PNNL

Abstract

The application of numerical and analytical models to the problem of storage, sequestration and migration of carbon dioxide in geologic formations is discussed. A review of numerical and analytical models that have been applied to CO2 sequestration are presented, as well as a description of frameworks for risk analysis. Application of models to various issues related to carbon sequestration are discussed, including trapping mechanisms, density convection mixing, impurities in the CO2 stream, changes in formation porosity and permeability, the risk of vertical leakage, and the impacts on groundwater resources if leakage does occur. A discussion of the development and application of site-specific models first addresses the estimation of model parameters and the use of natural analogues to inform the development of CO2 sequestration models, and then surveys modeling that has been done at two commercial-scale CO2 sequestration sites, Sleipner and In Salah, along with a pilot-scale injection sites used to study CO2 sequestration in saline aquifers (Frio) and an experimental site designed to test monitoring of CO2 leakage in the vadose zone (ZERT Release Facility).