A modeled experiment of gas behavior in aquifer and residual gas formation
Abstract
National and international concern is rising about the possible effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on the climate. Several methods are proposed to reduce the gas in the atmosphere and underground sequestration is recently expected as an effective concept. Especially, residual gas can be the most effective method to store the gas in reservoir. Underground sequestration requires the gas injected into a reservoir. When the gas is injected into a water- saturated aquifer, it pushes water out of the pore space. As the gas bubbles go upward, the gas space is filled with water again, but small gas bubbles are trapped in the pore space by surface force and capillary pressure of water. This is the residual gas formation. Once the residual gas is formed, it seldom moves again from the pore space. Residual gas formation needs neither cap-rock nor structural trap, thus has a potential to be applied to broader regions. The purpose of this study is to examine the fundamental mechanism of residual gas formation and gas migration underground by injecting the gas into a modeled and visualized aquifer. We designed and constructed an experimental apparatus to measure the distribution and the saturation of the residual gas. We used glass beads of 1 or 2mm diameters as porous media to construct some reservoir models that have various porosity, permeability, and wettability. The glass beads packed in our apparatus which has 30cm width, 33.5cm height, and 1cm thickness. It has 1§¤volume in amount. The pore space was filled with viscous liquid, then air was injected from the bottom. Some conditions in the injection time and rate were tested. We observed air behavior and measured the volume of the distribution area of residual gas from its digital photographs, and the volume of residual gas from the amount of water that was pushed out from the apparatus. The experimental results showed that differences of reservoir properties made changes in the gas behavior and residual gas volume. It is also confirmed that air injection rate (injection pressure) was a sensitive property against residual gas volume that can be maximised by selecting a suitable injection rate for each reservoir property.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFM.H13F1640T
- Keywords:
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- 1807 Climate impacts;
- 1857 Reservoirs (surface)