Exploring the value proposition of integrating back-up saline storage into anthropogenic CO₂ supplied EOR operations

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) through carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration from anthropogenic sources has been gaining attention in policy circles. In particular, it is viewed as a potential way to help accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies. The interest in the EOR-CCS model stems from the economic, geologic and regulatory benefits this model offers when compared to the waste-driven CCS model that utilizes saline aquifers for CO₂ storage. However, there are still some major challenges impeding the deployment of the EOR-CCS model; chief among these challenges is the mismatch between CO₂ supplies from anthropogenic sources and CO₂ demand from EOR operations. One potential way to address this challenge is through a CO₂ stacked storage system. A CO₂ stacked storage system utilizes brine formations adjacent to EOR oilfields for the purpose of storing any additional quantities of CO₂ the EOR operation cannot handle. The concept of a stacked storage system with focus on CO₂ supplies from coal-fired power plants was analyzed using a case study. A U.S. coal-fired power plant and a U.S. EOR oilfield were used to model a stacked storage system in order to determine the economic and technical viability of such a model. More specifically, this thesis has three main objectives. The first is to determine the overall cost of implementing the stacked storage system. The overall cost of the system came to approximately $90 per ton of CO₂ avoided.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Toukan, Ibrahim (Ibrahim Khaled)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ernest Moniz and Ahmed Ghoniem.

• Engineering Systems Division.
• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78540

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/78540