HR: 10:20h
AN: U42A-01 INVITED [Abstracts]
TI: Geological Storage as a Carbon Mitigation Option
AU: * Celia, M A
EM: celia@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton, NJ
08544, United States
AU: Nordbotten, J M
EM: jnordbot@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton, NJ
08544, United States
AU: Nordbotten, J M
EM: jnordbot@princeton.edu
AF: University of Bergen, Department of Mathematics, Bergen, N-5008, Norway
AU: Gasda, S E
EM: sgasda@princeton.edu
AF: Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton, NJ
08544, United States
AU: Gasda, S E
EM: sgasda@princeton.edu
AF: University of North Carolina, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering,
Chapel Hill, NC 27560, United States
AB:
One of the most promising approaches for carbon mitigation involves essentially-zero-emission power plants
based on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The key to any CCS strategy is a suitable choice for
large-scale storage of the captured CO2. While a variety of storage options are being studied, geological storage
appears to be most viable. Injection of captured CO2 into deep geological formations leads to a fairly complex
flow system involving multiple fluid phases, a range of potential geochemical reactions, and mass transfer
across phase interfaces. General models of this system are computationally demanding, with the problem made
more difficult by the large range of spatial scales involved as well as the importance of local features for both fluid
flow and geochemical reactions. An especially important local feature involves leakage pathways, with one
example being abandoned wells associated with the century-long legacy of oil and gas exploration and
production. Such pathways also have large uncertainties associated with their properties. Therefore, inclusion of
leakage in the storage analysis requires resolution of multiple scales and incorporation of large uncertainties.
Furthermore, when implemented at full scale, geological storage will induce subsurface perturbations that extend
across entire basins. Taken together, these requirements render standard numerical simulators ineffective due
to their excessive computational demands. A series of physically-motivated simplifications to the governing
equations can ultimately render the system solvable by analytical or semi-analytical methods. These solutions,
while restrictive in their assumptions, allow for large-scale analysis of leakage in a probabilistic framework and
can provide a basis for regulatory policies.
DE: 1622 Earth system modeling (1225)
DE: 1832 Groundwater transport
DE: 1847 Modeling
DE: 1849 Numerical approximations and analysis
DE: 1859 Rocks: physical properties
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting