Solubility Trapping of Carbon Dioxide in Deep Saline Aquifers
Date
2015-04-29
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Abstract
This study presents some theoretical results on the effects of capillary transition zone and aquifer background flow on the mass transfer of carbon dioxide (CO2) from a stationary plume of CO2 into formation brine and also provides a perspective on the progress in modeling and experimental observations of physical aspects of CO2 dissolution in deep saline aquifers.
One of the main focuses of this study is to mathematically analyze the behavior of CO2 convective dissolution in the absence and presence of a capillary transition zone and to investigate its impact on the onset of natural convection and subsequent convective mixing.
Through performing a linear stability analysis, suitable criteria are developed that predict the onset of convection and initial wavelength of the instabilities as a function of system parameters. The instability problem is characterized by capillary-dominant and buoyancydominant
regimes with a transition in between. It is shown that capillarity plays a strong role in destabilizing the diffusive boundary layer in the capillary-dominant regime, while it is negligible in the buoyancy-dominant regime. Using direct numerical simulations, key features of the two-phase convective mixing are described and several global quantities, such as the total CO2 dissolution, Sherwood number, swelling factor, and interface velocity
are measured. The significant effect of the capillary transition zone on the dissolution of CO2 under a buoyant plume in saline aquifers is explained; and, the link between the capillary transition zone and the volume change, due to CO2 dissolution and the interface velocity over the mixing process, is demonstrated.
Another focus of this study is to develop mathematical models that capture the evolution of the CO2 dissolution in aquifers subject to background flows in the absence and presence of natural convection. Using the semi-analytical solution and direct numerical simulations,
detailed behavior of background flow on the dissolution and transport of CO2 during its geostorage in saline aquifers, which include the processes of diffusion, advection, and free convection.
The findings of this study provide further insight into the understanding of solubility trapping physical features and the long-term fate of the injected CO2 in deep saline aquifers.
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Engineering--Petroleum
Citation
Emami-Meybodi, H. (2015). Solubility Trapping of Carbon Dioxide in Deep Saline Aquifers (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27824