Well-based hydraulic and geochemical monitoring of the above zone of the CO2 reservoir at Ketzin, Germany

In order to detect hydraulic and geochemical impact on the groundwater directly above the CO2 storage reservoir at the Ketzin pilot site continuous monitoring using an observation well is carried out. The target depth (446 m below ground level, bgl.) of the well is the Exter formation (Upper Triassic, Rhaetian) which is the closest permeable stratigraphic overlying formation to the CO2 storage reservoir (630–636 m bgl. at well location). The monitoring concept comprises evaluation of hydraulic conditions, temperature, water chemistry, gas geochemistry and δ13C values. This is achieved by a tubing inserted inside the well with installed pressure sensors and a U-tube sampling system so that pumping tests or additional wireline logging can be carried out simultaneously with monitoring. The aquifer was examined using a pump test. The observation well is hydraulically connected to the regional aquifer system and the permeability of about 1.8 D is comparatively high. Between Sept. 2011 and Oct. 2012, a pressure increase of 7.4 kPa is observed during monitoring under environmental conditions. Drilling was carried out with drilling mud on carbonate basis. The concentration of residual drilling mud decreases during the pump test, but all samples show a residual concentration of drilling mud. The formation fluid composition is recalculated with PHREEQC and is comparable to the literature values for the Exter formation. The gas partial pressure is below saturation at standard conditions and the composition is dominated by N2 similar to the underlying storage reservoir prior to CO2 injection. The impact of residual drilling mud on dissolved inorganic carbon and the respective δ13C values decreases during the monitoring period. The pristine isotopic composition cannot be determined due to calcite precipitation. No conclusive results indicate a leakage from the underlying CO2 storage reservoir.

[1]  David R. Cole,et al.  Potential environmental issues of CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers: Geochemical results from the Frio-I Brine Pilot test, Texas, USA , 2009 .

[2]  W. G. Mook,et al.  Isotopic fractionation between gaseous and dissolved carbon dioxide , 1970 .

[3]  C. Schmidt-Hattenberger,et al.  Europe’s longest-operating on-shore CO2 storage site at Ketzin, Germany: a progress report after three years of injection , 2012, Environmental Earth Sciences.

[4]  T. D. Streltsova,et al.  Well Testing in Heterogeneous Formations , 1988 .

[5]  Susan D. Hovorka,et al.  The U-Tube: A Novel System for Acquiring Borehole Fluid Samples from a Deep Geologic CO2 Sequestration Experiment , 2005 .

[6]  A. Dahmke,et al.  A monitoring strategy to detect CO2 intrusion in deeper freshwater aquifers , 2012 .

[7]  Philipp Blum,et al.  Stable carbon isotope techniques to quantify CO2 trapping under pre-equilibrium conditions and elevated pressures and temperatures , 2012 .

[8]  Alessandra Simone,et al.  CO2 geological storage field development–Application of baseline, monitoring and verification technology , 2009 .

[9]  Bernd Wiese,et al.  Hydraulic characterisation of the Stuttgart formation at the pilot test site for CO2 storage, Ketzin, Germany , 2010 .

[10]  Christian Kujawa,et al.  The gas membrane sensor (GMS): A new method for gas measurements in deep boreholes applied at the CO2SINK site , 2011 .

[11]  Julia Götz,et al.  Time-lapse seismic surface and down-hole measurements for monitoring CO2 storage in the CO2SINK project (Ketzin, Germany) , 2011 .

[12]  Christopher Juhlin,et al.  Cross-well seismic waveform tomography for monitoring CO2 injection : a case study from the Ketzin Site, Germany , 2012 .

[13]  B. Toman,et al.  New Guidelines for δ13C Measurements , 2006 .

[14]  Martin Nowak,et al.  Well-based, Geochemical Leakage Monitoring of an Aquifer Immediately Above a CO2 Storage Reservoir by Stable Carbon Isotopes at the Ketzin Pilot Site, Germany , 2013 .

[15]  Ernie Perkins,et al.  Using chemical and isotopic data to quantify ionic trapping of injected carbon dioxide in oil field brines. , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[16]  Karsten Pruess,et al.  Numerical studies of fluid leakage from a geologic disposal reservoir for CO2 show self‐limiting feedback between fluid flow and heat transfer , 2005 .

[17]  M. Alawi,et al.  The use of tracers to assess drill-mud penetration depth into sandstone cores during deep drilling: method development and application , 2013, Environmental Earth Sciences.

[18]  Alexander Y. Sun,et al.  Inversion of pressure anomaly data for detecting leakage at geologic carbon sequestration sites , 2012 .

[19]  Gunter Borm,et al.  CO2SINK—From site characterisation and risk assessment to monitoring and verification: One year of operational experience with the field laboratory for CO2 storage at Ketzin, Germany , 2010 .

[20]  Christopher Juhlin,et al.  Monitoring CO2 response on surface seismic data; a rock physics and seismic modeling feasibility study at the CO2 sequestration site, Ketzin, Germany , 2009 .

[21]  K. Pruess.  Numerical studies of fluid leakage from a geologic disposal reservoir for CO{sub 2} show self-limiting feedback between fluid flow and heat transfer - article no. L14404 , 2005 .

[22]  William R. Smith,et al.  Chemical Reaction Equilibrium Analysis: Theory and Algorithms , 1982 .

[23]  Monika Ivandic,et al.  Monitoring and volumetric estimation of injected CO2 using 4D seismic, petrophysical data, core measurements and well logging: a case study at Ketzin, Germany , 2012 .

[24]  David William Keith,et al.  Leakage detection and characterization through pressure monitoring , 2011 .

[25]  D. Huh,et al.  A pressure-monitoring method to warn CO2 leakage in geological storage sites , 2012, Environmental Earth Sciences.

[26]  Martin Zimmer,et al.  Long-term surface carbon dioxide flux monitoring at the Ketzin carbon dioxide storage test site , 2011 .

[27]  W. G. Mook,et al.  CARBON ISOTOPE FRACTIONATION BETWEEN DISSOLVED BICARBONATE AND GASEOUS CARBON-DIOXIDE , 1974 .

[28]  Philipp Blum,et al.  Predicting δ13CDIC dynamics in CCS: A scheme based on a review of inorganic carbon chemistry under elevated pressures and temperatures , 2011 .

[29]  J. Fuhrmann,et al.  Deep reaching fluid flow close to convective instability in the NE German basin—results from water chemistry and numerical modelling , 2005 .

[30]  Martin Nowak,et al.  A Brief Overview of Isotope Measurements Carried Out at Various CCS Pilot Sites Worldwide , 2013 .

[31]  Sally M. Benson,et al.  Measuring permanence of CO2 storage in saline formations: the Frio experiment , 2005 .

[32]  I. S. Papadopulos.  Nonsteady flow to multiaquifer wells , 1966 .

[33]  Cornelia Schmidt-Hattenberger,et al.  A Modular Geoelectrical Monitoring System as Part of the Surveillance Concept in CO2 Storage Projects , 2012 .

[34]  Bert Metz,et al.  Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage , 2005 .

[35]  A. Aydin,et al.  Architecture and deformation mechanism of a basin-bounding normal fault in Mesozoic platform carbonates, central Italy , 2006 .

[36]  M. Scheck‐Wenderoth,et al.  Controls on the deep thermal field: implications from 3-D numerical simulations for the geothermal research site Groß Schönebeck , 2013, Environmental Earth Sciences.

[37]  David L. Alumbaugh,et al.  Electromagnetic methods for development and production: State of the art , 1997 .

[38]  P W Hare,et al.  Monitoring the hydraulic performance of a containment system with significant barometric pressure effects. , 1999, Ground water.

[39]  Ernie Perkins,et al.  Monitoring of fluid–rock interaction and CO2 storage through produced fluid sampling at the Weyburn CO2-injection enhanced oil recovery site, Saskatchewan, Canada , 2005 .

[40]  Barry Freifeld,et al.  Recent advances in well-based monitoring of CO2 sequestration , 2008 .

[41]  Christopher Juhlin,et al.  Baseline characterization of the CO2SINK geological storage site at Ketzin, Germany , 2006 .

[42]  D. Jézéquel,et al.  Improved method for isotopic and quantitative analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon in natural water samples. , 2006, Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM.