Virginia Tech
Implications of permeability uncertainty within engineered geologic fluid systems
Abstract
dc:description.abstractCarbon-capture and sequestration (CCS) in geologic reservoirs is one strategy for reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions from large-scale point source emitters. Recent developments have shown that basalt reservoirs are highly effective for permanent mineral trapping on the basis of CO2-water-rock interactions, which result in the formation of carbonate minerals. However, the injection of super-critical CO2 into the subsurface causes a disturbance in the pressure, temperature, and chemical systems within the target reservoir. How the ambient conditions change in response to a CO2 injection ultimately affects the transport and fate of the injected CO2. Understanding the behavior and transport of CO2 within a geologic reservoir is a difficult problem that is only exacerbated by heterogeneities within the reservoir; for example, permeability can be highly heterogeneous and exhibits significant control on the movement of CO2. This work is focused on constraining the permeability uncertainty within a flood basalt reservoir, specifically the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). In order to do so, this dissertation is a culmination of four projects: (1) a geostatistical analysis resulting in a spatial correlation model of regional scale permeability within the CRBG, (2) a Monte Carlo-type modeling studying investigating the effects that permeability uncertainty has on the injectivity and storativity of the CRBG as a storage reservoir, (3) a modeling study utilizing 1-, 2-, and 3-D numerical models to investigate how the thermal signature of the CO2-water system evolves during a CO2 injection, and (4) a Monte Carlo-type modeling study focused on the integrity of the CRBG as a CO2 storage reservoir through a probabilistic assessment of static threshold criteria.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Level thesis:degree_level
- doctoral
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Geosciences
- Department dc:contributor.department
- Geosciences
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Virginia Tech
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2019
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Jayne, Richard Scott Jr.
- Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
-
- Pollyea, Ryan M.
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Zhang, Yingqi
- Bodnar, Robert J.
- Schreiber, Madeline E.
- Law, Richard D.
Subjects
dc:subject × 4Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- In Copyright
- Licence dc:rights.uri
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Dc Identifier Other
- vt_gsexam:22353
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/94392