Increased CO2 storage capacity using CO2-foam. (May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Føyen, T.; Brattekås, B.; Fernø, M.A.; Barrabino, A.; Holt, T.
• Is Part Of: International journal of greenhouse gas control. Volume 96(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-05
• Subjects: Carbon capture storage and utilization -- CO2 Storage Capacity -- Decreased residual water saturations -- Foam generation -- Surfactant partitioning -- Foam apparent viscosity -- Non-ionic surfactants; CO2 carbon dioxide -- EOR enhanced oil recovery -- CCUS carbon capture, utilization and storage -- SAG surfactant alternating gas -- WASG water alternating surfactant gas -- SG surfactant gas -- BT gas break through -- PV pore volume -- AOS Alpha olefin sulfonate -- k permeability -- μapp apparent viscosity -- ∇p pressure gradient -- u Darcy velocity -- IFT interfacial tension -- kp partition coefficient -- Wt.% weight percentage -- msx, t mass of surfactant -- mCO2x−1, t−1 surfactant dissolved in CO2 -- ms, Wx, t−1 surfactant dissolved in Water -- ρCO2 CO2 Density -- SW water saturation; Greenhouse gases -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Air -- Purification -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Gaz à effet de serre -- Périodiques; Gaz à effet de serre -- Réduction -- Périodiques; Air -- Purification -- Technological innovations; Greenhouse gases -- Environmental aspects; Periodicals; 363.73874605
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijggc.2020.103016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-5836

Abstract

Highlights: CO2 foam injection resulted in a more efficient water displacement and yielded decreased residual water saturations. Nonionic CO2 soluble surfactants stabilized foam. Three categories of foam generation behaviour were observed. Surfactant mass transfer between CO2 and water was estimated using a model and compared with foam decay. Abstract: Reduction of the CO2 mobility is beneficial during subsurface sequestration of anthropogenic CO2 in saline aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs by mitigating flow instabilities leading to early gas breakthrough and poor sweep efficiency. Injection of CO2 foam is a field-proven technology for gas mobility control. Foam generation and coalescence are compared between six commercially available surfactants with a range in CO2 solubility, during unsteady state injection of dense CO2 -foam in a long sandstone outcrop core (1.15 m). Foam generation categories and foam decay were defined based on the observed changes in foam apparent viscosity during generation and coalescence. The degree of CO2 solubility influenced apparent viscosity development and peak foam strength for the tested surfactants. Variations in foam peak strength resulted in a range of water saturations at CO2 breakthrough (up to 24 percentage points difference observed experimentally), with implications for the CO2 storage capacity.