Investigations on CO2 storage capacity in saline aquifers—Part 2: Estimation of storage capacity coefficients

Many studies on geological carbon dioxide (CO2) storage capacity neglect the influence of complex coupled processes which occur during and after the injection of CO2. Storage capacity is often overestimated since parts of the reservoirs cannot be reached by the CO2 plume due to gravity segregation and are thus not accessible for storage. This work investigates the effect of reservoir parameters like depth, temperature, absolute and relative permeability, and capillary pressure on the processes during CO2 injection and thus on estimates of effective storage capacity. The applied statistical characteristics of parameters are based on a large reservoir parameter database. Different measured relative permeability relations are considered. The methodology of estimating storage capacity is discussed. Using numerical 1D and 3D experiments, detailed time-dependent storage capacity estimates are derived. With respect to the concept developed in this work, it is possible to estimate effective CO2 storage capacity in saline aquifers. It is shown that effective CO2 mass stored in the reservoir varies by a factor of 20 for the reservoir setups considered. A high influence of the relative permeability relation on storage capacity is shown.