Carbon Dioxide Sequestration In Geological Media

Over the past 20 years, the concept of storing or permanently storing carbon dioxide in geological media has gained increasing attention as part of the important technology option of carbon capture and storage within a portfolio of options aimed at reducing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases to the earths atmosphere. This book is structured into eight parts, and, among other topics, provides an overview of the current status and challenges of the science, regional assessment studies of carbon dioxide geological sequestration potential, and a discussion of the economics and regulatory aspects of carbon dioxide sequestration.

This exclusive compilation written by eminent experts from more than ten countries, outlines the processes and methods for geologic sequestration in different sinks. It discusses and highlights the details of individual storage types, including recent advances in the science and technology of carbon storage. The topic is of immense interest to geoscientists, reservoir engineers, environmentalists and researchers from the scientific and industrial communities working on the methodologies for carbon dioxide storage. Increasing concentrations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are often held responsible for the rising temperature of the globe. Geologic sequestration prevents atmospheric release of the waste greenhouse gases by storing them underground for geologically significant periods of time. The book addresses the need for an understanding of carbon reservoir characteristics and behavior. Other book volumes on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) attempt to cover the entire process of CCUS, but the topic of geologic sequestration is not discussed in detail. This book focuses on the recent trends and up-to-date information on different storage rock types, ranging from deep saline aquifers to coal to basaltic formations.

This book gives background information why shale formations in the world are important both for storage capacity and enhanced gas recovery (EGR). Part of this book investigates the sequestration capacity in geological formations and the mechanisms for the enhanced storage rate of CO2 in an underlying saline aquifer. The growing concern about global warming has increased interest in geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). The main mechanism of the enhancement, viz., the occurrence of gravity fingers, which are the vehicles of enhanced transport in saline aquifers, can be visualized using the Schlieren technique. In addition high pressure experiments confirmed that the storage rate is indeed enhanced in porous media. The book is appropriate for graduate students, researchers and advanced professionals in petroleum and chemical engineering. It provides the interested reader with in-depth insights into the possibilities and challenges of CO2 storage and the EGR prospect.

Growing concerns about climate change partly as a result of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions has prompted the research community to assess technologies and policies for sequestration. This report contains presentations of a symposium held in April of 2002. The sequestration options range form ocean disposal, terrestrial disposal in geologic formations, biomass based approaches and carbon trading schemes. The report also presents current efforts at enhanced oil recovery using carbon dioxide and demonstrating its utility. The volume is intended only as introduction to the subject and not the final word.

Volume 77 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry focuses on important aspects of the geochemistry of geological CO2 sequestration. It is in large part an outgrowth of research conducted by members of the U.S. Department of Energy funded Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) known as the Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (NCGC). Eight out of the 15 chapters have been led by team members from the NCGC representing six of the eight partner institutions making up this center - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (lead institution, D. DePaolo - PI), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, The Ohio State University, the University of California Davis, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Washington University, St. Louis.

Despite the large research effort in both public and commercial companies, no textbook has yet been written on this subject. This book aims to provide an overview to the topic of Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS), while at the same time focusing on the dominant processes and the mathematical and numerical methods that need to be employed in order to analyze the relevant systems. The book clearly states the carbon problem and the role of CCS and carbon storage. Thereafter, it provides an introduction to single phase and multi-phase flow in porous media, including some of the most common mathematical analysis and an overview of numerical methods for the equations. A considerable part of the book discusses the appropriate scales of modeling, and how to formulate consistent governing equations at these scales. The book also illustrates real world data sets and how the ideas in the book can be exploited through combinations of analytical and numerical approaches.

As is now generally accepted mankind’s burning of fossil fuels has resulted in the mass transfer of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, a modification of the delicately-balanced global carbon cycle, and a measurable change in world-wide temperatures and climate. Although not the most powerful greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO) drives climate 2 change due to the enormous volumes of this gas pumped into the atmosphere every day. Produced in almost equal parts by the transportation, industrial and energy-generating sectors, atmospheric CO concentrations have 2 increased by about 50% over the last 300 years, and according to some sources are predicted to increase by up to 200% over pre-industrial levels during the next 100 years. If we are to reverse this trend, in order to prevent significant environmental change in the future, action must be taken immediately. While reduced use of fossil fuels (through conservation, increased efficiency and expanded use of renewable energy sources) must be our ultimate goal, short to medium term solutions are needed which can make an impact today. Various types of CO storage techniques have been proposed to fill this 2 need, with the injection of this gas into deep geological reservoirs being one of the most promising. For example this approach has the potential to become a closed loop system, whereby underground energy resources are brought to surface, their energy extracted (via burning or hydrogen extraction), and the resulting by-products returned to the subsurface.