Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Protecting Drinking Water by Reducing Uncertainties Associated with Geologic Carbon Sequestration in Deep Saline Aquifers
EPA Grant Number: R834382Title: Protecting Drinking Water by Reducing Uncertainties Associated with Geologic Carbon Sequestration in Deep Saline Aquifers
Investigators: Roy, William R. , Storsved, Brynne A , Hackley, Keith C , Lin, Yu-Feng Forrest , Rice, Richard J , Butler, Shane K , Benson, Sally M. , Kelly, Walton R , Freiburg, Jared T , Panno, Samuel V. , Ray, Chittaranjan , Strandli, Christin , Mehnert, Edward , Krothe, J. , Yoksoulian, Lois , D'Alessio, Matteo , Krothe, N.C. , Adams, Nathaniel , Berger, Peter , Askari-Khorasgani, Zohreh
Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , University of Hawaii at Honolulu , Illinois State Geological Survey , Isotech Laboratories , Hydrogeology, Inc. , Stanford University , Illinois State Water Survey
Current Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , Hydrogeology, Inc. , Illinois State Geological Survey , Illinois State Water Survey , Isotech Laboratories , Stanford University , University of Hawaii at Honolulu
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: November 16, 2009 through November 15, 2014
Project Amount: $897,225
RFA: Integrated Design, Modeling, and Monitoring of Geologic Sequestration of Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide to Safeguard Sources of Drinking Water (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Drinking Water , Water
Objective:
Protecting Drinking Water by Reducing Uncertainties Associated With Geologic Carbon Sequestration in Deep Saline Aquifers was developed with an overarching goal of protecting underground sources of drinking water from potential threats from geological carbon sequestration (GCS). GCS is a process of permanently storing greenhouse gases in the subsurface rather than discharging them to the atmosphere. This technology is considered by scientists and policy makers to be a feasible approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing global climate change (IPCC, 2005; Socolow and Pacala, 2006; IEA, 2013). For GCS projects, monitoring, verification and assessment (MVA) procedures are conducted to demonstrate that the sequestered carbon dioxide (CO2) is securely and permanently stored in the subsurface (USDOE, 2012). MVA procedures include atmospheric, hydrological, geochemical, and geophysical monitoring techniques, and generally include modeling of these data. Our research efforts were designed to reduce uncertainties associated with selected MVA data and associated modeling procedures. We organized our research effort into five major tasks, headed by one or two technical leaders:
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Monitoring at Natural Gas Storage Sites (Technical Leader: E. Mehnert, Illinois State Geological Survey [ISGS])
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Vertical Pressure Profiles for Monitoring CO2 and Brine Migration: Research and Validation of the Westbay System (Technical Leader: S. Benson, Stanford University)
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Enhancement of Regional Flow and Transport Models to Reduce Risk (Technical Leaders: Y.F. Lin, ISGS and C. Ray, University of Hawaii)
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Geochemical Investigations (Technical Leaders: W. Roy and L. Yoksoulian, ISGS)
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Saline Groundwater Discharge from the Illinois Basin (Technical Leader: S. Panno, ISGS)
This research project was conducted in parallel with a U.S. Department of Energy Phase III demonstration project conducted by the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (www.sequestration.org). This demonstration project, known as the Illinois Basin - Decatur Project (IBDP), has a goal of safely and permanently sequestering 1 million tonnes of CO2 in a basal saline reservoir (Finley et al., 2013). IBDP began injecting CO2 into the Mt. Simon Sandstone on November 17, 2011, and had 622,000 tonnes sequestered by October 15, 2013, and 976,539 tonnes sequestered by November 4, 2014.
Task 1 was a data mining effort to compile geologic, hydrogeologic, and geochemical data mainly from natural gas storage fields completed in the Mt. Simon Sandstone in and near the Illinois Basin (Fig. 1). These storage fields have been developed in geologic structures in the top few hundred feet (100 to 150 m) of the Mt. Simon and have operated since the late 1950s. These data will be valuable for improving basin-scale modeling of geological carbon sequestration, as these fields are located between the ideal GCS sites in central Illinois and Indiana and groundwater resources in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Data from wastewater injection wells and other wells were also included in this effort.
Task 2 was an effort to develop and demonstrate methods for monitoring migration and potential leakage of CO2 using multilevel (depth-discrete) pressure transient measurements. The methods were applied to the pressure transient data at IBDP, where the Westbay multilevel system was installed in a monitoring well to measure the pressure buildup during CO2 injection.
Task 3 was an effort to link a GCS model with an existing groundwater flow model for bedrock aquifers in Illinois. Procedures were developed to link the two different models to better understand the potential interactions of commercial-scale GCS in central Illinois and Indiana and current and future groundwater pumping from bedrock aquifers in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
Task 4 was an effort to improve our understanding of GCS related geochemistry. Archived and fresh samples of the injection reservoir (Mt. Simon Sandstone) and the caprock (Eau Claire Formation) were exposed to CO2 at injection reservoir temperatures and pressures in the laboratory. Fresh samples of the Mt. Simon and Eau Claire were retrieved during drilling of IBDP's injection and verification wells (CCS1, VW1, and VW2). The results of the laboratory experiments were analyzed and modeled to evaluate the effects of GCS on the injection reservoir and the caprock.
Task 5 was an effort to improve our baseline data for naturally occurring saline springs in and around the Illinois Basin and to develop techniques to characterize these saline fluids. A common concern that the general public has regarding GCS is that CO2 injection will cause native brines to migrate from the injection reservoir into overlying formations and degrade water quality. The value of better baseline data is easily understood once this water quality concern is appreciated.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
This research project included five separate but related tasks. Two tasks focused on geochemistry and three focused on hydrogeology and hydrology. Through these tasks, we compiled available data, generated new data, improved existing techniques, and developed new techniques. Collectively, the results from these five tasks have resulted in a better understanding of the geochemistry and hydrogeology of the Mt. Simon and the Eau Claire Formations in the Illinois Basin, which will help protect underground sources of drinking water from potential threats from geological carbon sequestration. While some of the results presented here are applicable only to this specific saline reservoir and caprock, other results such as the new and modified techniques are easily transferable to other GCS reservoirs around the world. The collective result of these efforts has been to reduce the uncertainty associated with protecting underground sources of drinking water from potential threats posed by geological carbon sequestration.
For Task 1, the data mining efforts lead to the collection of a significant quantity of core porosity, core permeability and water quality data from natural gas storage sites in and around the Illinois Basin. These data were also collected from other types of wells such as Class I injection wells and water wells. A limited amount of two-phase flow data such as capillary pressure curves and relative permeability data also were collected.
During the 1950s through 1970s, developers of natural gas storage sites collected core and had it tested in commercial laboratories to determine porosity, horizontal permeability, and vertical permeability. Porosity data were the most common data collected, while vertical permeability was the least common data for reservoir rock and horizontal permeability was the least common data for the caprock. For this project, we digitized data for 12,652 core samples—9,383 Mt. Simon and 3,269 Eau Claire core. The quantity of core data varied across the 13 storage fields. Ancona had the largest collection of core (2,812 core samples) and Troy Grove had the smallest collection (339 core samples). Collectively, the core data demonstrate the considerable variability in the rock properties of the Eau Claire and Mt. Simon. In addition, the lithology of the Eau Claire is more variable than the Mt. Simon across the basin. More sandstone units are present in the Eau Claire in the northern part than the central part of the Illinois Basin, which contribute to some of the higher permeability values observed for the Eau Claire at the northern storage fields.
Aquifer tests were conducted at 10 gas storage fields and one waste injection well. Aquifer tests provide permeability data but at a larger scale than provided by core. Most aquifer tests were high quality tests with sufficient pumping to stress the aquifer, sufficient length to evaluate potential boundary effects and leaky confining layers, and sufficient observation wells to collect data. Like the core data, the variability of the aquifer test results demonstrated the variability of the hydraulic properties of the Mt. Simon. Data and analyses in this study indicated a scale dependence of hydraulic conductivity when comparing core and aquifer test data, which runs counter to Schulze-Makuch et al. (1999) who concluded that scale dependence of hydraulic conductivity was not observed in the Mt. Simon in the upper Midwest. This topic deserves additional research. Considerable effort was spent analyzing aquifer test data, but additional work could be done here. We used derivative analysis to analyze the aquifer test data at a few sites, but it could be applied for all sites. No groundbreaking results were uncovered using derivative analysis, but these aquifer test data are quite valuable and all efforts should be made to extract as much information as possible. The derivative analysis package, Hytool, needs to be expanded to include one or more of Hantush’s methods for leaky confined aquifers. To fully explain some aquifer test results, a groundwater model may be needed to account for the complexity of the site geology and three-dimensional flow arising from the test setup (pumping well with a 7.5 m [25 ft] screen in a 600 m [2000 ft] thick aquifer).
Additional geochemical data were digitized for this project. The primary variable of interest was total dissolved solids (TDS), which can be used to estimate brine density and brine viscosity. An improved map of TDS in the Mt. Simon in Illinois and Indiana (Fig. 2) was developed and includes the 10,000 mg/L TDS line, which is significant to regulators. This new map was developed using 169 TDS values while the existing map used 57 TDS values but included no Indiana data. This new map could be improved with additional data, especially in the southern portion of the Illinois Basin. More importantly, data are also needed to define the vertical distribution of TDS within the Mt. Simon, which is more than 600 m (2,000 ft) thick in some areas.
 should be avoided when searching for a location for permanent geologic disposal of carbon dioxide or any other waste products. </p>
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<h3>References:</h3>
<p>
Cartwright, K., 1970. Groundwater Discharge in the Illinois Basin as Suggested by Temperature Anomalies. <i>Water Resources Research 6</i>(3): 912–918. </p>
<p>
Finley, R.J., S.M. Frailey, H.E. Leetaru, O. Senel, M.L. Coueslan and S. Marsteller, 2013. Early Operational Experience at a One-million Tonne CCS Demonstration Project, Decatur, Illinois, USA. <i>Energy Procedia </i>37: 6149-6155. </p>
<p>
International Energy Agency (IEA), 2013. Technology Roadmap: Carbon Capture and Storage, 2013 edition, OECD/IEA, Paris, 58 p. </p>
<p>
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2005. IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, B. Metz, O. Davidson, H. de Coninck, M. Loos and L. Meyer (eds.), Cambridge University Press, UK, 442 p. </p>
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Meents, W.F., 1952. Illinois Oil-Field Brines. Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Petroleum Notes 66, 38 p. </p>
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Mehnert, E., and P.H. Weberling, 2014. Groundwater Salinity within the Mt. Simon Sandstone in Illinois and Indiana, Illinois State Geological Survey Circular 582, 19 p. + appendix. </p>
<p>
Panno, S.V., K.C. Hackley, R.A. Locke, I.G. Krapac, B. Wimmer, A. Iranmanesh, and W.R. Kelly, 2013. Formation Waters from Cambrian-Age Strata, Illinois Basin, USA: Constraints on Their Origin and Evolution Based on Halide Composition. <i>Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 122: </i>184–197. </p>
<p>
Schulze-Makuch, D., D.A. Carlson, D.S. Cherkauer and P. Malik, 1999. Scale dependency of hydraulic conductivity in heterogeneous media. <i>Ground Water </i>37(6): 904-919. </p>
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Socolow, R.H. and S.W. Pacala, 2006. A plan to keep carbon in check. <i>Scientific American </i>295(3): 50-57. </p>
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Strandli, C.W. and S.M. Benson, 2013. Identifying diagnostics for reservoir structure and CO2 plume migration from multilevel pressure measurements, <i>Water Resources Research </i>49: 1-14, doi:10.1002/wrcr.20285. </p>
<p>
U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (USDOE), 2012. Best Practices for Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting of CO2 Stored in Deep Geologic Formations - 2012 Update, second edition, U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory DOE/NETL-2012-1568<b>: </b>135. </p>
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Yoksoulian, L.E., J.T. Freiburg, S.K. Butler, P.M. Berger, and W.R. Roy, 2013. Mineralogical alterations during laboratory-scale carbon sequestration experiments for the Illinois Basin, <i>Energy Procedia. </i>37: 5601-5611. </p>
<p>
Zhou, Q.L., J.T. Birkholzer, E. Mehnert, Y.F. Lin and K. Zhang, 2010. Modeling Basin- and Plume-Scale Processes of CO2 Storage for Full-Scale Deployment. <i>Ground Water </i>48(4): 494-514. </p>
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<strong>Journal Articles
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5 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 52 publications | 6 publications in selected types | All 5 journal articles |
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Mehnert E, Damico J, Frailey S, Leetaru H, Lin Y-F, Okwen R, Adams N, Storsved B, Valocchi A. Development of a basin-scale model for CO2 sequestration in the basal sandstone reservoir of the Illinois Basin—issues, approach and preliminary results. Energy Procedia 2013;37:3850-3858. |
R834382 (Final) |
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Panno SV, Hackley KC, Locke RA, Krapac IG, Wimmer B, Iranmanesh A, Kelly WR. Formation waters from Cambrian-age strata, Illinois Basin, USA: constraints on their origin and evolution. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 2013;122:184-197. |
R834382 (2011) R834382 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Strandli CW, Benson SM. Identifying diagnostics for reservoir structure and CO2 plume migration from multilevel pressure measurements. Water Resources Research 2013;49(6):3462-3475. |
R834382 (Final) |
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Strandli CW, Benson SM. Diagnostics for reservoir structure and CO2 plume migration from multilevel pressure measurements. Energy Procedia 2013;37:4291-4301. |
R834382 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
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Yoksoulian LE, Freiburg JT, Butler SK, Berger PM, Roy WR. Mineralogical alterations during laboratory-scale carbon sequestration experiments for the Illinois Basin. Energy Procedia 2013;37:5601-5611. |
R834382 (2012) R834382 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
Characterization, carbon dioxide, leakage, pressure, monitoring springs, Mt. Simon sandstone, Illinois BasinProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.