Geologic Carbon Sequestration

Advancing science and technology for safe and effective geologic carbon sequestration

The Geological Carbon Sequestration (GCS) Program uses theory along with lab, field, and simulation approaches to investigate processes needed to inform and guide the safe and effective implementation of geologic carbon sequestration. Through collaborations with partner organizations that lead major field projects involving CO₂ injection, GCS program investigators confront and solve real-world challenges in monitoring, modeling, and data analysis. Through applying their world-leading capabilities, EESA investigators develop innovative and deployable scientific solutions to these challenges with an emphasis on applicability, knowledge dissemination, and technology transfer.

Key topics of investigation include:

Capacity, trapping mechanisms, and permanence
Field studies at CO₂ injection sites, including fluid sampling under in situ conditions (U-Tube)
Monitoring and verification using geophysical (e.g., seismic) and surface methods (e.g., InSAR)
Containment assurance (leakage, seepage, and well-blowout impacts and mitigation)
Impacts on the environment, including to groundwater and induced seismicity
Risk-based assessment and certification
Performance prediction (using TOUGH suite of codes)
CO₂-enhanced hydrocarbon recovery options
Machine learning for faster simulation and data analysis

Recent science & program advances

Advances in Field Monitoring and Data Analysis

Demonstrated the combination of Surface Orbital Vibrators (SOV) as seismic sources and fiber optic-based Distributed Acoustic Sensors (DAS) as a cost-effective, on-demand, and minimally invasive approach for time-lapse seismic reservoir monitoring
Developed an integrated cross-well electromagnetic and seismic system to monitor the evolution of injected CO₂ plumes by simultaneously measuring plume size, boundaries, and internal saturation
Demonstrated the first offshore use of dark fiber monitoring for potential use in CO₂ leakage monitoring, such as in the Gulf of Mexico
Established detection thresholds, sensitivities, effectiveness, and optimal monitoring network design for geophysical methods of CO₂ plume measurement and verification
Determined by field laboratory experiments that in cap rock faults, leakage is limited to high pressurized patches where a large mixed-mode opening and near declamping of the fault occurs leading to mostly aseismic fault opening and related leakage, and also leakage-rate control on fault slip and induced seismicity
Demonstrated multiscale and multipath channeling of CO₂ flow in the hierarchical fluvial reservoir at Cranfield, Mississippi, and thermal fracturing and self‐propping induced by liquid CO₂ injection in the thick multilayered reservoirs at Ordos, China, through an exhaustive deep-dive analysis of field data
First comprehensive investigations into GCS in fractured reservoirs for enhanced storage and monitoring comprising: experimental and modeling studies on fracture-matrix interactions of dissolved and free-phase CO₂, reaction-induced fracture alteration (aperture and near-fracture region), and shear mechanics, dynamic friction, and strain-dependent slip on rock fractures

Laboratory and Modeling Advances

Developed an integrated automation algorithm for pressure management of GCS systems including: (1) analysis and interpretation of monitoring data; (2) reservoir model testing; (3) updating of model parameters using inverse modeling methods; and (4) logic for revising reservoir management schemes based on the updated reservoir model predictions. The test site for this work is the Brine Extraction Storage Test (BEST) site in the deep in Florida.
Simulated the first coupled CO₂ well-reservoir blowout into the seawater column showing effective dissolution of CO₂ for water depths greater than 50 m
Developed new simulation capabilities for CO₂ phase change and multicomponent mixtures including miscibility with multicomponent oil