Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Geological CO_2 sequestration”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of CO 2 Concentration on the Microbial Activity of Orenia metallireducens (Strain Z6) in Surface Inert Materials

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sequestration has garnered widespread attention as a key strategy for mitigating CO 2 emissions and combating the greenhouse effect. However, the mechanisms underlying the interactions between CO 2 , widespread siliceous minerals and biological processes remain unclear. The present study explored the potential impacts of different CO 2 concentrations on microbial activity, environmental conditions and their feedback on the fate of CO 2 . A total of 20 experimental conditions was created, with the variables including different natural and synthetic siliceous minerals (e.g., quartz sand and a type of commercial glass beads), the presence or absence of the iron-reducing microorganism Orenia metallireducens (strain Z6) and varying CO 2 concentrations (0%, 20%, 50%, 100%) in the presence of ferrihydrite and pyruvate. Geochemical, microbial and mineralogical analyses revealed that elevated CO 2 concentrations significantly inhibited microbial Fe(III) reduction and pyruvate metabolism. Interestingly, compared to cultures without mineral amendments or those with glass beads alone, the addition of quartz sand enabled strain Z6 to better withstand the environmental stress caused by elevated CO 2 , promoting pyruvate fermentation and iron reduction. In addition to an increased pH, the formation of siderite, hematite and vivianite was also observed in the bioactive systems. Although both glass beads and quartz sand were primarily composed of silica, differences in the mineral structure, elemental composition and acid neutralization capacity rendered quartz sand more chemically active and unexpectedly led to greater CO 2 sequestration.

CO2 stress↗
DOE OSTI2024

Southeast Regional CO 2 Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership (SECARB-USA): Risk Inventory for Commercial Storage Projects

The “Southeast Regional CO2 Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership” (SECARB USA) project supports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Odice of Fossil Energy's (FE) mission to help the United States meet its need for secure, adordable, and environmentally sound fossil energy supplies by utilizing the advancements made since 2003 by the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) Initiative to continue to identify and address knowledge gaps. The SECARB-USA regional initiative encompasses the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and portions of Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia as noted in Figure 1. The primary objective of the project is to identify and address regional onshore storage and transport challenges facing commercial deployment of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mechanisms for Microseismicity Occurrence Due to CO 2 Injection at Decatur, Illinois: A Coupled Multiphase Flow and Geomechanics Perspective

Here, we numerically investigate the mechanisms that resulted in induced seismicity occurrence associated with CO 2 injection at the Illinois Basin–Decatur Project (IBDP). We build a geologically consistent model that honors key stratigraphic horizons and 3D fault surfaces interpreted using surface seismic data and microseismicity locations. We populate our model with reservoir and geomechanical properties estimated using well-log and core data. We then performed coupled multiphase flow and geomechanics modeling to investigate the impact of CO 2 injection on fault stability using the Coulomb failure criteria. We calibrate our flow model using measured reservoir pressure during the CO 2 injection phase. Our model results show that pore-pressure diffusion along faults connecting the injection interval to the basement is essential to explain the destabilization of the regions where microseismicity occurred, and that poroelastic stresses alone would result in stabilization of those regions. Slip tendency analysis indicates that, due to their orientations with respect to the maximum horizontal stress direction, the faults where the microseismicity occurred were very close to failure prior to injection. These model results highlight the importance of accurate subsurface fault characterization for CO 2 sequestration operations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

An experimental investigation on the CO 2 storage capacity of the composite confining system

Assuring secure containment of stored CO 2 is of paramount importance—for climate change mitigation, for permitting, and for reassuring the public. Regional seals, such as those sealing petroleum accumulations, have proven to be effective for securing CO 2 . However, the goal of permanent sequestration can also be satisfied with “composite confining systems” consisting of multiple, possibly discontinuous flow barriers that, in aggregate, create a system with very high permeability anisotropy and effectively retard the vertical migration of CO 2 . This study focuses on investigating the barrier characteristics necessary for effective containment of CO 2 , using both physical flow experiments and modified invasion percolation simulations. The simulations are calibrated to the physical experiments and are used to further extend the analysis. Results show that for a composite confining system, a) even barriers with low capillary entry pressure contrast to the underlying flow unit can divert rising CO 2 ; b) curved or anticlinal barrier topography can enhance CO 2 trapping; c) fining-upward gradations make little difference to barrier effectiveness or CO 2 retention; d) longer barriers retain more CO 2 regardless of barrier topography. Finally, field-scale simulations have demonstrated the importance of barrier length for increasing CO 2 storage capacity. Furthermore, the results presented can be used to inform the development of new screening criteria for characterization and effectiveness of composite confining systems.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Project Lifetime Approach to the Management of Induced Seismicity Risk at Geologic Carbon Storage Sites

The geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is one method that can help reduce atmospheric CO 2 by sequestering it into the subsurface. Large-scale deployment of geologic carbon storage, however, may be accompanied by induced seismicity. We present a project lifetime approach to address the induced seismicity risk at these geologic storage sites. This approach encompasses both technical and nontechnical stakeholder issues related to induced seismicity and spans the time period from the initial consideration phase to postclosure. These recommendations are envisioned to serve as general guidelines, setting expectations for operators, regulators, and the public. They contain a set of seven actionable focus areas, the purpose of which are to deal proactively with induced seismicity issues. Although each geologic carbon storage site will be unique and will require a custom approach, these general best practice recommendations can be used as a starting point to any site-specific plan for how to systematically evaluate, communicate about, and mitigate induced seismicity at a particular reservoir.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Coupled feldspar dissolution and secondary mineral precipitation in batch systems: 6. Labradorite dissolution, calcite growth, and clay precipitation at 60 °C and pH 8.2–8.4

Here, we conducted experiments on concurrent labradorite dissolution, calcite precipitation, and clay precipitation in batch reactor systems and tracked reaction processes using multiple isotope tracers. Labradorite was chosen for its role as a major and reactive component in basalt; the experiments thus directly impact our understanding of CO 2 storage in basalt aquifers and enhanced rock weathering. We doped initial solutions with 29 Si, 43 Ca, and Ca 13 CO 3 (s). Experiments were conducted at 60 °C and pH ~ 8.3 for up to 840 h, with isotope ratios in the experimental aqueous solutions measured using MC-ICP-MS. Unidirectional rates of labradorite dissolution near equilibrium were approximately two orders of magnitude slower than far-from-equilibrium rates reported in the literature. Calcite growth occurred near equilibrium and the rates were limited by the labradorite dissolution rates. In the steady state phase, the interplay of these three heterogeneous reactions—labradorite dissolution, calcite growth, and clay precipitation—results in a coupled system that approaches a near-equilibrium state. The system does not reach true equilibrium because labradorite continues to dissolve, albeit at a much slower rate near equilibrium. The overall reaction can be approximated as, Na 0.4 Ca 0.6 Al 1.6 Si 2.4 O 8 + 0.6HCO 3 - + 1·.7H 2 O + 0.4H + → 0.4Na + + 0.6CaCO 3(s) + 0.5Al 2 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4(s) + 0.6Al(OH) 4 - + 1.4SiO 2 o (aq). The experimental results show that using short-term far-from-equilibrium rate constants would lead to an overestimation of feldspar weathering rates at the Earth’s surface (e.g., basalt weathering and enhanced rock weathering) and CO 2 mineralization in basalt aquifers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Application of unsupervised deep learning to image segmentation and in-situ contact angle measurements in a CO 2 -water-rock system

Rock surface wettability is a critical property that regulates multiphase flows in porous media, which can be quantified using the surface contact angle (CA). X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) provides an effective approach to in-situ measurements of surface CAs. However, the CA measurement accuracy depends significantly on the quality of CT image segmentation, which is the clustering of CT pixels into separate phases. Inspired by this, we developed a deep learning (DL)-based CA measurement workflow. Motivated by the recent tremendous progress in unsupervised learning techniques and aiming to avoid expensive manual data annotations, an unsupervised DL pipeline for CT image segmentation was proposed and implemented, which includes unsupervised model training and post-processing. The unsupervised model training was driven by a novel loss function constrained with feature similarity and spatial continuity and implemented by iterative forward and backward paths; the former clustered the pixel-wise feature vectors extracted by convolution neural networks, whereas the latter updated the parameters using gradient descent. An over-segmentation strategy was adopted for model training. The post-processing steps based on agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) were implemented to further merge the over-segmented model output to the desired cluster number, which is intended to improve the efficiency of image segmentation. The developed unsupervised DL pipeline was compared with other commonly-used image segmentation methods using pixel-wise and physics-based evaluation metrics on a synthetic raw-image dataset, which had a known ground truth. The unsupervised DL pipeline showed the best performance. Next, the segmented images were input to an automatic CA measurement tool, and the results were validated by comparisons with manual measurements. The CA values from the manual and automatic measurements showed similar distributions and statistical properties. The automatic measurement demonstrated a wider spectrum because of the much larger number of measurement data points. The primary novelty of the unsupervised DL pipeline developed in this study lies in the novel loss function and the over-segmentation strategy associated with AHC post-processing. Finally, the workflow has been proven an efficient tool for pore-scale wettability characterization, which has a wide range of applications in fundamental studies of multiphase flows in natural porous media, which have critical implications to geological carbon sequestration, hydrocarbon energy recovery, and contaminant transport in groundwater.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

An assessment of controlled source EM for monitoring subsurface CO 2 injection at the wyoming carbonSAFE geologic carbon storage site

Here we evaluate if electromagnetic (EM) geophysical methods for monitoring geologic carbon storage (GCS) efforts at the Wyoming CarbonSAFE project adjacent to the Dry Fork Station power plant near Gillette, Wyoming. This first involved acquiring both electric and magnetic fields at eleven different locations ranging in distance from immediately adjacent to 4 km from the plant. Passive EM measurements were made to provide spectral EM noise measurements generated by electricity production at the plant and to determine if useful magnetotelluric (MT) data can be successfully collected in the region. The processed data indicate that useful MT data can be collected as long as the site is located more than 2km away from the power plant as well as active roads and rail lines. Controlled source EM data were collected using three different source configurations, two of which connected to steel casings used to complete the injection wells. Comparing the EM noise measurements to the CSEM data show measurable electric and magnetic field signals at all sites. Next a series of three-dimensional (3D) numerical models were built that simulate resistivity changes caused by the proposed CO2 injection at depths ranging from 2.4 to 3.0km. These models were used to simulate various EM measurement configurations. The modeling shows that casing-source CSEM monitoring can provide sensitivity to the injected CO 2 if source electrodes are connected to the bottom of one or both of the injection wells.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Review and Outlook on Experimental Advances and Innovations in Geological CO 2 Storage: Insights from Depleted Gas Reservoirs and Saline Aquifers

Geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in depleted gas reservoirs and deep saline aquifers is a key part of global decarbonization efforts. As carbon capture and storage advances toward commercial-scale deployment, the credibility and scalability of laboratory experiments are increasingly vital for guiding safe and effective field implementation. This review offers a comprehensive, cross-scale evaluation of experimental methodologies, including core flooding, high-pressure, high-temperature systems, microfluidic visualization, and emerging systems such as multilayer commingled/compartmentalized core flooding, 3D-printed micromodels, and AI-powered digital twins. These innovations are demonstrated to enhance representativeness, reproducibility, and real-time insight, thereby addressing the limitations of conventional workflows. A critical analysis of methodological gaps, such as inconsistent pressure–temperature conditions, oversimplified brine chemistry, and a lack of standardization, reveals experimental sources of scale translation errors and performance uncertainty. By comparing the unique challenges of depleted gas reservoirs (such as low water saturation and legacy well leakage) to those of saline aquifers (including pressure buildup and caprock integrity), this review identifies formation-specific priorities for experimental design. Novel contributions include a synthesis of best practices, integration strategies for model calibration, and recommendations for standardizing core handling, saturation procedures, and reporting protocols. Furthermore, this work serves as a guide for developing robust, field-relevant experimental strategies that can increase the deployment and regulatory acceptance of CO 2 storage technologies at scale.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Risk matrix for legacy wells within the Area of Review (AoR) of Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) projects

The success of CCS depends on the capacity, injectivity, and confinement by the storage medium. Thousands of wells drilled over the past century with the intention to find the trapped oil and gas may penetrate the containment seals. These wells may provide leakage pathways for the CO 2 to escape and contaminate the underground sources of drinking water (USDW) or reach the surface in the worst-case scenario. Identifying the risky wells penetrating the containment seals and predicting their current as well as future well integrity is the most challenging task when limited data is available. Here, this paper proposes a unique methodology for risk assessment of the wells penetrating the containment seals based on the proximity of these wells from the proposed injection location, mechanical integrity, and accessibility of these wells over the lifecycle of the CCS project. This helps in identifying the wells which need immediate attention from the wells that need little to no attention. It also highlights the corrective actions necessary for the success of the CCS project as well as help estimate the approximate cost required to perform the corrective actions. This methodology focuses on all wells (producers, injectors, orphan, abandoned, water, stratigraphic, etc) while the majority of the studies found in literature focused on wells with sustained casing pressure (SCP) reports and cement bond logs (CBL). The proposed risk matrix, if applied to future CCS projects across the globe, will uniformly categorize the wells within the Area of Review (AoR).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Prairie State Generating Company Static and Dynamic Modeling

A reservoir modeling study was conducted to assess the feasibility of storing 162.5 million tonnes (8.125 million tonnes annually) of industrially sourced carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the St. Peter – Everton and Knox storage complexes at the Prairie State Generating Company’s (PSGC) site near Marissa, Washington County, Illinois (PSGC site). Two separate models were constructed for the St. Peter – Everton and the Knox storage complexes. The St. Peter and Everton sandstones are the target storage units for the St. Peter – Everton storage complex. The Knox Group formations are the target storage units for the Knox storage complex. The Maquoketa Shale is the primary confining unit for both storage complexes. The static reservoir models used as input to the dynamic reservoir models of the storage complexes were developed from interpretations of logs (e.g., gamma ray, resistivity, porosity, photoelectric, and sonic), structure surfaces using data from 36 wells, thickness maps, well test data, seismic data, and permeability data in PetrelTM.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2023

Robust In-Situ Strain Measurements to Monitor CO 2 Storage

The goal of this project was to develop and demonstrate robust instrumentation to monitor the in-situ strain tensor in order to improve the reliability and security of CO 2 storage in geologic formations. We met the original goals of the project and the major overarching accomplishment is the advancement of strain tensor monitoring from an intriguing concept to a commercially available technology with a solid foundation of novel instruments supported by theoretical analyses and validation experiments. The main accomplishments of the project are summarized below. We designed, built and evaluated nine new optical fiber strainmeters and tiltmeters using Michelson interferometers to measure deformation with ultra-high resolution at both shallow and deep point locations in the subsurface. These are the robust strainmeters that motivated the title of the project. We designed, built and evaluated a novel method of measuring distributed strain in optical fibers with nanostrain resolution, and cm-scale location, and sampling into the seismic band. The new method is called Coherence-length-gated Microwave Photonics Interfereometry (CMPI). CMPI technology has advantages over existing commercial DAS and DSS methods. We developed and demonstrated capabilities to deploy instruments in the field and used them to measure strain caused by ambient signals like barometric pressure and tides, as well as induced signals like surface loading and pore pressure changes from pumping tests. We deployed a working strainmeter at 1,700 ft depth, slightly above an active reservoir. This is to our knowledge the greatest depth a strainmeter has been deployed and the techniques we used can readily be extended to greater depths. Optical fiber borehole tensor strainmeter techology was advanced from a TRL 4 at the start, to a TRL of 7 at the conclusion of the project. The project included advances in simulations and theoretical analyses. We developed and demonstrated a computational workflow that uses machine learning to reduce the computational requirements and make it practical to use Bayesian inversion to solve large numerical poroelastic analyses needed to interpret strain tensor field data. We evaluated the strain tensor fields and time series that would be caused by leaks of CO 2 or other fluids from reservoirs. These simulations demonstrated that signals from leaks could be measured with instruments developed for the project, opening a potentially new method for ensuring storage security. We showed that strains in caprock can be used to estimate pressure in a reservoir. This avoids the need to drill monitoring wells into the reservoir, and it expands the capabilities of monitoring in the caprock. The project includes a derivation and application of a novel analytical solution to the strains in the vicinity of a pressurized poroelastic inclusion. This solution explains field data measured during injeciton tests at the North Avant Field, and it will simplify future interpretation of strain tensor data. The project included a broad range of experiments, and of the most significant is the characterization of the strain tensor at an array three strainmeters during six injection tests at the North Avant Field, Oklahoma. This demonstrated repeatability of the strain signal measured by the new instruments developed for the project, and it showed similarities between the strain signal at shallow depths and pressure in the underlying reservoir. We also demonstrated that useful strain data can be measured at reservoir depths. This confirms that strain tensor data can be measured throughout the caprock over a reservoir. The project demonstrated the feasibility of using the strain tensor and distributed strain measured in caprock during a variety of different well tests where the pumping rate was constant, sinusoidal and positive, or a periodic square wave with zero net rate. This further strengthens the validity of using strain data to characterize reservoirs and aquifers. We also demonstrated that strain caused be fluctuations of air pressure and water pressure in the vadose zone can be measured and interpreted, suggesting that high resolution distributed strain measurements hold promise for monitoring the vadose zone. The project partially supported nine graduate students in the Environmental Engineering, Hydrogeology, Electrical Engineering programs at Clemson University. The research was described in nine journal papers, 23 talks and conference abstracts. Additional journal papers are in preparation. A new company called Tensora was started to provide strainmeter technology for commercial applications.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2025

Influence of extreme temperature conditions on CO 2 direct air capture using amino-acid solutions

Geological features play a pivotal role in determining the feasibility of deploying CO₂ direct air capture (DAC) technologies, primarily because they influence the availability of cost-effective energy sources, such as natural gas and geothermal energy, and also due to the potential for CO₂ sequestration. Many regions face challenges due to variable weather conditions including seasonal temperature fluctuations, high or low humidity, and sub-ambient temperatures. These extremes can reduce DAC performance or even lead to catastrophic events. Aqueous solvents considered for DAC systems are particularly vulnerable to seasonal variations in colder climates, where the solvent may underperform or freeze. It is therefore essential to investigate the CO₂ capture efficiency of aqueous solvents across a broad range of environmental temperatures, spanning sub-zero to hot conditions (>30 °C). In this study, DAC operation is examined using a high-flux solvent–air crossflow contactor under two major weather scenarios: (i) cold conditions below 0 °C and (ii) hot conditions above 30 °C. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the contactor performance regarding CO₂ removal efficiency, uptake capacity, and reaction kinetics versus temperature when the air velocity through the contactor exceeds 1 m/s. The efficacy of the contactor is systematically investigated using various anti-freeze amino-acid solvent formulations. A mass-transfer mechanistic model is developed to assess the process performance over a wide temperature range and propose scalable design guidelines. Machine learning is also employed to identify key parameters affecting the CO₂ capture efficiency. It is shown that air velocity and temperature are the primary factors influencing CO₂ uptake. Based on performance data obtained under subfreezing temperatures, a technoeconomic analysis is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using aqueous solvents in seasonal cold regions. In conclusion, the findings of this study provide valuable insights into siting considerations for deploying solvent-based DAC, thereby contributing to the advancement of sustainable carbon removal solutions.

Air–liquid contactor↗
DOE OSTI2024

Efficient and generalizable nested Fourier-DeepONet for three-dimensional geological carbon sequestration

Geological carbon sequestration (GCS) involves injecting CO2 into subsurface geological formationsfor permanent storage. Numerical simulations could guide decisions in GCS projects by predictingCO 2 migration pathways and the pressure distribution in storage formation. However, these simula-tions are often computationally expensive due to highly coupled physics and large spatial-temporalsimulation domains. Surrogate modelling with data-driven machine learning has become a promis-ing alternative to accelerate physics-based simulations. Among these, the Fourier neural operator(FNO) has been applied to three-dimensional synthetic subsurface models. Despite its good accuracyin simulating CO 2 plume migration, it requires large computational resources in training and alsolacks generalizability. Here, to further improve performance, we have developed a nested Fourier-DeepONet by combining the expressiveness of the FNO with the modularity of a deep operatornetwork (DeepONet). This new framework is twice as efficient as a nested FNO for training and has atleast 80% lower GPU memory requirement due to its flexibility to treat temporal coordinates sepa-rately. These performance improvements are achieved without compromising prediction accuracy.In addition, the generalization and extrapolation ability of nested Fourier-DeepONet beyond thetraining range has been thoroughly evaluated. Nested Fourier-DeepONet outperformed the nestedFNO for extrapolation in time with more than 50% reduced error. It also exhibited good extrapolationaccuracy beyond the training range in terms of reservoir properties, number of wells, and injectionrate.

Lee, Jonathan E. [Department of Chemical and Envir↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cretaceous sequence stratigraphy of the northern Baltimore Canyon Trough: Implications for basin evolution and carbon storage

We evaluate the Cretaceous stratigraphy and carbon sequestration potential of the northern Baltimore Canyon Trough (NBCT) using >10,000 km of multi-channel seismic profiles integrated with geophysical logs, biostratigraphy, and lithology from 29 offshore wells. We identify and map six sequences resolved primarily at the stage level. Accommodation was dominated by thermal and non-thermal subsidence, though sequence boundaries correlate with regional and global sea-level changes, and the record is modified by igneous intrusion, active faulting, and changes in sediment supply and sources. Our stratigraphic maps illustrate a primary southern (central Appalachian) Early Cretaceous source that migrated northward during the Aptian and Albian. During the Cenomanian, sedimentation rates in the NBCT increased and depocenters shifted northward and landward. We show that deposition occurred in three phases: (1) earlier Cretaceous paleoenvironments were primarily terrestrial indicated by variable amplitude, chaotic seismic facies, serrated gamma logs, and heterolithic sandstones and mudstones with terrestrial microfossils; (2) the Albian to Cenomanian was dominated by deltaic paleoenvironments indicated by blocky, funnel-shaped, gamma-ray logs and clinoforms characterized by continuous high-amplitude seismic reflections with well-defined terminations; and (3) the Cenomanian and younger was marine shelf, inferred from mudstoneprone lithologies, peak gamma-ray values in well logs, and foraminiferal evidence. Long-term transgression and maximum water depths at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary correlative with Ocean Anoxic Event 2 were followed by a regression and relative sea-level fall. We show that porous and permeable sandstones of three Aptian to Cenomanian highstand systems tracts are high-volume reservoirs for supercritical CO 2 storage that are confined by overlying deep water mudstones.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

The potential for New Mexico basalts to sequester CO 2 with a focus on critical element mobility

This study evaluates the potential of New Mexico basaltic rocks and mafic mine waste for CO₂ sequestration via mineral carbonation. Batch experiments up to 200 days at 40°C simulated CO₂-bearing fluid interactions with various crushed basaltic materials at different grain sizes. Results showed that 70–80% of injected CO₂ was mineralized, with the finest grain sizes showing the most rapid and effective drawdown. The experiments also assessed the mobility of critical metals (Cu, Ni, Zn, Co), revealing trends tied to mineral dissolution and secondary mineral formation. The findings support the dual potential of mine waste for CO₂ sequestration and critical element recovery, informing future carbon capture and resource upcycling strategies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

One Earth Energy Static and Dynamic Reservoir Modeling

This report presents the static and dynamic reservoir modeling conducted for the CarbonSAFE Phase III Illinois Storage Corridor project to assess the feasibility of commercial-scale CO 2 storage in the Mt. Simon Sandstone at the One Earth Energy (OEE) site in McLean County, Illinois. Three-dimensional geocellular models of the Mt. Simon storage complex were developed in Petrel ® by integrating petrophysical log data, core analyses, and seismic surveys from the OEE #1 stratigraphic test well and two nearby wells, with multiple model versions created as new data became available. Dynamic reservoir simulations, performed using Landmark's Nexus software, progressed through three phases (preliminary, sensitivity, and UIC Class VI permit studies) evaluating injection scenarios across varying rates, well orientations, permeability models, and multi-well configurations. Results demonstrate that commercial-scale storage is feasible: three injection wells spaced approximately one mile apart can store a total of 90 million tonnes of CO 2 over 20 years, producing a combined plume with an equivalent radius of 3.2 miles and a maximum pressure-front-defined Area of Review of 178 mi 2 at the end of injection that diminishes to 34 mi 2 after 50 years of post-injection monitoring. Sensitivity analyses indicate that a 20% change in porosity or permeability yields approximately a 7% change in AoR radius, and that perforating the high-permeability arkosic zone minimizes the pressure front compared to injection in the upper Mt. Simon Sandstone.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗