Assessment of basin-scale hydrologic impacts of CO2 sequestration, Illinois basin

Abstract Idealized, basin-scale sharp-interface models of CO 2 injection were constructed for the Illinois basin. Porosity and permeability were decreased with depth within the Mount Simon Formation. Eau Claire confining unit porosity and permeability were kept fixed. We used 726 injection wells located near 42 power plants to deliver 80 million metric tons of CO 2 /year. After 100 years of continuous injection, deviatoric fluid pressures varied between 5.6 and 18 MPa across central and southern part of the Illinois basin. Maximum deviatoric pressure reached about 50% of lithostatic levels to the south. The pressure disturbance (>0.03 MPa) propagated 10–25 km away from the injection wells resulting in significant well–well pressure interference. These findings are consistent with single-phase analytical solutions of injection. The radial footprint of the CO 2 plume at each well was only 0.5–2 km after 100 years of injection. Net lateral brine displacement was insignificant due to increasing radial distance from injection well and leakage across the Eau Claire confining unit. On geologic time scales CO 2 would migrate northward at a rate of about 6 m/1000 years. Because of paleo-seismic events in this region (M5.5–M7.5), care should be taken to avoid high pore pressures in the southern Illinois basin.

[1]  N. Bleuer,et al.  Distribution and Dating of Prehistoric Earthquake Liquefaction in the Wabash Valley of the Central U.S. , 1992 .

[2]  D. R. Kolata,et al.  Tectonic history of the Illinois basin , 1990 .

[3]  Charles S. Mueller,et al.  Uncertainty Analysis for Seismic Hazard in the Southern Illinois Basin , 2002 .

[4]  S. Benson,et al.  Evaluation of brine-bearing sands of the Frio Formation, Upper Texas Gulf Coast for geologic sequestration of CO2 , 2001 .

[5]  J. D. Bredehoeft,et al.  Possible Mechanism for Concentration of Brines in Subsurface Formations , 1963 .

[6]  S. Patankar.  Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow , 2018, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering.

[7]  Hans-Peter Harjes,et al.  Injection-induced earthquakes and crustal stress at 9 km depth at the KTB deep drilling site, Germany , 1997 .

[8]  C. E. Neuzil,et al.  Osmotic generation of ‘anomalous’ fluid pressures in geological environments , 2000, Nature.

[9]  D. F. Oltz,et al.  Interior Cratonic Basins , 1992 .

[10]  P. A. Witherspoon,et al.  Evaluation of Underground Gas-Storage Conditions In Aquifers Through Investigations of Groundwater Hydrology , 1962 .

[11]  Antonio Piersanti,et al.  Global postseismic rebound of a viscoelastic Earth: Theory for finite faults and application to the 1964 Alaska earthquake , 1997 .

[12]  G. H. Newman.  Pore-Volume Compressibility of Consolidated, Friable, and Unconsolidated Reservoir Rocks Under Hydrostatic Loading , 1973 .

[13]  R. Haggerty,et al.  Modeling the subglacial hydrology of the late Pleistocene Lake Michigan Lobe, Laurentide Ice Sheet , 2002 .

[14]  C. Beaumont,et al.  Orogeny and stratigraphy: Numerical models of the Paleozoic in the eastern interior of North America , 1988 .

[15]  Gaisheng Liu,et al.  Limits of applicability of the advection‐dispersion model in aquifers containing connected high‐conductivity channels , 2004 .

[16]  Domenico Giardini,et al.  Geothermal quake risks must be faced , 2009, Nature.

[17]  S. P. Neuman,et al.  Evaluating a Slightly Permeable Caprock in Aquifer Gas Storage: 1. Caprock of Infinite Thickness , 1967 .

[18]  G. Pavlis,et al.  Evidence of Possible Induced Seismicity in the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone from Improved Microearthquake Locations , 2006 .

[19]  R. Barnes,et al.  Modeling secondary oil migration with core-scale data: Viking Formation, Alberta basin , 2002 .

[20]  Sam Holloway,et al.  Geological Characterization of CO2 Storage Sites: Lessons from Sleipner, Northern North Sea , 2003 .

[21]  R. Mandle,et al.  Simulation of regional ground-water flow in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system in the northern Midwest, United States: in Regional aquifer-system analysis , 1992 .

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

[23]  Preston D. Jordan,et al.  Understanding CO2 Plume Behavior and Basin-Scale Pressure Changes during Sequestration Projects through the use of Reservoir Fluid Modeling , 2009 .

[24]  C. E. Jacob,et al.  Non-steady radial flow in an infinite leaky aquifer , 1955 .

[25]  S. Dingman,et al.  Sharp Interface Models of Salt Water Intrusion and Wellhead Delineation on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts , 1998 .

[26]  P C Lichtner,et al.  High resolution numerical investigation on the effect of convective instability on long term CO2 storage in saline aquifers , 2007 .

[27]  J. M. Nordbotten,et al.  Upslope plume migration and implications for geological CO2 sequestration in deep, saline aquifers , 2008 .

[28]  C. Cramer,et al.  Updated Seismic Hazard in the Southern Illinois Basin: Geological and Geophysical Foundations for Use in the 2002 USGS National Seismic-hazard Maps , 2002 .

[29]  J. Birkholzer,et al.  Basin-scale hydrogeologic impacts of CO2 storage: Capacity and regulatory implications , 2009 .

[30]  M. Hubbert,et al.  Entrapment of Petroleum Under Hydrodynamic Conditions , 1953 .

[31]  J. McIntosh,et al.  Are secular variations in seawater chemistry reflected in the compositions of basinal brines , 2006 .

[32]  J. McIntosh,et al.  Extensive microbial modification of formation water geochemistry: Case study from a Midcontinent sedimentary basin, United States , 2004 .

[33]  T. N. Narasimhan.  A perspective on numerical analysis of the diffusion equation , 1978 .

[34]  S. Gasda.  Numerical models for evaluating CO2 storage in deep, saline aquifers: Leaky wells and large-scale geological features , 2010 .

[35]  L. M. Walter,et al.  Glacial recharge and paleohydrologic flow systems in the Illinois basin: Evidence from chemistry of Ordovician carbonate (Galena) formation waters , 1994 .

[36]  W. Walton.  Leaky artesian aquifer conditions in Illinois , 1961 .

[37]  W. C. Walton.  Future Water-level Declines in Deep Sandstone Wells in Chicago Region , 1964 .

[38]  J. G. Williams,et al.  A Reservoir Analysis of the Denver Earthquakes: A Case of Induced Seismicity (Paper 80B 1095) , 1981 .

[39]  Won-Young Kim,et al.  A Fluid-Injection-Triggered Earthquake Sequence in Ashtabula, Ohio: Implications for Seismogenesis in Stable Continental Regions , 2004 .

[40]  Robert L. Wesson,et al.  Earthquake hazard associated with deep well injection: a report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , 1990 .

[41]  W. Mooney,et al.  Geophysical Framework of the Continental United States , 1990 .

[42]  C. Nicholson,et al.  The northeastern Ohio earthquake of 31 January 1986: Was it induced? , 1988 .

[43]  Laurent Trenty,et al.  A benchmark study on problems related to CO2 storage in geologic formations , 2009 .

[44]  C. Tsang,et al.  Large-scale impact of CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers: A sensitivity study on pressure response in stratified systems , 2009 .

[45]  Keni Zhang,et al.  Research project on CO2 geological storage and groundwaterresources: Large-scale hydrological evaluation and modeling of impact ongroundwater systems , 2008 .

[46]  G. Marsily,et al.  Petroleum migration pathways and charge concentration; a three-dimensional model; discussion , 1999 .

[47]  A. P. Visocky.  Water-Level Trends and Pumpage in the Deep Bedrock Aquifers in the Chicago Region, 1991-1995 , 1993 .

[48]  J. Hanor.  Origin and migration of subsurface sedimentary brines , 1987 .

[49]  Alfonso Rivera,et al.  A Compatible Single‐Phase/Two‐Phase Numerical Model: 1. Modeling the Transient Salt‐Water/Fresh‐Water Interface Motion , 1990 .

[50]  Eric C. Pond,et al.  Liquefaction evidence for strong Holocene earthquake(s) in the Wabash Valley of southern Indiana-Illinois, with a preliminary estimate of magnitude , 1992 .

[51]  N. W. Lanfredi,et al.  HP 67/97 calculator waves application programs , 1987 .

[52]  D. F. Oltz,et al.  Long-Range Petroleum Migration in the Illinois Basin , 1991 .

[53]  Eric C. Pond,et al.  Liquefaction Evidence for Strong Holocene Earthquake(S) in the Wabash Valley of Indiana-Illinois , 1992 .

[54]  Kenzi Karasaki,et al.  Numerical investigation for the impact of CO2 geologic sequestration on regional groundwater flow , 2009 .

[55]  John Daniel Hoholick,et al.  Regional variations of porosity and cement; St. Peter and Mount Simon sandstones in Illinois Basin , 1984 .

[56]  M. Person,et al.  Capture Zone Delineations on Island Aquifer Systems , 1998 .

[57]  A. P. Visocky.  Impact of Lake Michigan Allocations on the Cambrian‐Ordovician Aquifer System , 1982 .

[58]  O. B. Lloyd,et al.  Ground Water Atlas of the United States: Segment 10, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee , 1995 .

[59]  L. F. Athy.  Density, Porosity, and Compaction of Sedimentary Rocks , 1930 .

[60]  C. Medina,et al.  Carbon Dioxide Storage Capacity in the Upper Cambrian Basal Sandstone of the Midwest Region: A County-Based Analysis , 2009 .

[61]  R. R. Berg,et al.  Hydrodynamic Effects on Mission Canyon (Mississippian) Oil Accumulations, Billings Nose Area, North Dakota , 1994 .

[62]  Neeraj Gupta,et al.  Variable‐density flow in the midcontinent basins and arches region of the United States , 1997 .

[63]  Mark D. Zoback,et al.  In situ study of the physical mechanisms controlling induced seismicity at Monticello Reservoir, South Carolina , 1982 .