Travis L.

McLing Idaho National Laboratory\Center

For Advanced Energy Studies.

RECS 2016

Site characterization is a continuous, iterative process during

all operational stages of a CO2 storage project

7/21/09

Key Elements Geological Storage:

Key Elements of a Geological Storage
Safety,
Security
Strategy
Safetyand
and Security
Strategy
With appropriate site selection
informed by available
subsurface information, a
monitoring program to detect
problems, a regulatory system,
and the appropriate use of
remediation methods

Financial
Responsibility
Regulatory Oversight

risks similar to existing

activities such as natural
gas storage and EOR.
the fraction retained is
likely to exceed 99% over
1,000 years.
IPCC, 2005

Remediation
Monitoring
Safe Operations
Storage Engineering
Site Characterization
and Selection
Fundamental Storage
and Leakage Mechanisms

Key Elements of a Geological Storage

Safety and Security Strategy

Basic

Basic Concept of Geological

Concept
of Geologic
Sequestration
of CO2 Sequestration

! Injected at depths of 1 km or deeper

into rocks with tiny pore spaces
! Primary trapping
! Beneath seals of low permeability rocks

Courtesy of John Bradshaw

Image courtesy of ISGS and MGSC

CO2 Density is Defined by Storage Depth

Storage below 800 m
(waterhead)
Supercritical CO2
Dense phase CO2 (500
to 800 kg/m3); Water is
1.3 to 2 times denser
(heavier)
Low viscosity 10-20
times less viscous than
H 2O
~70 Mt CO2 used EOR

Storage below 800 m

From IPCC SRCCS, 2005

Process Scales for CO2 Geologic Storage

Required Characteristics of
Geological Media Suitable for Storage
of Fluids
Capacity, to store the intended CO2 volume
Injectivity, to receive the CO2 at the supply rate
Containment, to avoid or minimize CO2 leakage

Means Of CO2 Geologic Storage

Specific Types of Formations Within

Primary
CCSBasins
Targets
Sedimentary
! Oil and gas reservoirs
! Enhanced oil and gas recovery
! Depleted oil and gas recovery

! Deep formations that contain salt water

(saline aquifers)
! Coal beds

12

Types and Word Distribution of

Sedimentary Basins

Based on St. John et al., 1984

Plate Tectonics and CCS

Sedimentary Basins
Intra-cratonic, foreland and passive-margin basins

What Types of Rocks are Suitable

What
Type
of Rocks?
for CO
2 Storage?
! Igneous rocks
! Rocks formed from cooling magma
Crystalline
! Examples
! Granite
! Basalt

! Metamorphic Rocks

Low porosity
Low permeability
Fractures

! Rocks that have been subjected to high

pressures and temperatures after they are
formed
Crystalline
! Examples
! Schist
! Gneiss

! Sedimentary rocks

Low porosity
Low permeability
Fractures

! Rocks formed from compaction and

consolidation of rock fragments
High porosity
! Example
! Sandstone
! Shale

Granite

Schist

Sandstone

High permeability
Few fractures

! Rocks formed from precipitation from solution

! Example
! Limestone

16

Unconventional Basalts

Capacity is immense
Chemical makeup favorable for mineralization reactions
Deposited like sedimentary rocks
Seals
reservoirs
If only 3% of basalt is suitable for injection
100 GtCO2 storage capacity (McGrail et al 2006)

Unconventional Coal

18

Adsorption of Various Gases on Coal

Storage Security & Permanence

Mineralization = Permanence

Geologic Mineral Trapping

+
Calcium Magnesium
Silicate Rock

Carbonic Acid and

Water

Calcite or
Magnesite

jmatter@ldeo.columbia.edu

Basalt Sequestration (mineral trapping)

-3

Stored CO 2 (kg m )

60
50

Hydrodynamic
Mineral

40
30
20
10

Solubility

0
0

100

200

300

Time (years)

400

500

Rocks convert atmospheric CO2 (dissolved

in surface waters) to stable, inert carbonate
Mineralization. Naturally occurring
minerals
and is Stable Over Geologic Time

Reactive Rock Example (mineral trapping)

60%

Porosity Filling (%)

Water
Super Critical CO 2

40%

Zeolites
20%

Carbonates
Clays

0%
0

100

200

300

Time (years)

400

500

1800
Reactor 1
Reactor 3

1600
1400
1200
1000

Pressure,
psi
CO

800 Test Terminated

Calcite Precipitation
600 Confirmed by XRD

Repressurized
to1456 psi

400

Rocky Coulee Basalt

200 Coarse grain (0.85 to 2.0 mm)
T=~100C
0
0
50
100
150

Time, days

Long-term experiments showing

transition from calcite to ankerite,
Ca(Fe, Mg, Mn)(CO3)2

200

250

Concluding Remarks Regarding Site

Selection
! CO2 storage sites should be selected based on the
safety and security of storage, their capacity and
injectivity, ability to meet regulatory requirements
including monitoring, accessibility and economics
! Any assessment of CO2 storage capacity should
carefully consider the processes involved, their spatial
and temporal scales, the resolution of the assessment,
and the available data and their quality
! Sites should be properly characterized to meet
regulatory and stakeholders requirements, particularly
in regard to safety and security of storage