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An Integrated Capillary, Buoyancy, and Viscous-Driven Model for Brine/CO2Relative Permeability in a Compositional and Parallel Reservoir Simulator

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Modelling and Simulation in Fluid Dynamics in Porous Media

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics ((PROMS,volume 28))

Abstract

The effectiveness of CO2 storage in the saline aquifers is governed by the interplay of capillary, viscous, and buoyancy forces. Recent experimental study reveals the impact of pressure, temperature, and salinity on interfacial tension (IFT) between CO2 and brine. The dependence of CO2-brine relative permeability and capillary pressure on pressure (IFT) is also clearly evident in published experimental results. Improved understanding of the mechanisms that control the migration and trapping of CO2 in subsurface is crucial to design future storage projects that warrant long-term and safe containment. Simulation studies ignoring the buoyancy and also variation in interfacial tension and the effect on the petrophysical properties such as trapped CO2 saturations, relative permeability, and capillary pressure have a poor chance of making accurate predictions of CO2 injectivity and plume migration. We have developed and implemented a general relative permeability model that combines effects of pressure gradient, buoyancy, and IFT in an equation of state (EOS) compositional and parallel simulator. The significance of IFT variations on CO2 migration and trapping is assessed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by an Academic Excellence Alliance program award from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Global Collaborative Research under the title X. A portion of this research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security (CFSES) is a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, under contract number DE-SC0001114. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the NSF-CDI under contract number DMS 0835745.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    X. Kong & M. Delshad

  2. Center for Subsurface Modeling, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    M. F. Wheeler

Authors
  1. X. Kong
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  2. M. Delshad
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  3. M. F. Wheeler
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Correspondence to X. Kong .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Mathematics, University of Coimbra, EC Santa Cruz, Coimbra, 3001-501, Portugal

    José A. Ferreira

  2. , Department of Mathematics, University of Coimbra, EC Santa Cruz, Coimbra, 3001-501, Portugal

    Sílvia Barbeiro

  3. , Department of Mathematics, University of Coimbra, EC Santa Cruz, Coimbra, 3001-501, Portugal

    Gonçalo Pena

  4. Inst. Computational Engineering &, Sciences (ICES), University of Texas, Austin, Austin, 78712, Texas, USA

    Mary F. Wheeler

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Kong, X., Delshad, M., Wheeler, M.F. (2013). An Integrated Capillary, Buoyancy, and Viscous-Driven Model for Brine/CO2Relative Permeability in a Compositional and Parallel Reservoir Simulator. In: Ferreira, J., Barbeiro, S., Pena, G., Wheeler, M. (eds) Modelling and Simulation in Fluid Dynamics in Porous Media. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 28. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5055-9_8

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