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Simulation of CO2 hydrate formation in cold aquifers: nonequilibrium approach

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Abstract

In this paper, we focus on the geological storage of CO2 in reservoirs with zones that are cold enough to facilitate CO2 hydrate formation at local pressures. A 2D hydro-chemical mechanical model which has five layers (three layers with aquifers and two layers with cap rock in which we introduced two fractures) is created. We apply a reactive transport reservoir simulator, RetrasoCodeBright (RCB), in which hydrate is treated as a pseudo mineral. Following the recent modifications to account for hydrate dynamics in the code through a kinetic approach (Kvamme et al., Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Gas Hydrates (ICGH 2011), 2011b), we have further improved the simulator to implement the nonequilibrium thermodynamic calculations. In the present study, we spot the light on the hydrate formation effects on porosity in different regions, as well as on the flow pattern. These simulations are based on classical relationships between porosity and permeability, but the outline of ongoing modifications is presented as well. A critical question in such systems is whether hydrate formation can contribute to stabilizing the storage, given that hydrates are pore filling and cannot be stable toward mineral surfaces. The implications of hydrate formation on the geo-mechanical properties of the model reservoir are other aspects addressed in this study.

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Notes

  1. International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), gid@cimne.upc.edu, Barcelona, Spain. “GiD—the personal pre- and post-processor.” See also: http://gid.cimne.upc.es/

Abbreviations

f :

Fugacity

ΔG :

Gibbs free energy change

Δg inc :

Gibbs free energy of inclusion

H:

Hydrate phase

\( \overline{H} \) :

Partial molar enthalpy

h :

The partition function

k 0 :

Intrinsic permeability corresponding to reference porosity

P eq :

Hydrate equilibrium pressure

S e :

Effective saturation

x :

Composition

\( \overline{V} \) :

Partial molar volume

ϕ 0 :

The reference porosity

μ :

Chemical potential

μα :

The dynamic viscosity

ν :

The number of cavities per water molecule

θ :

Filling fraction

σ':

Effective stress

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Allegaten 55, 5007, Bergen, Norway

    Khaled Jemai, Mohammad Taghi Vafaei, Bjørn Kvamme & Ashok Chejara

Authors
  1. Khaled Jemai
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  2. Mohammad Taghi Vafaei
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  3. Bjørn Kvamme
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  4. Ashok Chejara
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Correspondence to Bjørn Kvamme.

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Jemai, K., Vafaei, M.T., Kvamme, B. et al. Simulation of CO2 hydrate formation in cold aquifers: nonequilibrium approach. Arab J Geosci 10, 113 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-2888-1

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