Numerical Simulation of Impacts of Hydrological Properties of Geologic Storage Formations on Injection Efficiency of Carbon Dioxide

A series of numerical simulations using a multiphase thermo-hydrological numerical model is performed to analyze groundwater flow, carbon dioxide flow, and heat transport due to geologic storage of carbon dioxide in a geologic storage formation (sandstone aquifer) and to evaluate impacts of its saturated (i.e., porosity and intrinsic permeability) and unsaturated (i.e., residual water saturation, residual gas saturation, gas-entry pressure, and van Genuchten’s exponent) hydrological properties on the injection efficiency of carbon dioxide. The numerical simulation results show that the hydrological properties of the storage formation have significant effects on the injection efficiency of carbon dioxide. Under a constant injection pressure of carbon dioxide, the injection rate and injectivity of carbon dioxide increase rapidly during the early period of carbon dioxide injection (about 2 weeks) and then increases monotonously until the end of carbon dioxide injection. The injection rate and injectivity of carbon dioxide are most sensitive to variations in the intrinsic permeability and van Genuchten’s exponent of the storage formation. They increase significantly as the intrinsic permeability and van Genuchten’s exponent of the storage formation increase, whereas they decrease slightly as the porosity and the residual gas saturation of the storage formation increase. However, they are most insensitive to variations in the residual water saturation and the gas-entry pressure of the storage formation. These results indicate that the injection efficiency of carbon dioxide is significantly dependent on the relative permeability, which is a function of the unsaturated hydrological properties (i.e., residual water saturation, residual gas saturation, gas-entry pressure, and van Genuchten’s exponent) of the storage formation, as well as its saturated hydrological properties (i.e., porosity and intrinsic permeability) in different degrees. Therefore it may be concluded that the hydrological properties of a storage formation must be properly characterized and considered when more rigorous and reasonable predictions of effective and optimal injection schemes for geologic storage of carbon dioxide are to be obtained using a multiphase thermo-hydrological numerical model. This work was supported by the Korea Research Council for Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Republic of Korea.