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At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Numerical simulations of vertical growth of hydraulic fractures and brine migration in geological formations above the Marcellus shale

One of the critical environmental questions about hydraulic fracturing in shales is the potential for contamination of ground and surface water. There are two specific concerns arising from hydraulic treatments: 1) whether hydraulic fractures extend upward through overlying strata to reach overlying aquifers containing drinking water, and 2) whether injected fluids push native fluids upward into these overlying aquifers. In this work, the extent of likely fracture growth through overlying layers during hydraulic treatment of the Marcellus shale was estimated using a hydraulic fracture model. A wide range of material and fluid flow properties in a multi-layered geologic model was considered. The model was based on conditions and characteristics applicable to the Marcellus shale in that part of the Appalachian basin within southwestern Pennsylvania. Predictions of vertical termination frequencies for hydraulic fractures were used in a multi-layer model of the strata and natural fractures for studying brine migration through the natural and induced fracture network. NFFLOW, the software for explicitly modeling flow within networks of fractures, was utilized to compute transient flow rates according to the schedule of injected fluid during hydraulic fracturing. To aid our analysis, the modeled sequence of geologic strata was capped with a fictitious unfractured, but moderately-permeable layer, which serves as a monitoring zone. The analysis assumes one well lateral was placed in the middle of the Marcellus shale with hydraulic fractures penetrating layers in the model. The newly-developed geomechanical module within NFFLOW was used to represent stress-sensitivity of the fractures. This allows the opening and closing of fracture apertures with changes in fluid pressures within fracture segments. Pressure increases in the formations overlying the Tully limestone, indicating fluid flow, was observed due to the hydraulic stimulation; and the impact of these increased pressures on brine migration towards the surface was considered.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2015

How does the connectivity of open-framework conglomerates within multi-scale hierarchical fluvial architecture affect oil-sweep efficiency in waterflooding?

Understanding multi-phase fluid flow and transport processes within aquifers, candidate reservoirs for CO 2 sequestration, and petroleum reservoirs requires understanding a diverse set of geologic properties of the aquifer or reservoir, over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. We focus on multiphase flow dynamics with wetting (e.g., water) and non-wetting (e.g., gas or oil) fluids, with one invading another. This problem is of general interest in a number of fields and is illustrated here by considering the sweep efficiency of oil during a waterflood. Using a relatively fine-resolution grid throughout a relatively large domain in these simulations and probing the results with advanced scientific visualization tools (Reservoir Visualization Analysis [RVA]/ ParaView software) promote a better understanding of how smaller-scale features affect the aggregate behavior at larger scales. We studied the effects on oil-sweep efficiency of the proportion, hierarchical organization, and connectivity of high-permeability open-framework conglomerate (OFC) cross-sets within the multi-scale stratal architecture found in fluvial deposits. We further analyzed oil production rate, water breakthrough time, and spatial and temporal distribution of residual oil saturation. As expected, the effective permeability of the reservoir exhibits large-scale anisotropy created by the organization of OFC cross-sets within unit bars, and the organization of unit bars within compound- bars. As a result, oil-sweep efficiency critically depends on the direction of the pressure gradient. However, contrary to expectations, the total amount of trapped oil due to the effect of capillary trapping does not depend on the magnitude of the pressure gradient within the examined range. Hence the pressure difference between production and injection wells does not affect sweep efficiency; although the spatial distribution of oil remaining in the reservoir depends on this value. Whether or not clusters of connected OFC span the domain affects only the absolute rate of oil production—not sweep efficiency.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fluid Induced Elemental and Mineralogy Alterations of Caney Shale

ABSTRACT: Studies were conducted on cores and rock cuttings recovered from two wells drilled in Caney shale in the Southern Oklahoma. Mineralogical compositions of these samples were obtained by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) measurements using two methods of sample preparation: conventional powder (by crushing and grinding of rock fragments) and spray-drying of micronized rock powder method. Microstructure and microanalysis were acquired by Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). Batch experiments were then conducted using selected rock samples and fracturing fluid whilst deionized water was used as control sample for fluid/rock interaction. These were conducted at 95°C and ambient pressure for various time periods to assess the geochemical reactivity of the Caney shale. The rock samples were subsequently recovered from fluid, dried and analysis repeated using identical XRD and SEM/EDS measurements, following the same conditions. Preliminary experimental results show rock mineralogical compositions are predominantly quartz with relatively high clay content. The clay minerals are mainly illite. Carbonate content is less than 10% by weight for most samples, with other non-clay minerals pyrite, albite, dolomite, and some apatite. In general, sprayed samples showed more intense peaks and less full width at half maxima (FWHM) relative to conventional rock-powder samples. Post-experimental mineralogical changes were observed in samples with clay portions breaking down to amorphous entities. As expected, dissolution of carbonates (calcite and dolomite) was observed and newly detected dissolution of biogenic micro quartz resulted in formation of amorphous silica. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Formation of sedimentary rocks involves processes where rock sediments are emplaced with fluids starting interactions that persist over long periods. During the lithification process, sediments and fluids react and attain equilibrium state. This equilibrium is disturbed during drilling, completion, hydraulic fracturing and other operations that involve the introduction of engineered fluids into the subsurface. To return to equilibrium, dissolution and precipitation of minerals may occur. These reactions have implications on the petrophysical properties of the reservoir. Whiles dissolution and precipitation of minerals can enhance porosity and permeability, the reverse can also be true. For example, when acidic fluids are introduced into formations with high carbonate contents, carbonate minerals dissolve into solution thus increasing the porosity and permeability of the formation. In contrast, when alkaline fluids with pH above 11 are introduced into an illite-rich shale formation, the rock-fluid interaction leads to de-flocculation of illite platelets causing substantial increase in clay fines migration, consequently significant reduction in permeability (Salles et al., 2008).

Awejori, G.↗
DOE OSTI2011

Cr interactions with He and vacancies in dilute Fe-Cr alloys from first principles

We have performed density functional theory calculations to study the effect of Cr in the formation of He-vacancy (He{sub n}V{sub m}) clusters in a dilute Fe-Cr system. We find a significant repulsive interaction between Cr and He at neighboring tetrahedral sites. The octahedral He close to Cr becomes unstable falling to a nearby tetrahedral site, unlike in pure systems. We note a slight electronic interaction between an interstitial He and the metal atoms, stronger with Cr and responsible of their repulsion. The effect of a Cr atom in the formation of He{sub n}V{sub m} clusters is small except for cases with high He-to-vacancy (n/m) ratio. In systems with multiple Cr atoms we find that, while interstitial He always repels Cr, a vacancy or a substitutional He may screen the ferromagnetic Cr coupling and promote their clustering around them. Two different behavior regimes may therefore be suggested. When the n/m ratio is close to 1 or lower the Cr atoms seem to be attracted to the He{sub n}V{sub m} cluster while when the n/m ratio is greater than 1 the Cr atoms are in general repelled from it. Concerning diffusion, the energy barrier for a tetrahedral He to hop toward a neighboring position of Cr is found to be twice as large as its migration barrier in pure Fe (0.12 vs 0.06 eV). On the other hand, the diffusion of a substitutional He via the dissociative mechanism has a slightly higher dissociation barrier for first nearest neighbor sites of a Cr atom. For the vacancy mechanism we find similar diffusion properties in dilute Fe-Cr systems and in pure Fe except a slightly lower barrier close to Cr that may induce small trapping effects at low temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1988

Microgravity bubble migration in rotating flows

The NASA KC-135 microgravity-environment aircraft was used to gather experimental data on the migration of bubbles in rotating liquid fields under reduced gravity conditions. The data thus obtained were compared to those of an analysis for the prediction of fluid particle trajectories in the presence of both gravitational and rotational fields at the limit of quasi-steady creeping flow. Reasonable agreement with experimental results was achieved, despite the large size of the bubbles, their close proximity to a bounding surface over significant portions of their migration time, and their rather nonspherical geometry.

Ruggles, J. S.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Lateral migration of a microdroplet under optical forces in a uniform flow

The behavior of a microdroplet in a uniform flow and subjected to a vertical optical force applied by a loosely focused Gaussian laser beam was studied numerically. The lattice Boltzmann method was applied to obtain the two-phase flow field, and the dynamic ray tracing method was adopted to calculate the optical force. The optical forces acting on the spherical droplets agreed well with the analytical values. The numerically predicted droplet migration distances agreed well with the experimentally obtained values. Simulations of the various flow and optical parameters showed that the droplet migration distance nondimensionalized by the droplet radius is proportional to the S number (z{sub d}/r{sub p} = 0.377S), which is the ratio of the optical force to the viscous drag. The effect of the surface tension was also examined. These results indicated that the surface tension influenced the droplet migration distance to a lesser degree than the flow and optical parameters. The results of the present work hold for the refractive indices of the mean fluid and the droplet being 1.33 and 1.59, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Novel Dissimilar Joints Between Alloy 800H and 2.25%Cr and 1%Mo Steel

Dissimilar metal joints between ferritic steels and nickel base alloys are currently fabricated using conventional arc welding processes with selected filler metal combinations. The dissimilar metal joints contain abrupt changes in composition over a relatively small distance. Many years of service at elevated temperatures has shown that these welds are susceptible to creep and creep fatigue failures. The primary mechanism for these creep failures involves carbon diffusion from the ferritic steel to the nickel base alloy. As a result, a carbon depleted zone is created that contains very few stable carbides. This work used additive manufacturing (AM) technologies as a highly controllable means for reducing carbon migration through theoretically designed, compositionally graded transition joints guided by appropriate thermodynamic, kinetic and heat transfer and fluid flow modeling. The contents of the report include the objectives and tasks set forth by the PI and collaborators, major technical accomplishments throughout the research and additional details in the form of technical publications resulting from the NEUP grant and reports from the collaborating university and national laboratory.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

PREPARATION OF CLAY-COATED GLASS SURFACES FOR MICROFLUIDICS-BASED STUDY ON CLAY-FLUID INTERACTIONS

Unique characteristics of clay, even though make any clay abundant shales a good source of adsorbed gas, make them equally difficult to produce. The clay-water interaction can cause significant swelling and fines migration in the shale formation, both of which can significantly impair the overall hydrocarbon recovery from shale. Geomaterial micromodels, developed by functionalizing traditional glass or PDMS surface with geomaterials (e.g., calcite, quartz, clay) can represent the physico-chemical properties of the natural porous media and have been used during the last few years to understand and evaluate the solid-fluid physicochemical interactions. This study focuses on developing a clay-coated geomaterial surface and investigates the effect of base fluid's salinity on clay adsorption to the glass surface. Glass capillary tubes and straight channel borosilicate glass micromodels are coated with Illite clay minerals to represent the pore-scale clay chemistry of Caney Shale, a Mississippian unconventional play in Southern Oklahoma, USA. 10 wt.% of Illite clay slurries made with brines of four different salinities are used to coat the glass-capillary tubes to understand the effect of salinity in clay adsorption on the glass surface and overall coating quality. To achieve a stable coating and evaluate the impact of heat treatment on coating's stability, straight channel glass flow cells coated with Illite clay are heat-treated at low (25 °C) and high temperature (125 °C). Dynamic flooding tests were carried out with brines on the coated surface to evaluate the stability of the coating. The experiments' outcome indicated a strong relationship between the brine's salinity and the adsorption of clay particles on the glass surface. An increase in brine concentration resulted in improved adsorption of clay particles on the glass surface. Experiments involving heat treating the glass surface following the coating demonstrated significant improvement in the stability of the coating.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2014

Capillary pinning and blunting of immiscible gravity currents in porous media

Gravity-driven flows in the subsurface have attracted recent interest in the context of geological carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage, where supercritical CO 2 is captured from the flue gas of power plants and injected underground into deep saline aquifers. After injection, the CO 2 will spread and migrate as a buoyant gravity current relative to the denser, ambient brine. Although the CO 2 and the brine are immiscible, the impact of capillarity on CO 2 spreading and migration is poorly understood. We previously studied the early time evolution of an immiscible gravity current, showing that capillary pressure hysteresis pins a portion of the macroscopic fluid–fluid interface and that this can eventually stop the flow. Here we study the full lifetime of such a gravity current. Using tabletop experiments in packings of glass beads, we show that the horizontal extent of the pinned region grows with time and that this is ultimately responsible for limiting the migration of the current to a finite distance. We also find that capillarity blunts the leading edge of the current, which contributes to further limiting the migration distance. Using experiments in etched micromodels, we show that the thickness of the blunted nose is controlled by the distribution of pore–throat sizes and the strength of capillarity relative to buoyancy. We develop a theoretical model that captures the evolution of immiscible gravity currents and predicts the maximum migration distance. By applying this model to representative aquifers, we show that capillary pinning and blunting can exert an important control on gravity currents in the context of geological CO 2 storage.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

A 4D Synchrotron X-Ray-Tomography Study of the Formation of Hydrocarbon- Migration Pathways in Heated Organic-Rich Shale

Recovery of oil from oil shales and the natural primary migration of hydrocarbons are closely related processes that have received renewed interest in recent years because of the ever tightening supply of conventional hydrocarbons and the growing production of hydrocarbons from low-permeability tight rocks. Quantitative models for conversion of kerogen into oil and gas and the timing of hydrocarbon generation have been well documented. However, lack of consensus about the kinetics of hydrocarbon formation in source rocks, expulsion timing, and how the resulting hydrocarbons escape from or are retained in the source rocks motivates further investigation. In particular, many mechanisms have been proposed for the transport of hydrocarbons from the rocks in which they are generated into adjacent rocks with higher permeabilities and smaller capillary entry pressures, and a better understanding of this complex process (primary migration) is needed. To characterize these processes, it is imperative to use the latest technological advances. In this study, it is shown how insights into hydrocarbon migration in source rocks can be obtained by using sequential high-resolution synchrotron X-ray tomography. Three-dimensional images of several immature "shale" samples were constructed at resolutions close to 5 um. This is sufficient to resolve the source-rock structure down to the grain level, but very-fine-grained silt particles, clay particles, and colloids cannot be resolved. Samples used in this investigation came from the R-8 unit in the upper part of the Green River shale, which is organic rich, varved, lacustrine marl formed in Eocene Lake Uinta, USA. One Green River shale sample was heated in situ up to 400 degrees C as X-ray-tomography images were recorded. The other samples were scanned before and after heating at 400 degrees C. During the heating phase, the organic matter was decomposed, and gas was released. Gas expulsion from the low-permeability shales was coupled with formation of microcracks. The main technical difficulty was numerical extraction of microcracks that have apertures in the 5- to 30-um range (with 5 um being the resolution limit) from a large 3D volume of X-ray attenuation data. The main goal of the work presented here is to develop a methodology to process these 3D data and image the cracks. This methodology is based on several levels of spatial filtering and automatic recognition of connected domains. Supportive petrographic and thermogravimetric data were an important complement to this study. An investigation of the strain field using 2D image correlation analyses was also performed. As one application of the 4D (space + time) microtomography and the developed workflow, we show that fluid generation was accompanied by crack formation. Under different conditions, in the subsurface, this might provide paths for primary migration.

3D image processing↗
DOE OSTI2015

Geothermometric Temperature Comparison of Hot Springs and Wells in Southern Idaho

Conventional geothermal resource prospecting often begins with geochemical analysis of geothermal fluids sampled from surface expressions (hot springs and fumaroles). Similarly, water samples from hot wells located near the surface expressions are also routinely collected and analyzed as a part of regional exploration efforts. The chemical compositions of these water samples can be used to assess the likely reservoir temperatures of the geothermal sites as well as to understand other reservoir characteristics. In this paper, we present comparative results of geothermometric reservoir temperatures based on water compositions measured from pairs of hot springs and nearby wells of 10 potential geothermal sites in southern Idaho using both traditional and multicomponent equilibrium geothermometric approaches. Our results show that the reservoir temperatures estimated using water compositions measured surface thermal features and wells produce similar results. However, for two of the 10 sites, Durfee Hot Spring and Fairchild Hot Spring, the estimated reservoir temperatures based on water compositions measured from hot springs were significantly higher than the estimated reservoir temperatures using the well water sample. In the case of the Durfee system, the well water may have chemically re-equilibrated within the aquifer resulting in a lower estimated temperature than that calculated using the hot spring. Similarly, in the case of the Fairchild system, the hot spring and well water chemistry are chemically distinct and had the greatest distance between the hot spring and well pairs of the examined geothermal sites. The difference in fluid chemistry suggests that the Fairchild Hot Spring reservoir is compartmentalized and the two expressions are issuing waters migrated from two separate portions of the reservoir. Although the majority of the hot spring/well pairs in southern Idaho provided concordant reservoir temperatures, it is imperative to consider the consistency of the water types and distance between the sources when estimating reservoir temperatures.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Geomechanics of CO 2 Reservoir Seals

Chemically-assisted subcritical fracture growth within overlying shale caprock can threaten seal integrity of CO 2 sequestration reservoirs. Here, we integrate laboratory fracture mechanics testing conducted under a wide range of environmental conditions including dry and wet supercritical CO 2 , dry CO 2 gas, ambient air, deionized water, and aqueous solutions of varying pH and salinity, with numerical simulations of fracture network growth and caprock degradation calculations, to investigate the coupled chemo-mechanical processes associated with potential fracture-controlled leakage from subsurface CO 2 storage. Double torsion tests quantify in detail the influence of aqueous fluid chemistry and temperature on subcritical fracture growth of caprock at atmospheric pressure, while short rod tests derive fracture toughness of caprock under pressurized supercritical CO 2 environments. We find that lowered pH as expected after brine acidification enhances subcritical fracture growth properties in carbonate-rich shale. An increase in salinity that may result from scCO 2 -brine interaction would potentially suppress fracture growth in clay-rich shales. Dehydration by dry supercritical CO 2 significantly strengthens shale lithologies. Through boundary element fracture network models that account for subcritical fracture growth we demonstrate that changes in aqueous fluid composition can affect fracture network geometry and connectivity, and thus potentially degrading caprock efficiency at preventing upward migration of CO 2 . Calculations based on boundary element simulation suggest that caprock degradation rates may increase by 58% following acidification of formation water in contact with carbonate-rich caprock. With spatially and temporally variable CO 2 -brine interaction in storage reservoirs, chemo-mechanical interactions may control the location of potential leakage pathway evolution, with preexisting faults and reservoir heterogeneities providing the preferred locus for environmentally assisted fracture growth and subsequent caprock failure.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

On the implicit immersed boundary method in coupled discrete element and lattice Boltzmann method

The coupled discrete element method and lattice Boltzmann method (DEMLBM) has increasingly drawn attention of researchers in geomechanics due to its mesoscopic nature since 2000. Immersed boundary method (IBM) and immersed moving boundary (IMB) are two popular schemes for coupling fluid particle in DEMLBM. This work aims at coupling DEM and LBM using the latest IBM algorithm and investigating its accuracy, computational efficiency, and applicability. Two benchmark tests, interstitial fluid flow in an ideal packing and single particle sedimentation in viscous fluid, are carried out to demonstrate the accuracy of IBM through semi-empirical Ergun equation, finite element method (FEM), and IMB. Then, simulations of particle migration with relatively large velocity in Poiseuille flow are utilized to address limitations of IBM in DEMLBM modeling. In addition, advantages and deficiencies of IBM are discussed and compared with IMB. It is found that the accuracy of IBM can be only guaranteed when sufficient boundary points are used and it is not suitable for geomechanical problems involving large fluid or particle velocity.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

2D micromodel study of clogging behavior of fine-grained particles associated with gas hydrate production in NGHP-02 gas hydrate reservoir sediments

Fine-grained particles (fines) commonly coexist with coarse-grained sediments that host gas hydrate. These fines can be mobilized by liquid and gas flow during gas hydrate production. Once mobilized, fines can clog pore throats and reduce reservoir permeability. Even where particle sizes are smaller than pore-throat sizes, clogs can form due to clusters of fines. For certain types of fines, particularly swelling clays, cluster sizes depend on pore-fluid chemistry, which changes as pore-fluid freshens during gas hydrate dissociation. Fines can also be concentrated by a moving gas/liquid interface, increasing the chances of pore-throat clogging regardless of fines type. To test the relative significance of these clogging mechanisms, 2D micromodel experiments have been conducted with different pore-throat widths (20, 40, 60 and 100 µm), single-phase pore-fluids (deionized water and 2M-sodium-chloride solution), and moving gas/liquid interfaces on specimens from Sites NGHP-02-09 and NGHP-02-16 (NGHP-02: National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 02) as well as a selection of pure fines (silica silt, mica, calcium carbonate, diatoms, kaolin, and bentonite). Clogging depended on the ratio of particle-to-pore throat size, and also on pore-fluid chemistry because the pore-fluid chemistry changes effectively increased or decreased the fine’s cluster size relative to the pore-throat width. These interactions can be predicted based on the fine’s electrical sensitivity (defined by Jang and Santamarina, 2016). The fine-grained sediment component (grain size < 75 μm) from the primary gas hydrate reservoir layers at Sites NGHP-02-09 and -16 show clogging via blocking or size exclusion (sieving) due to the large particles. Clogs also formed due to bridging or blocking by clusters of the smaller particles. In conclusion, clogging generally occurred for pore-water sediment concentrations so low (0.2% by mass or less), that it was difficult to resolve the enhanced clogging in the presence of the gas/liquid meniscus.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2014

A Nth-order linear algorithm for extracting diffuse correlation spectroscopy blood flow indices in heterogeneous tissues

Conventional semi-infinite analytical solutions of correlation diffusion equation may lead to errors when calculating blood flow index (BFI) from diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) measurements in tissues with irregular geometries. Very recently, we created an algorithm integrating a Nth-order linear model of autocorrelation function with the Monte Carlo simulation of photon migrations in homogenous tissues with arbitrary geometries for extraction of BFI (i.e., αD{sub B}). The purpose of this study is to extend the capability of the Nth-order linear algorithm for extracting BFI in heterogeneous tissues with arbitrary geometries. The previous linear algorithm was modified to extract BFIs in different types of tissues simultaneously through utilizing DCS data at multiple source-detector separations. We compared the proposed linear algorithm with the semi-infinite homogenous solution in a computer model of adult head with heterogeneous tissue layers of scalp, skull, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain. To test the capability of the linear algorithm for extracting relative changes of cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in deep brain, we assigned ten levels of αD{sub B} in the brain layer with a step decrement of 10% while maintaining αD{sub B} values constant in other layers. Simulation results demonstrate the accuracy (errors < 3%) of high-order (N ≥ 5) linear algorithm in extracting BFIs in different tissue layers and rCBF in deep brain. By contrast, the semi-infinite homogenous solution resulted in substantial errors in rCBF (34.5% ≤ errors ≤ 60.2%) and BFIs in different layers. The Nth-order linear model simplifies data analysis, thus allowing for online data processing and displaying. Future study will test this linear algorithm in heterogeneous tissues with different levels of blood flow variations and noises.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Light hydrocarbon and noble gas migration as an analogue for potential CO 2 leakage: numerical simulations and field data from three hydrocarbon systems

Abstract Sites where anthropogenic CO 2 captured from industrial sources is stored in deep geological formations for climate change mitigation are required to show secure retention of the injected CO 2 . Monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) plans are needed to indicate that no CO 2 release has occurred. We explored the degree to which direct comparison between a surface anomaly and reservoir geochemistry using various geochemical parameters can be used for attribution. We used data collected on light hydrocarbons and noble gases throughout the sedimentary column at three CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) sites to understand the processes that may cause fluid evolution. Light hydrocarbon and noble gases were sampled from reservoirs, gas‐bearing intervals above reservoirs, and groundwater. Vertical profiles indicated that lighter components are relatively enriched during migration (i.e. chromatographic separation). Static and numerical models were designed to simulate episodic gas migration and geochemical alteration of these geochemical parameters from solubility and sorption. The effects of hydrocarbon solubility were minimal (Bernard ratio changes within 5.2%) although field data were within the range of expected alterations from sorption. Forward models of CO 2 migration and noble gas interactions showed that CO 2 stripping causes an enrichment of crustal noble gases. In areas where natural fluxes of CO 2 from depth are non‐existent, the occurrence of crustal noble gas signature may distinguish fugitive CO 2 from the reservoir from natural near‐surface sources, and could be considered to explain apparent fluid anomalies. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Anderson, Jacob↗
DOE OSTI2010

Geochemical engineering design tools for uranium in situ recovery : the HYDROGEOCHEM codes.

Geochemical Engineering Design (GED) is based on applications of the principles and various computer models that describe the biogeochemistry and physics of removal of contaminants from water by adsorption, precipitation and filtration. It can be used to optimize or evaluate the efficiency of all phases of in situ recovery (ISR). The primary tools of GED are reactive transport models; this talk describes the potential application of the HYDROGEOCHEM family of codes to ISR. The codes can describe a complete suite of equilibrium or kinetic aqueous complexation, adsorption-desorption, precipitation-dissolution, redox, and acid-base reactions in variably saturated media with density-dependent fluid flow. Applications to ISR are illustrated with simulations of (1) the effectiveness of a reactive barrier to prevent off-site uranium migration and (2) evaluation of the effect of sorption hysteresis on natural attenuation. In the first example, it can be seen that the apparent effectiveness of the barrier depends on monitoring location and that it changes over time. This is due to changes in pH, saturation of sorption sites, as well as the geometry of the flow field. The second simulation shows how sorption hysteresis leads to observable attenuation of a uranium contamination plume. Different sorption mechanisms including fast (or reversible), slow, and irreversible sorption were simulated. The migration of the dissolved and total uranium plumes for the different cases are compared and the simulations show that when 50-100% of the sites have slow desorption rates, the center of mass of the dissolved uranium plume begins to move upstream. This would correspond to the case in which the plume boundaries begin to shrink as required for demonstration of natural attenuation.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Appendix for the Final Technical Report - DE FE0009284

Carbon capture utilization storage (CCUS) is a potential technology to store anthropogenic emissions for CO 2 . Utilization often refers to CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery (CO 2 -EOR). An important factor in the success of CO 2 storage in saline formations or CO 2 -EOR reservoirs is ensuring that the storage occurs safely and is long-term. Assessment of well integrity has become more important for CCS and CO 2 -EOR as it has become apparent that wells represent the most likely migration pathway for CO 2 to leave a CCS storage unit or a CO 2 -EOR reservoir. Although wells represent a migration pathway they are also the best vehicle for employing technology monitoring CO 2 injection and storage. This contradiction of being a potential migration path and key monitoring technology leads to a need to understand how monitoring wells may be similar or different in comparison to other types of wells with respect to migration risk. The maturation and completion US Department of Energy sponsored research projects presents an opportunity to assess the integrity of monitoring wells that have been exposed to injected CO 2 . This paper discusses an integrity assessment of two monitoring wells in an operating CO 2 -EOR flood in Mississippi, USA. The CFU31F-2 and CFU31F-3 monitoring wells were constructed to test monitoring technologies in and above a commercial CO 2 -EOR project. The materials selected and the design of the well were optimized for monitoring. Carbonation in CFU31-F2 was seen as high as 7900 ft, above what was considered top of cement based on the logs. Time-lapse comparison of cement bond amplitude data and acoustic impedance maps show a deterioration of signal that implies a deterioration of cement bond or cement along much of the cemented annulus in the long-string section. Analysis of sidewall cores using XRD and LA-ICP-MS validated the log interpretation by confirming the degradation of cement (carbonation) along the casing-cement interface. The ultrasonic image maps also clearly identify the control lines and monitoring technology attached to the outside of the of the long-string casing on each well studied. The control lines appear as microdebonded or fluid filled vertical features implying that they could act as leakage pathways. The sidewall core through the control line at 10380 ft confirms that CO 2 is migrating along the control line with heavily carbonated cement at the control line interface. LA-ICP-MS and XRD on formation interface of the sidewall cores collected in both wells indicates that CO 2 is also moving of the cement-formation interface. LA-ICP-MS and XRD indicate that the amount carbonation in the center of the cores was less than the carbonation at the interfaces. Indicating that CO 2 is reaching the center of the cores by diffusing in from the interfaces and not migrating up from the reservoir though the porous matrix of the cement. This agrees with Duguid et al. [5] and Carey et al. [1] who have found that the interfaces in the well are more conductive than the porous network of the cement. Both the materials used to construct the well and the decision to attach monitoring technology to the outside of the well may have contributed to the migration of CO 2 along the interfaces. Careful consideration should be given to material selection to ensure that it does not degrade when in contact with the fluids in the reservoir and overlying strata. The addition of the control line on the outside of the casing complicated the cement placement and likely caused no cement to bond to the casing adjacent to the control line leading out of the reservoir. Further study of other wells with external lines should be conducted to see of the results of the construction of CFU31-F2 and -F3 is normal or an exception.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗