Identifying geologic characteristics and operational decisions to meet global carbon sequestration goals

• Published in: Energy & environmental science 2020-01, Vol.13 (12), p.5-516
• Main Authors: Middleton, Richard S, Ogland-Hand, Jonathan D, Chen, Bailian, Bielicki, Jeffrey M, Ellett, Kevin M, Harp, Dylan R, Kammer, Ryan M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brines; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide fixation; Carbon sequestration; Climate change; Climate change mitigation; Costs; Decisions; Economics; Environmental changes; Environmental security; Geology; Impact analysis; Injection; Interaction parameters; Mathematical models; Parameter sensitivity; Permeability; Plumes; Porosity; Reduced order models; Reservoir storage; Reservoirs; Sequestering; Storage capacity; Storage reservoirs; Taxation; Thickness
• ISSN: 1754-5692; 1754-5706
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ee02488k

Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of injecting and storing CO 2 in subsurface reservoirs and is an essential technology for global environmental security ( e.g. , climate change mitigation) and economic security ( e.g. , CO 2 tax credits). To meet energy, economic, and environmental goals, society will have to identify vast volumes of high-capacity, low-cost, and viable storage reservoirs for sequestering CO 2 . In turn, this requires understanding how major geologic characteristics (such as reservoir depth, thickness, permeability, porosity, and temperature) and design and operational decisions (such as injection well spacing) impact CO 2 injection rates, storage capacity, and economics. Although many numerical simulation tools exist, they cannot repeat the required thousands or millions of simulations to identify ideal reservoir properties and the sensitivity and interaction between geologic parameters and operational decisions. Here, we use SCO 2 T (pronounced "Scott"; S&cmb.b.line;equestration of C&cmb.b.line;O&cmb.b.line; 2&cmb.b.line; T&cmb.b.line;ool)-a fast-running, reduced-order modeling framework-to explore the sensitivity of major geologic parameters and operational decisions to engineering (CO 2 injection rates, plume dimensions, and storage capacities and effectiveness) and costs. Our results show, for the first time, benefits and impacts such as allowing CO 2 plumes to overlap, how different well spacing patterns affect CO 2 sequestration, the effects on costs of including brine treatment and disposal, and the effect of restricting injection rates to 1 MtCO 2 per y based on well limitations. We reveal multiple novel and unintuitive findings including: (i) deeper reservoirs have reduced carbon sequestration costs until injection rates reach 1 MtCO 2 per y, at which point deeper reservoirs become more expensive, (ii) thicker formations allow for increased injection rates and storage capacity, but thickness barely impacts plume areas, (iii) higher geothermal gradients result in reduced sequestration costs, unless brine treatment/disposal costs are included, at which point reservoirs having lower geothermal gradients are more economical because they produce less brine for each unit of injected CO 2 , and (iv) allowing plumes to overlap has a significantly positive impact of increasing storage capacities but has only a small influence on reducing sequestration costs. Overall, our results illustrate new scientific conclusions to help ide