CO2 Storage and Trapping

Part 13, Chapter 13: Frontier Topics in Reservoir Simulation

Simulation in Reverse

Geological CO2 storage is reservoir simulation run in reverse: instead of producing fluid it injects and must keep it underground for millennia. The same flow equations apply, now to a buoyant, reactive gas under a seal.

CO2 storage and trappingstructural (mobile)residualsolubilitymineral (secure)time after injection (log years) ->trapping fractionOver time the CO2 migrates from mobile structural trapping into residual, dissolved, and mineral forms, each harder to release; security climbs with time.

Four Trapping Mechanisms

Four mechanisms hold the CO2 and take over in sequence. Structural trapping under the seal dominates during injection but leaves the CO2 mobile and buoyant. Residual trapping snaps off bubbles by capillarity, solubility trapping dissolves the CO2 into the brine, and mineral trapping locks it into carbonate.

Proving Security

Each step is more secure and slower than the last. Simulating storage means proving the trapped fraction climbs from mobile structural toward dissolved and mineral forms over the regulatory time frame, so the CO2 cannot leak back to the surface.

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