Natural and artificial pore pressure variation for distinguishing earthquakes induced by CO2 injection from natural earthquakes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chanmaly Chhun ◽  
Takeshi Tsuji
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Seasonal Fluctuations ◽  
Induced Earthquakes ◽  
Seismogenic Fault ◽  
Seismogenic Faults ◽  
Natural Earthquakes

<p>It is important to distinguish between natural earthquakes and those induced by CO<sub>2</sub> injection at carbon capture and storage sites. For example, the 2004 M<sub>w</sub> 6.8 Chuetsu earthquake occurred close to the Nagaoka CO<sub>2</sub> storage site during gas injection, but we could not quantify whether the earthquake was due to CO<sub>2</sub> injection or not. Here, changes in pore pressure during CO<sub>2</sub> injection at the Nagaoka site were simulated and compared with estimated natural seasonal fluctuations in pore pressure due to rainfall and snowmelt, as well as estimated pore pressure increases related to remote earthquakes. Changes in pore pressure due to CO<sub>2</sub> injection were clearly distinguished from those due to rainfall and snowmelt. The simulated local increase in pore pressure at the seismogenic fault area was much less than the seasonal fluctuations related to precipitation and increases caused by remote earthquakes, and the lateral extent of pore pressure increase was insufficient to influence seismogenic faults. We also demonstrated that pore pressure changes due to distant earthquakes are capable of triggering slip on seismogenic faults. The approach we developed could be used to distinguish natural from injection-induced earthquakes and will be useful for that purpose at other CO<sub>2</sub> sequestration sites.</p><p>This research was published in “Sustainability”, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229723.</p><p>Keywords: pore pressure; CO2 injection; induced earthquakes; seasonal earthquakes; remote earthquakes; seismogenic faults.</p>

scholarly journals Pore Pressure Analysis for Distinguishing Earthquakes Induced by CO2 Injection from Natural Earthquakes

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9723
Author(s):  
Chanmaly Chhun ◽  
Takeshi Tsuji
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Seasonal Fluctuations ◽  
Induced Earthquakes ◽  
Seismogenic Fault ◽  
Seismogenic Faults ◽  
Natural Earthquakes

It is important to distinguish between natural earthquakes and those induced by CO2 injection at carbon capture and storage sites. For example, the 2004 Mw 6.8 Chuetsu earthquake occurred close to the Nagaoka CO2 storage site during gas injection, but we could not quantify whether the earthquake was due to CO2 injection or not. Here, changes in pore pressure during CO2 injection at the Nagaoka site were simulated and compared with estimated natural seasonal fluctuations in pore pressure due to rainfall and snowmelt, as well as estimated pore pressure increases related to remote earthquakes. Changes in pore pressure due to CO2 injection were clearly distinguished from those due to rainfall and snowmelt. The simulated local increase in pore pressure at the seismogenic fault area was much less than the seasonal fluctuations related to precipitation and increases caused by remote earthquakes, and the lateral extent of pore pressure increase was insufficient to influence seismogenic faults. We also demonstrated that pore pressure changes due to distant earthquakes are capable of triggering slip on seismogenic faults. The approach we developed could be used to distinguish natural from injection-induced earthquakes and will be useful for that purpose at other CO2 sequestration sites.

scholarly journals Pore Pressure Analysis for Distinguishing Earthquakes Induced by CO2 Injection from Natural Earthquakes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chanmaly Chhun ◽  
Takeshi Tsuji
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Seasonal Fluctuations ◽  
Induced Earthquakes ◽  
Seismogenic Fault ◽  
Seismogenic Faults ◽  
Natural Earthquakes

It is important to distinguish between natural earthquakes and those induced by CO2 injection at carbon capture and storage sites. For example, the 2004 Mw 6.8 Chuetsu earthquake occurred close to the Nagaoka CO2 storage site during gas injection, but we could not quantify whether the earthquake was due to CO2 injection or not. Here we simulated changes of pore pressure during CO2 injection at the Nagaoka site and compared them with estimated natural seasonal fluctuations of pore pressure due to rainfall and snowmelt as well as estimated pore pressure increases related to remote earthquakes. We clearly distinguished changes of pore pressure due to CO2 injection from those due to rainfall and snowmelt. The simulated local increase in pore pressure at seismogenic fault area was much less than the seasonal fluctuations related to precipitation and increases caused by remote earthquakes, and the lateral extent of pore pressure increase was insufficient to influence seismogenic faults. We also demonstrated that pore pressure changes due to distant earthquakes are capable of triggering slip on seismogenic faults. The approach we developed could be used to distinguish natural from injection-induced earthquakes and will be useful for that purpose at other CO2 sequestration sites.

scholarly journals Periodic CO2 Injection for Improved Storage Capacity and Pressure Management under Intermittent CO2 Supply

Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 566
Author(s):  
Anton Shchipanov ◽  
Lars Kollbotn ◽  
Mauro Encinas ◽  
Ingebret Fjelde ◽  
Roman Berenblyum
Keyword(s):  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Geological Structure ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Pressure Management ◽  
Field Scale ◽  
And Storage

Storing CO2 in geological formations is an important component of reducing greenhouse gases emissions. The Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) industry is now in its establishing phase, and if successful, massive storage volumes would be needed. It will hence be important to utilize each storage site to its maximum, without challenging the formation integrity. For different reasons, supply of CO2 to the injection sites may be periodical or unstable, often considered as a risk element reducing the overall efficiency and economics of CCS projects. In this paper we present outcomes of investigations focusing on a variety of positive aspects of periodic CO2 injection, including pressure management and storage capacity, also highlighting reservoir monitoring opportunities. A feasibility study of periodic injection into an infinite saline aquifer using a mechanistic reservoir model has indicated significant improvement in storage capacity compared to continuous injection. The reservoir pressure and CO2 plume behavior were further studied revealing a ‘CO2 expansion squeeze’ effect that governs the improved storage capacity observed in the feasibility study. Finally, the improved pressure measurement and storage capacity by periodic injection was confirmed by field-scale simulations based on a real geological set-up. The field-scale simulations have confirmed that ‘CO2 expansion squeeze’ governs the positive effect, which is also influenced by well location in the geological structure and aquifer size, while CO2 dissolution in water showed minor influence. Additional reservoir effects and risks not covered in this paper are then highlighted as a scope for further studies. The value of the periodic injection with intermittent CO2 supply is finally discussed in the context of deployment and integration of this technology in the establishing CCS industry.

Geoengineering and Economic Assessment of a Potential Carbon Capture and Storage Site in Southeast Queensland, Australia

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (05) ◽  
pp. 660-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yildiray Cinar ◽  
Peter R. Neal ◽  
William G. Allinson ◽  
Jacques Sayers
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Injection Well ◽  
Reservoir Engineering ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Fracture Gradient ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Southeast Queensland ◽  
Injection Rates

Summary This paper presents geoengineering and economic sensitivity analyses and assessments of the Wunger Ridge flank carbon capture and storage (CCS) site. Both geoengineering and economics are needed to derive the number of wells required to inject a certain amount of CO2 for a given period. A numerical reservoir simulation examines injection rates ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 year for 25 years of injection. Primary factors affecting the ability to inject CO2 include permeability, formation fracture gradient, aquifer strength, and multiphase flow functions. Secondary factors include the solubility of CO2 in the formation brine, injection well location with respect to the flow barriers/low-permeability aquifers, model geometry including faults, grid size and refinement, and injection well type. Less significant factors include hydrodynamic effects. The economics are assessed using an internally developed technoeconomic model. The model optimizes the CO2 injection cost on the basis of geoengineering data and recent equipment costs. The overall costs depend on the initial costs of CO2 separation and source-to-sink distances and their associated pipeline costs. Secondary cost variations are highly dependent on fracture gradient, permeability, and CO2 injection rates. Depending on the injection characteristics, the specific cost of CO2 avoided is between AUS 62 and 80 per tonne. Introduction Australia's fossil-fuel fired power plants emit 194 million tonnes of CO2 each year (Mt CO2/yr), and approximately 26 Mt/yr of this comes from southeast Queensland. A multidisciplinary study has recently identified the onshore Bowen basin as having potential for geological storage of CO2 (Sayers et al. 2006a). In that paper, geological containment and injectivity and reservoir engineering simulation sensitivities showed that a target injection rate of 1.2 Mt CO2/yr over a 25-year project life span could be achieved (i.e., equivalent to injecting the emissions from a 400 MW gas based power station). This study further examines reservoir engineering and economics sensitivities.

scholarly journals Chemistry of Reservoir Fluids in the Aspect of CO2 Injection for Selected Oil Reservoirs in Poland

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6456
Author(s):  
Ewa Knapik ◽  
Katarzyna Chruszcz-Lipska
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Oil Composition ◽  
Co2 Solubility ◽  
Geological Co2 Storage ◽  
Reservoir Conditions

Worldwide experiences related to geological CO2 storage show that the process of the injection of carbon dioxide into depleted oil reservoirs (CCS-EOR, Carbon Capture and Storage—Enhanced Oil Recovery) is highly profitable. The injection of CO2 will allow an increasing recovery factor (thus increasing CCS process profitability) and revitalize mature reservoirs, which may lead to oil spills due to pressure buildups. In Poland, such a solution has not yet been implemented in the industry. This work provides additional data for analysis of the possibility of the CCS-EOR method’s implementation for three potential clusters of Polish oil reservoirs located at a short distance one from another. The aim of the work was to examine the properties of reservoir fluids for these selected oil reservoirs in order to assure a better understanding of the physicochemical phenomena that accompany the gas injection process. The chemical composition of oils was determined by gas chromatography. All tested oils represent a medium black oil type with the density ranging from 795 to 843 g/L and the viscosity at 313 K, varying from 1.95 to 5.04 mm/s. The content of heavier components C25+ is up to 17 wt. %. CO2–oil MMP (Minimum Miscibility Pressure) was calculated in a CHEMCAD simulator using the Soave–Redlich–Kwong equation of state (SRK EoS). The oil composition was defined as a mixture of n-alkanes. Relatively low MMP values (ca. 8.3 MPa for all tested oils at 313 K) indicate a high potential of the EOR method, and make this geological CO2 storage form more attractive to the industry. For reservoir brines, the content of the main ions was experimentally measured and CO2 solubility under reservoir conditions was calculated. The reservoir brines showed a significant variation in properties with total dissolved solids contents varying from 17.5 to 378 g/L. CO2 solubility in brines depends on reservoir conditions and brine chemistry. The highest calculated CO2 solubility is 1.79 mol/kg, which suggest possible CO2 storage in aquifers.

scholarly journals Groundwater Anomaly Related to CCS-CO2 Injection and the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake in Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuji Sano ◽  
Takanori Kagoshima ◽  
Naoto Takahata ◽  
Kotaro Shirai ◽  
Jin-Oh Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Source Region ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Focal Region ◽  
Injection Point ◽  
Anthropogenic Carbon ◽  
And Storage

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered a key technology for reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Nonetheless, there are concerns that if injected CO2 migrates in the crust, it may trigger slip of pre-existing faults. In order to test if this is the case, covariations of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen isotopes of groundwater measured from Uenae well, southern Hokkaido, Japan are reported. This well is located 13 km away from the injection point of the Tomakomai CCS project and 21 km from the epicenter of September 6th, 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake (M 6.7). Carbon isotope composition was constant from June 2015 to February 2018, and decreased significantly from April 2018 to November 2019, while total dissolved inorganic carbon (TDIC) content showed a corresponding increase. A decrease in radiocarbon and δ13C values suggests aquifer contamination by anthropogenic carbon, which could possibly be attributable to CCS-injected CO2. If such is the case, the CO2 enriched fluid may have initially migrated through permeable channels, blocking the fluid flow from the source region, increasing pore pressure in the focal region and triggering the natural earthquake where the brittle crust is already critically stressed.

scholarly journals The Endurance CO2 storage site, Blocks 42/25 and 43/21, UK North Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon G. Gluyas ◽  
Usman Bagudu
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Lower Triassic ◽  
Injection Rate ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Sandstone Formation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Storage

AbstractThe Endurance, four-way, dip-closed structure in UK Blocks 42/25 and 43/21 occurs over a salt swell diapir and within Triassic and younger strata. The Lower Triassic Bunter Sandstone Formation reservoir within the structure was tested twice for natural gas (in 1970 and 1990) but both wells were dry. The reservoir is both thick and high quality and, as such, an excellent candidate site for subsurface CO2 storage.In 2013 a consortium led by National Grid Carbon drilled an appraisal well on the structure and undertook an injection test ahead of a planned development of Endurance as the first bespoke storage site on the UK Continental Shelf with an expected injection rate of 2.68 × 106 t of dense phase CO2 each year for 20 years. The site was not developed following the UK Government's removal of financial support for carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects, but it is hoped with the recent March 2020 Budget that government support for CCS may now be back on track.

scholarly journals Uncertainty in regional estimates of capacity for carbon capture and storage

Solid Earth ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1707-1715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Wilkinson ◽  
Debbie Polson
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Saline Aquifers ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Regional Estimates ◽  
And Storage

Abstract. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a potentially important technology for the mitigation of industrial CO2 emissions. However, the majority of the subsurface storage capacity is in saline aquifers, for which there is relatively little information. Published estimates of the potential storage capacity of such formations, based on limited data, often give no indication of the uncertainty, despite there being substantial uncertainty associated with the data used to calculate such estimates. Here, we test the hypothesis that the uncertainty in such estimates is a significant proportion of the estimated storage capacity, and should hence be evaluated as a part of any assessment. Using only publicly available data, a group of 13 experts independently estimated the storage capacity of seven regional saline aquifers. The experts produced a wide range of estimates for each aquifer due to a combination of using different published values for some variables and differences in their judgements of the aquifer properties such as area and thickness. The range of storage estimates produced by the experts shows that there is significant uncertainty in such estimates; in particular, the experts' range does not capture the highest possible capacity estimates. This means that by not accounting for uncertainty, such regional estimates may underestimate the true storage capacity. The result is applicable to single values of storage capacity of regional potential but not to detailed studies of a single storage site.

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