LUCI: A facility at DUSEL for large-scale experimental study of geologic carbon sequestration

LUCI, the Laboratory for Underground CO2 Investigations, is an experimental facility being planned for the DUSEL underground laboratory in South Dakota, USA. It is designed to study vertical flow of CO2 in porous media over length scales representative of leakage scenarios in geologic carbon sequestration. The plan for LUCI is a set of three vertical column pressure vessels, each of which is ~500 m long and ~1 m in diameter. The vessels will be filled with brine and sand or sedimentary rock. Each vessel will have an inner column to simulate a well for deployment of down-hole logging tools. The experiments are configured to simulate CO2 leakage by releasing CO2 into the bottoms of the columns. The scale of the LUCI facility will permit measurements to study CO2 flow over pressure and temperature variations that span supercritical to subcritical gas conditions. It will enable observation or inference of a variety of relevant processes such as buoyancy-driven flow in porous media, JouleThomson cooling, thermal exchange, viscous fingering, residual trapping, and CO2 dissolution. Experiments are also planned for reactive flow of CO2 and acidified brines in caprock sediments and well cements, and for CO2-enhanced methanogenesis in organic-rich shales. A comprehensive suite of geophysical logging instruments will be deployed to monitor experimental conditions as well as provide data to quantify vertical resolution of sensor technologies. The experimental observations from LUCI will generate fundamental new understanding of the processes governing CO2 trapping and vertical migration, and will provide valuable data to calibrate and validate large-scale model simulations. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

[1]  Steven L. Bryant,et al.  Cement Core Experiments With a Conductive Leakage Pathway, Under Confining Stress and Alteration of Cement's Mechanical Properties Via a Reactive Fluid, as an Analog for CO2 Leakage Scenario , 2008 .

[2]  Catherine A. Peters,et al.  Forsterite dissolution and magnesite precipitation at conditions relevant for deep saline aquifer storage and sequestration of carbon dioxide , 2005 .

[3]  Les Skinner,et al.  CO2 blowouts: An emerging problem : Well control and intervention , 2003 .

[4]  Catherine A. Peters,et al.  Accessibilities of reactive minerals in consolidated sedimentary rock: An imaging study of three sandstones , 2009 .

[5]  S. McCallum,et al.  Influence of water thermal history and overpressure on CO2-hydrate nucleation and morphology , 2004 .

[6]  B. Kutchko,et al.  Rate of CO2 attack on hydrated Class H well cement under geologic sequestration conditions. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[7]  Thomas L. Kieft,et al.  A Global Perspective on the Microbial Abundance and Activity in the Deep Subsurface , 1999 .

[8]  Stefan Finsterle,et al.  Percolation-theory and fuzzy rule-based probability estimation of fault leakage at geologic carbon sequestration sites , 2010 .

[9]  Terizhandur S. Ramakrishnan,et al.  Time-lapse carbon dioxide monitoring with pulsed neutron logging , 2007 .

[10]  Michael A. Celia,et al.  Leakage of CO 2 Through Abandoned Wells: Role of Corrosion of Cement , 2005 .

[11]  Veronique Barlet-Gouedard,et al.  Mitigation strategies for the risk of CO2 migration through wellbores , 2006 .

[12]  Karsten Pruess,et al.  On CO2 fluid flow and heat transfer behavior in the subsurface, following leakage from a geologic storage reservoir , 2008 .

[13]  D. Boone,et al.  Diffusion of the Interspecies Electron Carriers H2 and Formate in Methanogenic Ecosystems and Its Implications in the Measurement of Km for H2 or Formate Uptake , 1989, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[14]  Curtis M. Oldenburg,et al.  Migration Mechanisms and Potential Impacts of CO2 Leakage and Seepage , 2006 .

[15]  Martin J. Blunt,et al.  Streamline‐based simulation of carbon dioxide storage in a North Sea aquifer , 2006 .

[16]  Susan D. Hovorka,et al.  Monitoring saturation changes for CO2 sequestration : Petrophysical support of the frio brine pilot experiment , 2006 .

[17]  Fabrizio Gherardi,et al.  Numerical modeling of self-limiting and self-enhancing caprock alteration induced by CO2 storage in a depleted gas reservoir , 2007 .

[18]  Michael A. Celia,et al.  Leakage of CO2 Through Abandoned Wells , 2005 .

[19]  Brian R Ellis,et al.  Dissolution potential of SO2 Co-injected with CO2 in geologic sequestration. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[20]  F. Brunet,et al.  Heterogeneous Porosity Distribution in Portland Cement Exposed to CO2-rich Fluids , 2008 .

[21]  P. Lichtner,et al.  Analysis and performance of oil well cement with 30 years of CO2 exposure from the SACROC Unit, West Texas, USA , 2007 .

[22]  Stefan Bachu,et al.  Semianalytical solution for CO2 leakage through an abandoned well. , 2005, Environmental science & technology.

[23]  Helge Stanjek,et al.  Experimental investigation of the CO2 sealing efficiency of caprocks , 2010 .

[24]  I. Gaus,et al.  Reactive transport modelling of the impact of CO2 injection on the clayey cap rock at Sleipner (North Sea) , 2005 .

[25]  David R. Cole,et al.  Gas-water-rock interactions in Frio Formation following CO2 injection: Implications for the storage of greenhouse gases in sedimentary basins , 2006 .