Zunsheng Jiao

Advances in Estimating the Geologic CO2 Storage Capacity of the Madison Limestone and Weber Sandstone on the Rock Springs Uplift by Utilizing Detailed 3-D Reservoir Characterization and Geologic Uncertainty Reduction

In order to implement CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers a diverse set of geologic, geophysical, and geochemical parameters must be characterized in both the targeted reservoir intervals and at the storage site.

Displaced Fluid Management—the Key to Commercial-Scale Geologic CO2 Storage

The most critical problem with commercial scale geological CO2 sequestration is management of displaced fluids. All of the high quality numerical simulations of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) on the Rock Springs Uplift (RSU), utilizing realistic 3-D reservoir models, demonstrate that commercial-scale geological CO2 storage will require the removal of formation brines in approximately 1:1 ratio of injected CO2 to displaced fluid. Without the production of formation brines the simulations suggest that very quickly injected CO2 will cause pressures in the storage domain to exceed fracture pressures. To solve this problem, Carbon Management Institute (CMI) proposed a strategy that includes integration of fluid production/treatment with injection of CO2. The treatment of the brines involved three important steps: (1) use of the temperature of the produced brines (~100 °C) to produce electricity via a heat exchanger to power the treatment facility, (2) to separate fresh water from the brines via nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, and (3) to recover metals, notably lithium, from the residual brines after partial evaporation. The impact of this approach; production of electricity, fresh water, and metals such as lithium from produced brines transform an anticipated carbon storage penalty into a revenue center.

The Carbon Management Institute’s Integrated CO2 Storage/EOR Strategy: the Advantages of Deploying Innovative, Multiple-Resource Development Strategies Designed to Foster Sustainability of Energy and Environmental Resources

The Powder River Basin (PRB) offers an opportunity to illustrate the advantages to Wyoming of deploying an innovative, multiple-resource development strategy designed to foster the sustainability of the state’s energy and environmental resources. Such a multiple resource development plan is based on viewing the PRB’s particular assemblage of energy/environmental resources as a synergistic system rather than a collection of disparate parts. This approach relies on synergistic relationships among resource elements in order to increase the efficiency of development, minimize environmental degradation, sustain long-term resource use, and maximize revenue to the state.

A Feasibility Study of the Integration of Geologic CO2 Storage with Enhanced Oil Recovery (CO2 Flooding) in the Ordos Basin, China

Rich in energy resources, China’s Ordos Basin shares many similarities with Wyoming’s Greater Green River Basin and Powder River Basin. As a result, the energy development strategy employed in Wyoming basins should be applicable to the Ordos Basin. The Ordos Basin’s coal, coalbed methane, and natural gas reserves are ranked first in China, and its oil reserves are ranked fourth. The coal deposits in the Ordos Basin account for 39 % (3.98 Tt) of Chinese coal resources, and six of the thirteen largest coal mines in China are in the basin. China’s large energy base and the facilities essential to its fast-growing coal-to-chemicals industry are located in the Ordos Basin. The concurrent development of relatively new coal conversion industries with existing oil and gas industries in the Ordos Basin (Northern Shaanxi Province) provides the opportunity to apply the systematic approach to energy production developed in Wyoming: the integration of geologic CO2 storage and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using CO2 flooding (CO2-EOR). The coal conversion industry (coal-to-methanol, coal-to-olefins, etc.) provides affordable, capture-ready CO2 sources for developing large-scale CO2-EOR and carbon storage projects in the Ordos Basin. Compared with other CCUS projects, the ability to use CO2 from the coal-conversion industry for CO2-EOR and geologic CO2 storage will make these projects in the Ordos Basin more cost-effective and technologically efficient while reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.