About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

Environmental Geosciences (DEG)

Abstract

DOI: 10.1306/eg.06201919005

The effect of site characterization data on injection capacity and cap rock integrity modeling during carbon dioxide storage in the Nisku saline aquifer at the Wabamun Lake area, Canada

Somayeh Goodarzi,1 Antonin Settari,2 Seyyed M. Ghaderi,3 Christopher Hawkes,4 and Yuri Leonenko5

1Carbon Management Canada (CMC) Research Institutes, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; [email protected]
2CGG Geoscience Reservoir Americas, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; [email protected]
3Enhance Energy, Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada; [email protected]
4Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; [email protected]
5Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Geological storage of CO2 is an option for mitigating global climate change resulting from greenhouse gas emissions. Effective selection, design, and operation of storage sites require reliable models for predicting the response to CO2 injection. This paper revisits preliminary studies of CO2 storage in the Nisku saline aquifer in Alberta, Canada, which were conducted to assess CO2 injectivity, plume migration, and geomechanical response during 50 yr of injection, using model input parameters estimated from data available at the time. The new work presented here involved modeling of CO2 injection using the same tools but with input parameters obtained from data acquired in an evaluation well. The first series of new simulations modeled fluid flow using a commercial black-oil simulator and predicted a lower maximum injection rate (0.80 million t [Mt]/yr [0.88 million tons (Mtons)/yr] compared to 1.0 Mt/yr [1.1 Mtons/yr]) but a CO2 plume width nearly identical with the preliminary prediction (as a consequence of increases in some parameters that offset decreases in other parameters). The second series of new simulations was undertaken using a coupled thermo–hydro–mechanical simulator and predicted ground surface uplift approximately four times less than the preliminary study and (when injecting above the fracture pressure) fracture dimensions several times greater. As before, thermal effects resulting from cool CO2 injection were observed to promote lateral fracture growth in the aquifer and reduce (but not prevent) vertical growth into the cap rock. Use of the evaluation well data in this study enabled a more confident conclusion that injection above the fracturing pressure is not feasible for this site.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24