Carbon Sequestration

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Carbon Sequestration
Geoscience Controls on Macroengineering Problems
Julio Friedmann Univ. Maryland
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Acknowledgements
Dag Nummedal, Donna Anderson, Peigui Yin, Mike
Batzle Inst. For Energy Research, Univ.
Wyoming RM-CUSP (Rocky Mts. Regional
Partnership) Vicki Stamp, Michael
Milliken Rocky Mt. Oil-field Testing
Center Gerry Stokes, Jim Dooley, Jae Edmonds,
Steve Fetter Joint Global Change Research Inst,
Univ. Maryland, Battelle-Pacific NW National
Labs Robin Newmark, James Johnson Lawrence
Livermore National Labs Other industrial
contributors
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Massive Energy Demand
Tremendous growth in demand By 2050, another 300
exojoules needed Significant growth in developing
countries (India, China)
Limits to technologies that can bridge
demand Many off-the table technologies (fusion,
tidal, space-based solar) Many promising
technologies require deployment time Many
promising technologies require development
time Energy research funding down for 30 years
Stokes et al., 2002
We will rely heavily on fossil fuels for our
energy needs
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Fossil Fuel Concerns
On a grand scale, SOx, NOx, ozone, and metals are
negligible concerns (rapid progress, low cost,
straightforward regulatory framework)
Atmosphere 750 PgC
Oil 130
Gas 120
PgC
PgC
Vegetation
610 PgC
Coal
5,000 to 8,000 PgC
Unconventional Liquids and Gases
40,000 PgC
CARBON DIOXIDE AND GHG EMISSIONS ARE MAJOR
CHALLENGE
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CO2 Concentration for last 400,000 yrs
Projected (2100)
CO2 Concentration (ppmv)
Current (2001)
www.clivar.org
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Separation of natural and non-natural
Most of the Observed Warming of the Last 50 Years
is Attributable to Human Activities
www.clivar.org
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Projected Temperatures for the 21st Century Are
Significantly Higher Than at Any Time During the
Last 1000 Years
These projected changes are larger than in 1995
due lower projected emissions of sulfur
www.clivar.org
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Carbon Sequestration Basics Kaya Equation
CO2 Emissions Population x (GDP/capita) x
(Energy/GDP) x (CO2/Energy) - (Removal from the
Atmosphere)
Despite significant gains in efficiency, current
emissions increase in (mostly increased energy
consumption) Economically and politically
painful to reduce energy consumption
CARBON SEQUESTRATION WILL HAVE TO BE DEPLOYED
VERY RAPIDLY AT AN ENORMOUS SCALE FOR SAFE GHG
STABILIZATION IN THE ATMOSPHERE
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India and China
Almost 40of world population Large coal
resources, consumption Few oil/gas
resources Limited water Growth of auto industry
Growth of developing nation energy, esp. China
and India, will be coal-based, requiring CO2
storage options
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Carbon Sequestration General Modes
Ocean Sequestration risky, uncertain, and
pricey Direct, deep-ocean injection -- high Ph,
monitoring, NIMBY Biogeoengineering -- very
risky, uncertain efficiency Geological
Sequestration point-source limited
(pricey) Saline Reservoirs -- infrastructure
costs Old Oil/Gas fields -- containment
risks Coal Beds -- infrastructure costs, tough to
monitor Soil/Plant Sequestration low-volume
and problematic No-till farming low volume, low
retention, trading Adding biomass monitoring,
short time frame, small volume Chemical
Sequestration -- pricey and dicey Creating
terrestrial solids expensive, energy
intensive Creating hydrates very risky,
probably v. costly Basalt injection untested
technology, slow reaction rates Advanced concepts
unproven or developing technology
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Carbon Sequestration General Modes
Ocean Geological modes have the highest storage
capacity, which would cover from 50 to gt250 years
of current emission volumes. They also have long
term sequestration potential
DOE, Carbon Sequestration Roadmap
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Geological Sequestration in the US

• Near sources (power plants, refineries, coal
  fields)
• Near other infrastructure (pipelines)
• Need sufficient storage capacity locally
• Must be verifiable (populated areas problematic)

DOE Vision Goal 1 Gt storage by 2025, 4 Gt by
2050
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CO2 Streams for Geological Storage
High purity stream (gt 90 CO2) critical Currently
, mostly natural sources Refineries, IGCCs and
gas processing facilities are cheapest capture
devices on traditional plants possible.
Sleipner capture device
Ananda, 1983
Courtesy of R. Bajura, NETL
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CO2 Burial Saline Reservoirs
Different test sequestration projects 2002-2004

• Mountaineer Project
• AEP/Battelle
• Mt Simon Fm.
• NOT closure dependent -- dynamic sequestration

• S. Texas
• DOE/U. Texas
• Frio Trend
• closure dependent already mapped
• Small (2000 tons)

US saline reservoirs have a potential of up to
130 G tonnes sequestration
DOE, 1999
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Sleipner Vest Utsira Formation
FIRST major attempt an large volume CO2
sequestration, offshore Norway. Active since
1996. Monoethanolamine (MEA) capture
Economic driver Norwegian carbon tax on industry
(50/ton C) Cost of storage 15/ton C
Geol. Survey of Denmark Greenland
Operator Statoil Partners Norsk-Hydro, Petoro,
Shell-Esso, Total-Elf-Fina
Target 1 MM ton C/yr. So far, 6 MM tons

• Miocene Aquifer DW fan complex
• 30-40 porosity, 200 m thick
• high permeability
• between 15-36 oC w/i critical range

http//www.statoil.com
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4D seismic monitoring and visualization
Seismic Survey of Utsira Fm.
Courtesy of Statoil and IEA
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CO2 Burial Coal Reservoirs
Many current coal-bed methane CO2 injection
projects
DOE, 1999
The estimated US sequestration potential is 10 G
tonnes, but is probably higher
Large, active project in N. New Mexico, injecting
both CO2 N2 for ECBM recovery
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CO2 Burial Coal-bed adsorption capacity

• CO2 adsorbs directly onto the micropore surface
  of coal cleats. In the process, it displaces CH4.
• Commonly, 2 CO2 captured for every CH4 molecule.
  
• This may vary with coal rank.
• Worst ECBM coals may make best sequestration
  coals

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Uncertainties include effects of coal mineralogy,
brine chemistry, other issues
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0
Anth
Bitum
Sub-bit
Lign
Data from H. Gluskoter R. Burruss, USGS, Reston
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Oil Shales (High TOC mudstones)
Low-moderate grade organic-rich mudstones have
some petrologic similarities to coal as regards
their gas adsorption. This means that they are a
viable CO2 storage targets Almost nothing is
known about these rocks as potential reservoirs.
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Plateau Basalts
These flows involved 40,000 cubic miles of mafic
rock. This may react with with carbon-rich fluids
to form iron and magnesium carbonates. The
permeability is fracture controlled. The slow
reaction rates and uncertain hydrology make these
targets problematic. Pacific Northwest Labs is
preparing a test site for potential carbon
storage.
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CO2 Capture Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
At right temperature and pressure, CO2 will
dissolve in oil through multiple-contact
miscibility. This decreases in-situ viscosity and
increases oil volume. improving recovery of oil
in place.
Although some CO2 is co-produced, most remains
dissolved in subsurface oil, where it is
effectively sequestered.
http//www.ieagreen.org.uk/
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CO2 Injection Schemes for EOR
Weyburn CO2 Recompressor ( under construction)
There are multiple approaches which are optimized
as a function of AGI gravity, water saturation,
wettability, permeability, and CO2 slug size
http//www.ieagreen.org.uk/weyburn6.htm
Jarrell et al., 2002
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EOR Project Weyburn Field

• EnCana EOR project, Saskatchewan
• Takes 5000 tonnes/day CO2 from a coal
  gasification plant in North Dakota (330 km
  pipeline) to recover 130-160 MM bbl incremental
  oil
• Carbonate reservoir at 1400 m
• Injection has resulted in local dissolution
  enhanced porosity
• Unexpected fracture trends

Discovered in 1954, 50 000 acres Initial OIP
1.3 billion barrels w/ 23-34o API gravity.
Primary production waterflood 34 of the
STOOIP With enhanced recovery, almost 50 of the
oil. Will extend field life 25 years in a 40
year project The first CO2 injected in the 2000.
At project end, 19 million tonnes CO2 sequestered
http//www.ieagreen.org.uk/weyburn4.htm
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Large Scale Studies
Due to the scale of the problem, large-scale
results are critical to large-scale sequestration
efforts
Learnings from Weyburn and Sleipner Learnings
from petroleum industry (5 year rule of thumb)
Remember that world-wide, 2000 MM tons/yr needed
for stabilization
Courtesy of S. Fetter, UMD and JGCRI
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Rocky Mountains as a logical test

• High Density of potential reservoirs
• Unmineable coal seams
• Old oil fields (e.g. Rangely)
• Large capacity gas fields near blowdown
• Saline aquifers (dynamicstatic)
• Oil shales

• CO2 and industry infrastructure
• Wyoming 89 MM tons/yr
• Long-lived hydrocarbon industry
• Enormous public/private data base for
  science/engineering
• Carbon advisory boards

Low population density Low risk of serious
environmental/seismic hazards
Current WY-CO-UT CO2 Pipelines with 10, 25 50
km radii
D. Anderson, Col. School of Mines and CUSP
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CARBON UTILIZATION STORAGE PARTNERSHIP (RM-CUSP)
Major Multi-sectoral Effort Seven
Universities Four petroleum companies Two coal
companies Five power companies Three national
labs/facilities Six NGOs/Environmental
groups Multiple state govt. agencies Multidiscipl
inary team Geologists, geochemists,
geophysicists Biologists, geographers,
ecologists Economists, policy experts,
politicians Educators, museum community Petroleum,
mechanical, chemical engineers
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Zero Emissions Plants Siting Construction
Stabilization of atmospheric concentration of
GHG/CO2 requires extremely steep reduction of
emissions and rapid deployment of zero-emissions
power plants.
Within a 2ºC warming scenario, we must build a
900 500 MW zero-emissions plant somewhere in
the world each day for 50 years.
Caldeira et al., 2003
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Gasified, Combined Cycle Plants (IGCC)
High efficiency (50), high wattage (gt500 MW)
plants
Feedstocks Coal biomass solid waste
orimulsion

British Coal gasifier burns sewage sludge
Gasification Process

• Mix feedstock with steam (syngas)
• Strip sulfur, metals as slag
• No ash/fly ash
• Combustion by-products
• Hydrogen (feedstock for fuel cells)
• Pure CO2 stream

Reduction in cost and efficiency improvements are
needed to deploy these plants more broadly (high
cap. ex.)
www.ieagreen.cc.uk
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FutureGen (Zero Emissions Plant)
Today I am pleased to announce a 1 billion, 10
year demonstration project to create the worlds
first coal-based, zero-emissions electricity and
hydrogen power plant -- G.W. Bush

• Carbon Capture
• Initial goal 90 capture
• Ultimate goal 100 capture
  
  Economics
• lt10 increase in cost of electricity
• H2 production at 4/million Btus
• S and N2 used for fertilizers
• Power Generation
• 275 MW (small prototype)
• 50-60 efficiency

Successful plant siting requires proper
characterization of injection targets in terms of
capacity (50 years) and rate
DOE Fossil Energy
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Orimulsion Gasified Fuels
Orimulsion is a bitumen (70) emulsified with
water (30), with some stabilizing additives. It
is a fuel well suited for gasified combustion,
and is the product of heavy-oil (tar sand)
production

• Very large reserves
• Orinoco 1.2 trillion STOOIP
• Canada 1.4 trillion STOOIP
  
  Energy content
• Coal 6700 Kcal/kg
• Fuel oil 10600 Kcal/kg
• Orimulsion 7200 Kcal/kg

Orimulsion has various issues about how to
maintain fluid transport w/o deposition in
pipelines or tankers, as well as how to best
atomize for combustion
www.orimulsion.com
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Critical EOR Research Targets
Sandstone Reservoirs (EOR and Saline
aquifers) Reservoir architecture and
heterogeneity Multiphase fluid flow in porous
media Brine/rock/CO2 chemical interactions Carbon
ate reservoirs (EOR and Saline aquifers) CO2
dissolution poro-perm enhancement, seal
leakage Fracture characteristics Brine/rock/CO2
chemical interactions EOR specific
research Dissolution kinetics/miscibility in
sequestration Production response given initial
API gravity, viscosity Coal/ECBM/Oil Shale
Reservoirs Effects of coal/shale
petrology Fractures density, permeability, and
distribution Far-field aquifer affects Gas
mixture adsorption
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CAPTURE DEVICES!
The cost of capture is the single largest
impediment to implementation of carbon
sequestration at a grand scale

• Carbon/Hydrogen Capture
• Amine (MEA) scrubbing
• Ceramic membranes
• Oxygenated combustion

Significant reductions of cost or even
comparative cost will enable rapid deployment of
carbon storage schema
DOE Fossil Energy
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Cap Rock Integrity
A major concern in sequestration is preventing
leakage and blowout. These issues rely on the
integrity of the seal or cap rock. New models
suggest that certain minerals (Magnesite,
Dawsonite) may precipitate at the top of the CO2
reservoir, increasing the thickness and
decreasing the permeability of the cap rock.
Johnson et al., 2001
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Capillary Entry Pressure
Seals integrity is commonly estimated by
capillary entry pressure tests. Air, gas, or
mercury is injected into rock, and pressure
difference across rock sample is measured. When
pressure is high enough to overcome capillary
forces or to induce fracturing, fast paths are
established and leakage occurs. This is a
concern where overpressurizing reservoirs via CO2
injection, but most natural seals are sufficient
Harrington Horseman., 1999
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Effective Monitoring and Verification
Necessary for both public safety and proper
crediting
3D and 4D seismic Electrical Resistance
Tomography (ERT) Spiking of injection
stream Soil Surveys Subsurface and near field
water sampling
Courtesy Robin Newmark, LLNL http//geosciences.ll
nl.gov/esd/ert/
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Advanced Storage Concepts
The goal of many of these approaches is
solid-state deposition of carbon as new minerals

• Genetic engineering of carbonate-forming
  minerals
• Distributed capture devices (e.g. venetian blind
  technology)
• Pulverized serpentine wind tunnels

In general, these approaches rely on untested
technology with large costs or uncertainties.
Critical component of a research portfolio
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Geological-Biological Interactions
Everybodys favorite next-generation science
many short- and long-term projects and studies
aimed at subsurface sequestration
Microbially mediated carbonate precipitation Meth
anogenic/chemotrophic bacteria in coal seams and
oil shales Adequate accounting of key subsurface
actors
Atomic force micrograph of Shewanella bacteria
(yellow) on the hematite surface (blue) immersed
in anaerobic solution.
Courtesy of S. Lower, UMD
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Conclusions
Fossil fuels will be a primary component of
future energy supply, driving carbon capture
storage MUCH geology, geochemistry, and
geophysics is needed to meet the rapidly evolving
needs LARGE SCALE tests are crucial to
understand true feasibility and create
appropriate policy/economic structures
The agenda is broad and the needs immense, but
together we are equal to these challenges. Kofi
Annan Science, March 2003