LBNL Research Overview: Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program

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LBNL Research OverviewGeologic Carbon
Sequestration Program

• Earth Sciences Division
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

September 2009
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LBNL GCS Research History and Mission
To develop the knowledge and understanding of CO2
injection, storage, migration processes, impacts,
and monitoring to inform and guide the safe and
effective implementation of geologic carbon
sequestration.
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Budget FY09

Total FY09 Est. 7.35M
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LBNL Contributions to GCS Science

• Field tests
• CCP Volumes
• IPCC report
• Journal articles (gt85)
• Special Issues
• Conferences

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Main Projects in GCS Program

• ZERT
• Predictive modeling
• Monitoring and verification
• Multiphase Flow and displacement
• GEOSEQ
• Frio Brine Pilot (Texas)
• Otway Basin Pilot (Australia)
• In Salah Industrial-Scale (Algeria)
• WESTCARB
• Regional characterization
• Pilot injection projects
• EPA/NETL
• CO2 impacts on groundwater
• Induced seismicity

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ZERT Project at LBNLCurt Oldenburg, Karsten
Pruess, Tianfu Xu, Christine Doughty, Jennifer
Lewicki, Tim Kneafsey

• Modeling of flow and transport
• TOUGH2
• TOUGHREACT
• WebGasEOS
• Monitoring and verification
• Shallow-release experiment
• Detection optimization
• Multiphase flow studies
• Relative permeability
• Capillary trapping

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Shallow-Release Experimental SiteJennifer
Lewicki and Curt Oldenburg

• Facility Goals, Rationale Design
• Develop a wellcharacterized site
• Inject CO2 at controlled rates
• Deploy surface monitoring techniques
• Use this site to establish detection limits for
  monitoring technologies
• Use this site to improve models for groundwater
  vadose zone atmospheric dispersion models
• Develop a site that is accessible and available
  for multiple seasons / years
• Three summers of experiments have now been
  carried out (2007-2009).
• Modeling predictions and numerous monitoring
  methods have been evaluated and demonstrated.

Slotted Stainless Pipe With Internal CO2 Pipe
Packer System for Even Gas Distribution
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GEOSEQ Frio Brine Pilot (Tom Daley and Barry
Freifeld)

• Pre- and post-test modeling
• Geophysics
• VSP
• Cross-well
• Pressure transient
  analysis
• Tracers

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GEOSEQ Australian U.S. Collaboration The
Otway Project (Barry Freifeld and Tom Daley)

• 100,000 tonnes over 2 years (1 kg/s)
• Injection Started April 2008
• MMV surface gas, 4 D seismics,
  geochemical sampling

Australian CO2CRC Project store carbon dioxide
in a depleted gas field 2 km deep.
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Integrated Geophysical and Geochemical Monitoring
Barry Freifeld and Tom Daley
Multi-level U-tube geochemical sampling system
provides information on the distribution of CO2
and arrival of gas tracers
Naylor-1 seismic monitoring adds capabilities for
spatial/ temporal imaging of the CO2 plume in
addition to assessing integrity of the CO2
storage reservoir.
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GEOSEQ In Salah Project Jonny Rutqvist, HH Liu,
and Don Vasco
Evolution of surface deformation

• Assess the effectiveness of CO2 storage in low
  permeability formations using long-reach
  horizontal injection wells.
• Investigate monitoring techniques to evaluate the
  performance of a high pressure CO2-injection
  operation.

Satellite-based interferometry measurements
(InSar)
Evolution of volume change in reservoir ? track
fluid pressure and estimate reservoir flow
properties
Fluid Flow and Geomechanical Modeling
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CO2 Storage and Groundwater ResourcesJens
Birkholzer and Quanlin Zhou
Research Topic Groundwater Quality Changes in
the Case of CO2 Intrusion

• Concerns
• Dissolution of CO2 into groundwater increases
  acidity
• Increased acidity may mobilize hazardous
  constituents present in minerals
• Objective
• Systematic evaluation of the potential
  hydrochemical impact of CO2 storage projects on
  groundwater

EPA/NETL Coordinated Research Effort
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Major Research Program Elements

• ZERT (Zero Emissions Research and Technology)
  Fundamental research on geological storage
• GEOSEQ Scientific field testing and analysis of
  geologic storage
• WESTCARB Pilot testing to demonstrate the
  potential for CO2 storage in deep geological
  formations and enable deployment of CCS
  technology
• EPA/NETL Impacts of CO2 on groundwater and
  seismicity

Demonstration and deployment
Fundamental Knowledge
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ESD Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program
Curtis M. Oldenburg, Program Head
cmoldenburg_at_lbl.gov Larry R. Myer, Deputy
Program Head lrmyer_at_lbl.gov

• http//esd.lbl.gov/GCS

2009
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Energy Frontier Research CenterBerend Smit et al.
Gas separations are difficult and expensive and
may benefit from molecular control that
nanoscience and technology offers

• Capture of CO2 from gas streams
• New materials and concepts
• Inorganic materials
• Polymer membranes
• Physical separations
• Characterization
• Materials
• Properties
• Integration
• Making/testing actual separations
• Computation
• Separation simulator

Nanostructured polymer membranes
Metal-organic frameworks
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Energy Frontier Research CenterDon DePaolo et al.
GCS involves injecting CO2 into rock formations
with no control on where CO2 will go, or how it
will chemically react with the rocks and ambient
fluids

• Control of CO2
• Thrust Area 1 Control of carbonate mineral
  nucleation and growth
• Thrust Area 2 Structure, dynamics, and transport
  of fluids in nanopores and thin films
• Thrust Area 3 Emergent processes