Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland)
Deep un-mineable coal deposits are viable reservoirs for permanent and safe storage of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) due to their ability to adsorb large amounts of CO<sub>2</sub> in the microporous coal structure. A reduced amount of CO<sub>2</sub> released int...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/7/3279 |
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| author | Maria Wetzel Christopher Otto Min Chen Shakil Masum Hywel Thomas Tomasz Urych Bartłomiej Bezak Thomas Kempka |
| author_facet | Maria Wetzel Christopher Otto Min Chen Shakil Masum Hywel Thomas Tomasz Urych Bartłomiej Bezak Thomas Kempka |
| author_sort | Maria Wetzel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Deep un-mineable coal deposits are viable reservoirs for permanent and safe storage of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) due to their ability to adsorb large amounts of CO<sub>2</sub> in the microporous coal structure. A reduced amount of CO<sub>2</sub> released into the atmosphere contributes in turn to the mitigation of climate change. However, there are a number of geomechanical risks associated with the commercial-scale storage of CO<sub>2</sub>, such as potential fault or fracture reactivation, microseismic events, cap rock integrity or ground surface uplift. The present study assesses potential site-specific hydromechanical impacts for a coal deposit of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin by means of numerical simulations. For that purpose, a near-field model is developed to simulate the injection and migration of CO<sub>2</sub>, as well as the coal-CO<sub>2</sub> interactions in the vicinity of horizontal wells along with the corresponding changes in permeability and stresses. The resulting effective stress changes are then integrated as boundary condition into a far-field numerical model to study the geomechanical response at site-scale. An extensive scenario analysis is carried out, consisting of 52 simulation runs, whereby the impacts of injection pressures, well arrangement within two target coal seams as well as the effect of different geological uncertainties (e.g., regional stress regime and rock properties) is examined for operational and post-operational scenarios. The injection-induced vertical displacements amount in maximum to 3.59 cm and 1.07 cm directly above the coal seam and at the ground surface, respectively. The results further demonstrate that neither fault slip nor dilation, as a potential consequence of slip, are to be expected during the investigated scenarios. Nevertheless, even if fault integrity is not compromised, dilation tendencies indicate that faults may be hydraulically conductive and could represent local pathways for upward fluid migration. Therefore, the site-specific stress regime has to be determined as accurately as possible by in-situ stress measurements, and also fault properties need to be accounted for an extensive risk assessment. The present study obtained a quantitative understanding of the geomechanical processes taking place at the operational and post-operational states, supporting the assessment and mitigation of environmental risks associated with CO<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> storage in coal seams. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:37:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-13d4a6cc6cb64f22a3fb614812d03d4b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:37:28Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-13d4a6cc6cb64f22a3fb614812d03d4b2023-11-17T16:39:50ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732023-04-01167327910.3390/en16073279Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland)Maria Wetzel0Christopher Otto1Min Chen2Shakil Masum3Hywel Thomas4Tomasz Urych5Bartłomiej Bezak6Thomas Kempka7GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, GermanyGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, GermanyGeoenvironmental Research Centre, School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKGeoenvironmental Research Centre, School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKGeoenvironmental Research Centre, School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UKCentral Mining Institute, 40-166 Katowice, PolandPolska Grupa Górnicza S.A., 40-039 Katowice, PolandGFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, GermanyDeep un-mineable coal deposits are viable reservoirs for permanent and safe storage of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) due to their ability to adsorb large amounts of CO<sub>2</sub> in the microporous coal structure. A reduced amount of CO<sub>2</sub> released into the atmosphere contributes in turn to the mitigation of climate change. However, there are a number of geomechanical risks associated with the commercial-scale storage of CO<sub>2</sub>, such as potential fault or fracture reactivation, microseismic events, cap rock integrity or ground surface uplift. The present study assesses potential site-specific hydromechanical impacts for a coal deposit of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin by means of numerical simulations. For that purpose, a near-field model is developed to simulate the injection and migration of CO<sub>2</sub>, as well as the coal-CO<sub>2</sub> interactions in the vicinity of horizontal wells along with the corresponding changes in permeability and stresses. The resulting effective stress changes are then integrated as boundary condition into a far-field numerical model to study the geomechanical response at site-scale. An extensive scenario analysis is carried out, consisting of 52 simulation runs, whereby the impacts of injection pressures, well arrangement within two target coal seams as well as the effect of different geological uncertainties (e.g., regional stress regime and rock properties) is examined for operational and post-operational scenarios. The injection-induced vertical displacements amount in maximum to 3.59 cm and 1.07 cm directly above the coal seam and at the ground surface, respectively. The results further demonstrate that neither fault slip nor dilation, as a potential consequence of slip, are to be expected during the investigated scenarios. Nevertheless, even if fault integrity is not compromised, dilation tendencies indicate that faults may be hydraulically conductive and could represent local pathways for upward fluid migration. Therefore, the site-specific stress regime has to be determined as accurately as possible by in-situ stress measurements, and also fault properties need to be accounted for an extensive risk assessment. The present study obtained a quantitative understanding of the geomechanical processes taking place at the operational and post-operational states, supporting the assessment and mitigation of environmental risks associated with CO<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> storage in coal seams.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/7/3279CO<sub>2</sub> storagehorizontal wellcoal swellingregional stress regimefault reactivationhydromechanical simulation |
| spellingShingle | Maria Wetzel Christopher Otto Min Chen Shakil Masum Hywel Thomas Tomasz Urych Bartłomiej Bezak Thomas Kempka Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland) Energies CO<sub>2</sub> storage horizontal well coal swelling regional stress regime fault reactivation hydromechanical simulation |
| title | Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland) |
| title_full | Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland) |
| title_fullStr | Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland) |
| title_short | Hydromechanical Impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> Storage in Coal Seams of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland) |
| title_sort | hydromechanical impacts of co sub 2 sub storage in coal seams of the upper silesian coal basin poland |
| topic | CO<sub>2</sub> storage horizontal well coal swelling regional stress regime fault reactivation hydromechanical simulation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/7/3279 |
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