Geologic Model and Fluid Flow Simulation of Woodbine Aquifer CO2 Sequestration

CO2 sequestration is one of the proposed methods for reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Few studies on storing CO2 in an aquifer have been conducted on a regional scale. This case study offers a full field simulation of CO2 injection in a deep saline aquifer. A geologic model of the Woodbine aquifer was created using contour maps of the formation top, formation thickness, net sand thickness, porosity, and permeability, as well as a fault map. The woodbine aquifer has three regions; the outcrop, the fresh water region and the saline region. The simulation study considered three aquifer management strategies for injecting 63 MMT per year of CO2 from plants generating capacity of a total of 10.4GW in the vicinity of the aquifer. The aquifer management strategies used were bulk CO2 injection and two CO2-brine displacement strategies. Bulk injection of CO2 was limited to 30 years to avoid injection above the fracturing pressure and it has a storage efficiency of 0.65%. The CO2-brine displacement strategy increased the storage efficiency and project life from 30 years to 200 years. The required percentage of power plant capacity was 7.9% for the external brine disposal case and 17.51% for the internal saturated brine injection case.