laterally open reservoir boundaries, large effective fault damage zone volumes and intermediate reservoirs significantly reduce vertical brine migration and the potential of freshwater salinisation because the origin depth of displaced brine is located only a few decametres below the shallow aquifer in maximum.The present study demonstrates that the existence of hydraulically conductive faults is not necessarily an exclusion criterion for potential injection sites, because salinisation of shallower aquifers strongly depends on initial salinity distribution, location of hydraulically conductive faults and their effective damage zone volumes as well as geological boundary conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fault damage zone volume and initial salinity distribution determine intensity of shallow aquifer salinisation in subsurface storage

Tillner

Langer

Kempka

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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show abstract

“…Basins are mostly represented as multilayered systems, either in the aquifer (Zhou et al 2010;Yamamoto et al 2009;Zhao et al 2012;Birkholzer et al 2011) or for an alternating aquifers/aquitards system (Birkholzer et al 2009;Rohmer and Seyedi 2010). In any case, aquifers are not vertically or laterally homogeneous at basin scale in reality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-Scale $$\hbox {CO}_2$$ CO 2 Storage in a Deep Saline Aquifer: Uncertainties in Predictions Due to Spatial Variability of Flow Parameters and Their Modeling

2015

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Scarce data and uncertainties in the spatial variation of geological properties lead to different possible models of these heterogeneities. The aim of this study is to compare the pressure results and CO 2 behavior of different permeability field models for a large-scale CO 2 injection in a deep saline aquifer. Five ways of representing heterogeneities are tested and compared. The simplest representation defines homogeneous equivalent properties over the entire domain. A second representation is obtained by considering homogeneous layers. Two other models represent the lateral and vertical variations in permeability in greater detail by geostatistical methods with either a continuous model or a discontinuous model (discrete values). The last model is the semi-homogeneous model combining a heterogeneous area and a homogeneous area depending on the complexity of the flow process. Highly variable predictions arise from the heterogeneities, and significant differences in estimates are obtained using the various modeling methods. The optimum resolution depends on the type of response to be estimated. Averaged properties at large scale are not adequate to estimate the critical pressure propagation far from the well. Averaged properties in the injection area are not sufficient to assess the maximum increase in pressure or the extent of CO 2 migration. Lateral and vertical connectivities, and reservoir compartmentalization modeling are required to obtain reliable results. But the resolution requirements are not to be at the finest scale: The discontinuous model (discrete values) gives satisfactory results compared to the continuous model. The way to represent spatial variability of porosity and pore compressibility is also studied. The influence of these two properties is far lower than that of permeability.

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“…While previous studies have investigated the impacts of CO 2 injection on water flow and brine displacement [2,3,4,5,6,7], only a few have specifically accounted for the flow of variable-salinity formation water [8,9]. This paper presents results from various 2D and 3D numerical simulation studies with Eclipse and TOUGH2 that model the degree of salinity changes in response to CO 2 injection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulating the Flow of Variable-salinity Water in Response to CO2 Injection

2014

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Subsurface injection of CO 2 creates pressure build-up in the geological formation and the formation water is displaced laterally within the storage formation and/or vertically through the top seal into overlying formations. Numerical simulations of industrialscale CO 2 injection taking into account variable-salinity water indicate that the overall potential for brine displacement resulting in significant salinization of fresh groundwater resources is low. Although the radius of pressure impacts can be on the order of 100 km, the resulting formation water flux decreases rapidly in the far-field of the injection site where the displaced volumes of saline formation water are small.

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Numerical investigation concerning the impact of CO2 geologic storage on regional groundwater flow

Cited by 105 publications

References 9 publications

Fault damage zone volume and initial salinity distribution determine intensity of shallow aquifer salinisation in subsurface storage

Fault damage zone volume and initial salinity distribution determine intensity of shallow aquifer salinisation in subsurface storage

Large-Scale $$\hbox {CO}_2$$ CO 2 Storage in a Deep Saline Aquifer: Uncertainties in Predictions Due to Spatial Variability of Flow Parameters and Their Modeling

Simulating the Flow of Variable-salinity Water in Response to CO2 Injection

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