Table Of ContentSpringer Theses
Recognizing Outstanding Ph.D. Research
Roozbeh Khosrokhavar
Mechanisms for
CO Sequestration
2
in Geological
Formations and
Enhanced Gas
Recovery
Springer Theses
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Roozbeh Khosrokhavar
Mechanisms for CO
2
Sequestration in Geological
Formations and Enhanced
Gas Recovery
Doctoral Thesis accepted by
Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
123
Author Supervisors
Dr. Roozbeh Khosrokhavar Prof. HansBruining
Department ofGeoscience andEngineering Department ofGeoscience andEngineering
Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology
Delft Delft
TheNetherlands TheNetherlands
Dr. K.-H.A.A.Wolf
Department ofGeoscience andEngineering
Delft University of Technology
Delft
TheNetherlands
ISSN 2190-5053 ISSN 2190-5061 (electronic)
SpringerTheses
ISBN978-3-319-23086-3 ISBN978-3-319-23087-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23087-0
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Parts of this thesis have been published in the following journal articles:
1. Khosrokhavar,R.,Elsinga,G.E.,Farajzadeh,R.,andBruining,H.,“Visualization
and Investigation of Natural Convection Flow of CO in Aqueous and Oleic
2
Systems”,JournalofPetroleumScienceandEngineering,(2014).
2. Khosrokhavar,R.,Wolf,K.H.,andBruining,H.,“SorptionofCH andCO on
4 2
aCarboniferousShalefromBelgiumUsingaManometricSet-up”,International
Journal of Coal Geology, 128, 153–161, (2014).
3. Khosrokhavar, R., Griffiths, S., and Wolf, K. H., “Shale Gas Formations and
TheirPotentialforCarbonStorage:OpportunitiesandOutlook”,Environmental
Processes, 1–17, (2014).
4. Khosrokhavar, R., Eftekhari, A., Farajzadeh, R., and Bruining, H., “Effect of
SalinityandPressureontheRateofMassTransferinAquiferStorageofCarbon
Dioxide”, accepted to 18th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery
conference, Dresden, Germany (2015).
5. Khosrokhavar, R., Schoemaker, C., Battistutta, E., Wolf, K. H. A., and
Bruining, H., Sorption of CO in shales Using the Manometric Set-up, SPE
2
Europec/EAGE Annual Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark (2012).
6. Khosrokhavar,R.,Elsinga,G.,Mojaddam,A.,Farajzadeh,R.,andBruining,H.,
“Visualization of Natural Convection Flow of Super Critical CO in Water by
2
Applying Schlieren Method”, SPE EUROPEC/EAGE Annual Conference and
Exhibition, Vienna, Austria (2011).
To Negar
To my father and my mother
’
Supervisors Foreword
Carbon dioxide storage in geological formations (porous media) has received
increased interest because it is considered one of the options to reduce greenhouse
gasemission.Eventhoughthereisavastliteratureavailableonthesubjects,some
aspects deserve special attention. In the thesis, Dr. Khosrokhavar has focussed his
interestonvariousmechanismsthatexplainandenhancethestoragecapacityofthe
reservoir and enhance the methane recovery from nearby or solitary shale
formations.
Inthefirstpartofthiswork,CO -reservoircharacteristicsareobserved:Injected
2
carbon dioxide is partitioned between the injected gas cap and the underlying
aquifer. The transfer rate between the gas cap and the aquifer requires enhanced
mixingintheaquifer,whichoccursduetotheformationofunstablefingersofhigh
density carbonated brine in the lower density initial brine. The same mechanism
also occurs for carbon dioxide flooding in enhanced oil recovery. This fingering
processisindeedalikelymechanismbuthasneverbeenvisualized.Thefollowing
chapter uses an optical technique to visualize the occurrence and effect fingers
which,thankstonaturalconvection,greatlyenhancethetransferfromthegascapto
the aquifer. To our knowledge there are no visual data in the literature for natural
convectionflowofsupercriticalCO intheaqueousandtheoleicphase.Thereare
2
no experiments that deal with visualization of the CO –Oil system. The visuali-
2
zation shows a number offeatures that characterize the enhanced transfer, even if,
admittedly, it is only feasible in bulk flow. First it shows a small transition region
between the gas/fluid interface into the fluid, with a steep concentration gradient,
leading to a high transfer rate. The fingers emanate from the bottom of the small
transition region. The visual cell can not only be used to prove the fingering
mechanism but also to show that enhanced transfer does not only occur in fresh
water but also in brine of various concentrations and oil.
These findings inspired Dr. Khosrokhavar to design and build an experimental
setup with which the effect of salinity and pressure on the mass transfer rate could
be directly investigated. In addition it was considered that there is a lack of
experimentaldataatfieldconditions,inspiteofthefactthatthereisalargebodyof
ix
x Supervisors’Foreword
literature that numerically and analytically addresses the storage capacity and the
rate of transfer between the overlying CO -gas layer and the aquifer below. The
2
setupconsistsofahighpressurecell(1000cc)filledatthebottomwithwater/brine
saturated sand and at the top region filled with high pressure carbon dioxide.
Another difference with current experimental work is that he performed the
experiment at the relatively large volumes required to accurately measure natural
convection effects. The experiments are carried out at constant pressure and mea-
sureddirectlythemasstransferrate.Measurementswereobtainedbothatsub-and
supercritical conditions. It was confirmed that the transfer rate is much faster than
predicted by Fick’s law in the absence of natural convection currents.
In the second part of his work Dr. Khosrokhavar illustrates the importance of
shale formations in the world for storage of carbon dioxide combined with
enhanced gas recovery. For this reason he adapted an experimental setup that
allowed measuring the sorption capacity of both CH and CO on Belgium
4 2
Carboniferous shale using a manometric setup.
Asanextension,heupscaledhisresultsandreviewedglobalshalegasresources.
He considered both the opportunities and the challenges for their development.
Furthermore,heincludedareviewoftheliteratureonopportunitiestostoreCO in
2
shale, thus possibly helping to mitigate the impact of CO emissions from the
2
power and industrial sectors. The reviewed literature illustrates the capacity for
geologic storage of CO in shales might be significant, but knowledge of the
2
characteristicsofthedifferenttypesofgasshalesfoundgloballyisrequired.Indeed
the potential for CO sorption as part of geologic storage in depleted shale gas
2
reservoirs must be assessed with respect to the individual geology of each forma-
tion. Likewise, the introduction of CO into shale for enhanced gas recovery
2
(EGR) operations may significantly improve both reservoir performance and
economics.
Delft Prof. Hans Bruining
April 2015 Dr. K.-H.A.A. Wolf
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to my family, friends
and colleagues for their love, encouragement, support and advice during Ph.D.
period. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude.
First and foremost, I would like to state special thanks to my supervisors
Prof. HansBruiningandDr. Karl-Heinzfor givingmetheopportunitytofulfilmy
Ph.D.researchatDelftUniversityofTechnology.Hans,Iwouldliketoexpressmy
sincere gratitude to you for your persistence, knowledge, guidance, dedication and
supportduringmyresearch.Karl-Heinz,workingwithyouhashadabenefitofnot
only attaining technical knowledge and being supported in the lab but also getting
familiar and learning the way of dealing with different projects related to CO
2
sequestration subject. I am also very grateful to my supervisors for their scientific
advice, technical suggestions and insightful discussions during our meetings.
I am thankful to Dr. Rouhi Farajzadeh for his collaboration, helpful comments
andsuggestionsduringourfriendlydiscussions.IwouldliketothanktoDr.Gerrit
Elsinga, Prof. Steve Griffiths and Dr. Andreas Busch for all the support, contri-
bution and kind attention during my Ph.D. I would like to acknowledge the rest
ofthe examinationcommittee members: Prof. PacelliZitha, Prof. RienHerberand
Prof. Chris Spiers for participating in my Ph.D. defence and giving valuable
comments.
I am also thankful to Prof. Ruud Weijermars for giving me the opportunity to
cooperate with him as an assistant editor in Energy strategy Review Journal.
IappreciatetheheadofSPEchapterintheNetherlands,RuudCamphuysen,forhis
supportandconsiderationwhileIwasamemberofboardandvicepresidentofSPE
chapter at Delft University of Technology.
I want to appreciate all my friends around the world for their time and nice
chatting we had despite the distance and time differences. I would also be always
grateful to my friends in the Netherlands and colleagues of Petroleum engineering
section, Geoscience and Engineering department that I shared propitious and
memorablemomentswiththem.Regrettably,Icannotacknowledgethembyname.
I owe my gratitude to my former teachers, instructors and supervisors during
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