Abstract
The aquifer which can be used to store CO2 is likely to be tilted, where CO2 will move faster towards the upstream direction of the CO2 injection well under buoyancy force. This feature is not beneficial for the safety of CO2 storage if there are faults or abandoned wells in the up-tilt side of the CO2 injection well. In this study, a hydraulic barrier system for retarding CO2 migration to a fault in a tilted aquifer was proposed and was evaluated by a hypothetical 3D numerical model. In the system, one or three water injection wells are placed at upstream of the CO2 injection wells to create the hydraulic barrier. In addition, a pumping well is used to decrease the formation pressure. The results indicate that the dip angle of the formation has a great influence on the setting of the injection well. The effectiveness of the hydraulic barrier created by multiple injection wells is better than that of one injection well. In addition, the effectiveness of hydraulic barrier created by active and passive strategies is better than that of hydraulic barrier created by only active strategy. The pumping well should be set between the CO2 injection well and the fault to effectively decrease the formation pressure.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Keni Zhang for providing help about the software. Thanks for the support of the high-performance computing platform of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan).
Funding
This study was supported by the Project of National Sciences Foundation of China (nos. 41402212, 41472218 and U1911205) and China Scholarship Council (CSC).
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Zhao, R., Cheng, J. Active hydraulic barrier for retarding CO2 migration towards fault during CO2 storage in tilted reservoir. Environ Earth Sci 80, 345 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09635-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09635-1