The CO2 storage efficiency of aquifers

Abstract Previous work on the technical feasibility, limiting geological conditions and consequences of carbon dioxide storage in aquifers demonstrated, that CO 2 storage in aquifers is a realistic option. At the “First International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Removal” held in Amsterdam on the 4–6 March 1992, it was reported that the volumetric CO 2 sweep efficiency for a given representative aquifer was in the order of 3 %. The main objective of that study was to investigate the technical possibility and limitations of CO 2 storage in aquifers, not to find the maximum storage efficiency (or volumetric sweep efficiency) of aquifers nor the aquifer parameters contributing to the ultimate storage efficiency. This paper presents TNO's present view on the CO 2 /water displacement process. Furthermore it shows the predicted CO 2 storage efficiencies for a wide range of CO 2 aquifer storage parameters.