Energy

Energy Procedia 4 (2011) 4411–4417 Procedia

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Energy Procedia 00 (2010) 000–000
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GHGT-10

Visualization experimental investigations of supercritical CO2 inject

into porous media with the fissure defect
Shu Luoa, Ruina Xua1* , Peixue Jianga, Xinwo Huanga
a
Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education,
Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, CHINA

Elsevier use only: Received date here; revised date here; accepted date here

Abstract

Experimental studies about supercritical CO 2-brine displacement are necessary to understand the detailed flow process of injected
supercritical CO 2 in deep saline aquifers. This article adopts experimental method to research the supercritical CO 2 and water
flow in porous media, using MRI as visualization and measurement method. Supercritical CO 2 and water are injected into the
sintered glass porous media structure by different mixture ratios. The sintered glass porous media structure is designed with the
fissure defect. Visualization and analysis results simultaneously demonstrate that supercritical CO 2 saturation and distribution
vary with different ratios. The CO 2 saturation increases with elevation in CO 2-water ratio. And the CO 2 distribution is
significantly influenced by the buoyancy force and the supercritical CO 2 will tend to migrate to the top of the test section. This
paper also investigates the fissure effect. More supercritical CO 2 will migrate to the top when encounters the fissure defect, and
therefore the cap rock has to withstand bigger pressure, which will reduce the safety of carbon geological storage.
⃝c 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords: MRI; visualization; porous media; the fissure defect; CO2 storage

1. Introduction

The CO2 concentration increases dramatically after Industrial Revolution. It is widely accepted
that this significant increase contributes a lot to global warming, and accordingly, various
approaches to reducing CO2 emissions are raised. The radical cure is to replace the fossil-fuel-
based energy system by a hydrogen-based one. However, there are plenty more barriers to the
extensive change of energy system, that is to say, fossil fuel will continue to dominate the world
in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, “carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS)” looks very
promising in reducing CO2 emissions in short and medium term. As for the storage section, there
are three kinds of possible storage sites up to now: abandoned oil and gas field, ocean and saline

* Corresponding author. Tel.: -86-10-62792294; fax: +86-10-62770209.

E-mail address: ruinaxu@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2011.02.394
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aquifer. Among them, saline aquifer is the most important storage site for embodying the biggest
storage capacity.
Many researchers carried all kinds of investigations on the CO2 storage, especially on the CO2
geological storage. Abaci, Edwards and Whittaker[1] conduct laboratory measurements on
relative permeability for two-phase flow in unconsolidated sands; Bryant and Blunt[2] make good
prediction of relative permeability in porous media by modeling and numerical simulations,
which accords well with experimental results; Tokunagaet al. [3] recognize two displacement
patterns by 1D vertical oil-water experiments: stable, piston-like displacement and capillary
fingering; Numerical study by Garcia et al. [4] points out that the effects of particle shape and size
distribution on hydraulic permeability are small but noticeable; Modeling and simulations by
Holm et al. [5] indicate that, in continuum-scale simulations, accurate displacement patterns
should be discovered by using consistent three-phase capillary pressures. In short, previous
researches have already provided a solid base for current researches on CO2 geological storage.
Buoyancy of supercritical CO2 is one of the major factors during and after the displacing
process. Besides physical trapping by cap rocks, residual gas trapping and solubility trapping can
also play an important role in reducing the risk of leakage. Experiments by Suekane et al. [6] have
shown that, in a system of supercritical CO2 and water, the residual gas saturations can reach the
level between 24.8% and 28.2%. Direct observations of trapped gas bubbles by X-ray CT have
been carried out as well Suekane et al. [7], which shows that the trapped N2 bubbles can withstand
the water flow rate to a level at capillary number of 1.0×10-4.
Saline aquifers are regarded as the most promising places for CO2 storage. They can provide a
huge capacity and are distributed throughout the globe. Although there are abundant data for
multi-phase flow systems, data and experiences for CO2-brine system are still limited. Benson et
al. [8, 9] conducts experiments on CO2-brine system using X-ray CT which can provide 3D
saturation maps with high resolution down to a few pore volumes. The results indicate that
heterogeneity of the core dominates the displacement efficiency of multi-phase brine; Different
flow rates bring on differences in CO2 saturations, as well as curves of relative permeability; No
effects of buoyancy or gravity are detected on the saturation maps.
There still lie some limitations about current researches. Consequently, deeper researches
needed to be carried out on CO2-brine system. This paper adapted experimental method to
investigate the CO2 and brine flow in porous media, using MRI as visualizations and
measurement method.

2. Experimental system

2.1 Experimental system introduction

A new experimental system is designed and constructed to investigate the CO2-brine flow in
porous media and practical core, displayed as Fig. 1. This experimental system is made up of
four parts: CO2 flow path, brine flow path, test section part and backup pressure part. CO2 flows
from the CO2 tank at the pressure of 6Mpa. And then CO2 flows into the supercritical CO2 pump
and is pressured up to the setting pressure. CO2 flow meter is used to measure the CO2 mass flow
rate. After CO2 flows out from the flow meter, CO2 enters into the thermostatic heater to reach
the setting temperature. Water flow path is similar as the CO2 flow path. Water is pressured up
through the brine pump. When the water flows out from the brine pump, the brine mass flow rate
is measured by the brine flow meter. And then the water enters the thermostatic heater to reach
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the setting temperature. After the supercritical CO2 and brine flow from the thermostatic heater,
the two fluids encounter each other in the mixer. And then the mixed fluids enter the test section.
When the mixed fluids flow out from the test section, the mixed fluids flow through the back
pressure valve. And then the two-phase fluids are separated by the separator.

2.2 Material and measurement method

The material of the test section is sintered glass particles and the diameter of the glass particles
is 1 mm. The core diameter is 1 inch and the length of the test section is 70 mm. In order to
investigate the influence of fissure defect on the CO2 distribution, a vertical fissure is
constructed. The test section is placed horizontally.
Many parameters require measuring. The mass flow rate is measured by the flow meter, and
the temperature is measured by the platinum resistor. Besides, the pressure is measured by the
pressure transducer. The saturation is a very important parameter to be measured. Traditional
measurement adopts weight method. It is a simple method but the accuracy of the result can’t be
ensured. Our experimental system uses the MRI to measure the CO2 saturation and porosity of
the test section. Besides, the MRI can be used to visualize the CO2 distribution and research the
supercritical-CO2 buoyancy influence in the pore scale. Through the MRI, the displacing
characteristic can be reported by the relaxation time. The migration characteristic of the fluids
can be investigated by the changing of the relaxation time distribution.

Fig. 1 Experimental System for CO2 Storage in Saline Aquifer Reservoir

3. Experimental procedure

Stable-state method is used to measure the relative permeability. The basic theory is 1D-Darcy
interstitial flow theory. The two-phase fluids are assumed immiscible and incompressible. The
experiment is carried out under constant total flow rate, and the two fluids are injected into the
test section as a particular ratio. When the inlet pressure, outlet pressure, CO2 and water flow rate
reach stable condition, and the CO2 saturation is stable, the CO2 and water distribution in the
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core pores are homogeneous, which means that the experiment reaches the stable state. The
effective permeabilities of CO2 and water are constant values when the experimental condition
reaches a stable state. According to the Darcy law, the CO2 and water effective permeabilities
can be calculated by the inlet pressure, outlet pressure, CO2 and water flow rate. The CO2
saturation can be measured and viewed through the MRI. Through changing the flow rate ratio
of CO2 to water, the effective permeability data under different CO2 saturations can be achieved.
The relative permeability-saturation curve can be plotted.

4. Results

4.1 Experimental condition

The pressure of CO2 and water is 9.25Mpa. The total injection rate of CO2 and water is
1.0ml/min, including two experimental conditions. The CO2 flow rate is 0.6ml/min and the water
flow rate is 0.4ml/min for the first experimental condition. And the CO2 flow rate is 0.2ml/min
and the water flow rate is 0.8ml/min for the second experimental condition. Via the MRI,
relaxation time curve and water saturation distribution image can be produced.
1600

1400
Bond water
CO2:water=3:2
1200 CO2:water=1:4
Intensity(a.u.)

1000

800

600

400

200

0 1 10 100 1000 10000

Relaxation time(ms)
Fig.2 Intensity-Relaxation time spectrogram

4.2 Relaxation time curve

Relaxation time is used to describe the decay speed in the NMR physics. The relaxation time
denotes the loss of the transverse magnetization with the time T2 and building up of longitudinal
magnetization with time T1. The signal decays more quickly with the elevation in relaxation
time. And the decrease of the pore size leads to decrease of the transverse relaxation time
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displayed as Equation (1). And the !2 denotes the relaxation rate constant, the S and V denote the
surface area and volume of the pore respectively. The signal intensity is related to the water
saturation. The signal intensity increases with the elevation in water saturation.
1 S
∀ !2
T2 V (1)
Fig. 2 shows the result of three experimental conditions. The first curve displays the
relationship between signal intensity and relaxation time under the condition of only bond water
existing. The second curve shows the relationship between signal intensity and relaxation time
under the CO2-water injection ratio of 3:2. The last curve indicates the relationship between
signal intensity and relaxation time under the CO2-water injection ratio of 1:4. When the CO2
injection rate increases, the curve will migrate to the left direction, for more and more water
would be displaced from the pore. And the water in the big pores would be displaced by CO2,
because the CO2 tends to enter the big pores. The supercritical CO2 has to overcome the capillary
pressure between the CO2 and the water. The capillary pressure decreases with elevation in pore
size displayed as Equation (2). Pc is the capillary pressure between the two phases; # denotes
the surface tension; ∃ denotes contact angle; r denotes throat radius.
2# cos ∃
Pc ∀
r
(2)

4.3 Visualization image

4.3.1 Buoyancy effect
The image of water saturation distribution can be produced by the MRI. Different CO2-water
injection rate ratios will lead to different water saturation distribution images. Fig. 3 to 6 show
the water saturation distribution images under different CO2-water injection ratios. From the
images, the water saturation increases by the reduction of the CO2-water injection ratio. When
the CO2 enters the test section from the inlet, CO2 will migrate to the top of the test section under
the influence of the buoyancy and gravity.

Sw Sw

Fig. 3 Bounded water image Fig. 4 water saturation image with CO2 -water ratio 3:2
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Sw Sw

Fig. 5 water saturation image with CO2 -water ratio 1:4 Fig. 6 water saturation image with saturated water

4.3.2 The influence of fissure defect

There is a vertical fissure near the outlet of the test section to research the influence of fissure
defect on the water saturation distribution (Fig. 7). From the fissure to the outlet of the test
section, the CO2 gathers at the top part of the test section displayed in Fig. 7 due to the fissure
defect. The fissure defect has changed the permeability characteristic and CO2 saturation
distribution. Behind the fissure defect, the influence of the buoyancy becomes more significant.
In particular condition, more supercritical CO2 will migrate to the top when encounters the
fissure defect (Fig. 8), and the cap rock will burden bigger pressure and the safety of carbon
geological storage will decrease due to the fissure defect. Consequently, the fissure has
significant influence on CO2 storage.

Fig. 7 Fissure defect position image Fig. 8 Water saturation gray image with CO2-
water ratio 1:4

5. Conclusion

Two-phase displacement and stable flow rate experiments can provide basic understandings of
the CO2 geological storage. MRI can be used to understand the injection and flow characteristic
more directly from pore-scale angle. MRI can also be used to measure the porosity and water
saturation accurately. The relaxation time curve will migrate left with elevation in CO2-water
injection rate ratio due to the displacement of CO2. Supercritical CO2 will migrate to the top of
the test section because of the buoyancy and gravity. Behind the fissure defect, the influence of
buoyancy becomes more significant. In particular condition, more supercritical CO2 will migrate
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to the top when encounters the fissure defect, and therefore the cap rock has to withstand bigger
pressure, which will results in reducing the safety of carbon geological storage. Consequently,
the fissure has significant influence on CO2 geological storage.

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the Youth Fund from the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (No. 50906043), by the Tsinghua Autonomous Research Foundation (No.
2009THZ02232) and by China-Australia Geological Storage of CO2 Project (CAGS).

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