EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF MULTIPHASE FLOW IN CO2 GEO-SEQUESTRATION

By I. ELRAY

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM DESCRIPTION RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ORGANISATION OF THESES REFERENCES MULTIPHASE FLOW DURING CO2 GEO-SEQUESTRATION GEO-SEQUESTRATION PURE CARBON DIOXIDE PURE H2O AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF CO2 AND NACL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE MULTIPHASE FLOW BEHAVIOUR DURING CO2 GEO-SEQUESTRATION WETTING TENDENCY OF POROUS MEDIA SATURATION HISTORY EXISTENCE AND MAGNITUDE OF A THIRD PHASE SATURATION IN THE POROUS MEDIUM DIRECTIONAL DEPENDENCE OF ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE PERMEABILITIES FINES MIGRATION AND MINERAL DISSOLUTION AND PRECIPITATION CHANGE IN IN-SITU STRESS FIELD CHANGE IN THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTAL WORK EXPERIMENTAL SETUP, MATERIAL AND PROCEDURE EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS THE INJECTION SYSTEM THE CORE-HOLDER THE SEPARATION AND COLLECTION SYSTEM THE DATA LOGGING AND MONITORING SYSTEM THE MATERIAL FLUIDS CORE SAMPLES EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE CORE-PLUG PREPARATION AND PRELIMINARY MEASUREMENTS THE SAMPLE RESTORATION PROCESS NMR MEASUREMENTS MUTUAL PRE-SATURATION OF BRINE AND CO2 THE CORE-FLOODING EXPERIMENTS EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS P–T CONDITIONS FOR THE EXPERIMENTS CORE SAMPLE PROPERTIES COMPOSITE CORES RESULTS OF CORE-FLOODING EXPERIMENTS CYCLIC CO2-BRINE INJECTION CYCLIC CO2-BRINE INJECTION—EFFECT OF RESIDUAL NATURAL GAS SATURATION RESULTS OF NMR MEASUREMENTS RESULTS OF OTHER COMPLEMENTARY MEASUREMENTS INTERPRETATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION POROSITY–PERMEABILITY RELATIONSHIP OF SAMPLES EFFECTS OF CYCLIC CO2-BRINE FLOODING EFFECTS ON THE SATURATION PROFILES EFFECTS ON THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE PROFILES EFFECTS OF FLOW DIRECTION EFFECTS OF CHANGE IN RESERVOIR STRESS FIELD EFFECTS OF RESIDUAL NATURAL GAS SATURATION RELATIVE PERMEABILITY DATA SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION IN THIS RESEARCH THE EFFECT OF A NUMBER OF FACTORS WHICH ARE CONSIDERED AS GREATLY IN?UENCING THE CO2-BRINE ?OW CHARACTERISTICS DURING CARBON DIOXIDE GEO- SEQUESTRATION HAVE BEEN EVALUATED THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE RESEARCH HAS BEEN ON THE FACTORS WHICH CHANGE THE MULTIPHASE ?OW BEHAVIOUR OF THE INVOLVED ?UIDS IN THE UNDERGROUND POROUS MEDIA OVER TIME IN SHORT AND LONG TERMS THE ?RST PART OF THIS CHAPTER FOCUSES ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE (CCS) AS A MEANS OF REDUCING THE LEVEL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC CO2 THE SECOND PART PRESENTS AN OUTLINE OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND THE CHAPTER ENDS WITH A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS DISSERTATION 1 1 BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM DESCRIPTION CARBON DIOXIDE ALONG WITH OTHER GREENHOUSE GASES SUCH AS METHANE, WATER VAPOUR, NITROUS OXIDE AND OZONE, EFFECTIVELY TRAP INFRA-RED RADIATION EMITTED FROM THE EARTH’S SURFACE [1] THIS PHENOMENON TRAPS THE HEAT INSIDE THE ATMOSPHERE SUR- ROUNDING THE EARTH AND IS VITAL FOR THE SURVIVAL OF LIFE ON THE EARTH WITHOUT THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH A NATURALLY OCCURRING PHENOMENON, THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE ON THE EARTH WOULD BE -18C INSTEAD OF THE CURRENT +15C [2] HOWEVER, HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF SUCH GASES IN THE ATMOSPHERE CAN CAUSE AN ABNORMAL INCREASE IN THE EARTH’S SURFACE TEMPERATURE EXCESSIVE EMISSIONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE FROM ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES—SUCH AS POWER PLANTS AND CAR EXHAUSTS, INTO THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE, HAS BEEN IDENTI?ED AS THE MAIN CAUSE FOR THE ONGOING GLOBAL WARMING PHENOMENON [3] OCCURRING SINCE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BACK IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CARBON DIOXIDE ACCOUNTS FOR 64% OF THE TOTAL GLOBAL GREENHOUSE EFFECT DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF THE DEVELOPMENTS MADE IN THE FOSSIL FUEL HUNGRY INDUSTRIES, THE AMOUNT OF CO2 EMISSIONS HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY DATA RECORDED AT THE MAUNA LOA OBSERVATORY SITE IN HAWAII SHOWS THAT OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS, THE ATMOSPHERIC CONCENTRATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE HAS