Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection

We use an analytical model for the post-injection spreading of a plume of CO[subscript 2] in a saline aquifer under the action of buoyancy and capillary trapping to show that the spreading behavior is at all times strongly influenced by the shape of the plume at the end of the injection period. We s...

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Main Authors: MacMinn, Christopher W., Juanes, Ruben
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60995
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332
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author MacMinn, Christopher W.
Juanes, Ruben
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
MacMinn, Christopher W.
Juanes, Ruben
author_sort MacMinn, Christopher W.
collection MIT
description We use an analytical model for the post-injection spreading of a plume of CO[subscript 2] in a saline aquifer under the action of buoyancy and capillary trapping to show that the spreading behavior is at all times strongly influenced by the shape of the plume at the end of the injection period. We solve the spreading equation numerically and confirm that, at late times, the volume of mobile CO[subscript 2] is given by existing asymptotic analytical solutions. The key parameters governing plume spreading are the mobility ratio, M, and the capillary trapping number, Gamma—the former sets the shape of the plume at the end of the injection period, and the latter sets the amount of trapping. As a quantitative measure of the dependence of the spreading behavior on the initial shape, we use a volume ratio. That is, we evolve the plume from a true end-of-injection initial shape and also from an idealized “step” initial shape, and we take the ratio of these mobile plume volumes in the asymptotic regime. We find that this volume ratio is a power-law in M, where the exponent is governed exclusively by Gamma. For conditions that are representative of geologic CO[subscript 2] sequestration, the ratio of mobile volumes between “true” and “step” initial plume shapes can be 50% or higher.
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spelling mit-1721.1/609952022-10-01T01:10:43Z Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO2 in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection MacMinn, Christopher W. Juanes, Ruben Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Juanes, Ruben MacMinn, Christopher W. Juanes, Ruben We use an analytical model for the post-injection spreading of a plume of CO[subscript 2] in a saline aquifer under the action of buoyancy and capillary trapping to show that the spreading behavior is at all times strongly influenced by the shape of the plume at the end of the injection period. We solve the spreading equation numerically and confirm that, at late times, the volume of mobile CO[subscript 2] is given by existing asymptotic analytical solutions. The key parameters governing plume spreading are the mobility ratio, M, and the capillary trapping number, Gamma—the former sets the shape of the plume at the end of the injection period, and the latter sets the amount of trapping. As a quantitative measure of the dependence of the spreading behavior on the initial shape, we use a volume ratio. That is, we evolve the plume from a true end-of-injection initial shape and also from an idealized “step” initial shape, and we take the ratio of these mobile plume volumes in the asymptotic regime. We find that this volume ratio is a power-law in M, where the exponent is governed exclusively by Gamma. For conditions that are representative of geologic CO[subscript 2] sequestration, the ratio of mobile volumes between “true” and “step” initial plume shapes can be 50% or higher. 2011-02-18T22:09:46Z 2011-02-18T22:09:46Z 2009-07 2008-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1420-0597 1573-1499 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60995 MacMinn, Christopher, and Ruben Juanes. “Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO<sub>2</sub> in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection.” Computational Geosciences 13.4 (2009): 483-491. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10596-009-9147-9 Computational Geosciences Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf Springer Science + Business Media B.V. Prof. Juanes via Anne Graham
spellingShingle MacMinn, Christopher W.
Juanes, Ruben
Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection
title Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection
title_full Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection
title_fullStr Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection
title_full_unstemmed Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection
title_short Post-injection spreading and trapping of CO[subscript 2] in saline aquifers: impact of the plume shape at the end of injection
title_sort post injection spreading and trapping of co subscript 2 in saline aquifers impact of the plume shape at the end of injection
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60995
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332
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