Modeling the effect of water vaporization and salt precipitation on reservoir properties due to carbon dioxide sequestration in a depleted gas reservoir

Abstract

Vaporization of water during both gas reservoir development and CO₂ geological sequestration in saline formations can cause salt precipitation with rapid loss of formation porosity and permeability. Water vaporization and precipitation of halite around a single well from stage production to CO₂ injection are studied to investigate the effect on reservoir properties in a gas reservoir. This paper identifies and quantifies post-flood dry zones and permeability changes in depleted gas reservoir after CO₂ exposure with the comparison in gas production period by performing the numerical simulation with the compositional simulator. Simulation results indicate that water vaporization and salt precipitation occur during gas production, and can be intensified by CO₂ injection. Dry supercritical CO₂ injection vaporizes the brine promoting brine concentration and halite precipitation. The simulation indicates a drying area with a radius of 78 m around wellbore after CO₂ injection. Porosity reduces with the most scope of 58%, and permeability can be decreased by up to 93.9% due to salt precipitation. And the injectivity is damaged by 99.77% at the end of injection period based on maximum permeability reduction. Moreover, six factors are investigated to conduct the influence analysis, showing that higher salinity brine, higher injection rate, higher irreducible water saturation, lower initial permeability, higher temperature and with capillary flow are conditions enhancing the salt precipitation due to dry CO₂ injection.

Acknowledgments

This research was Funded by the Project of Innovation Team of Sichuan Education Department No. 16TD0010 and the National Natural Science foundation of China No.51274173. We greatly appreciate all who Supported this research.

References

[1] Y.K. Kharaka, D.R. Cole, J.J. Thordsen, E. Kakouros, H.S. Nance, Gas-water-rock interactions in sedimentary basins: CO₂ sequestration in the Frio Formation, Texas, USA, J. Geochem. Explor. 89 (2006) 183-186.

[2] L. André, Y. Peyssona, M. Azaroualb, Well injectivity during CO₂ storage operations in deep saline aquifers-Part 2: numerical simulation of drying, salt deposit mechanisms and role of capillary forces, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 22 (2014) 301-312.

[3] G. Bacci, A. Korre, S. Durucan, Experimental investigation into salt precipitation during CO₂ injection in saline aquifer, Energy Procedia 4 (2011) 4450-4456.

[4] Y. Peyssona, L. André, M. Azaroualb, Well injectivity during CO₂ storage operations in deep saline aquifers-Part 1: experimental investigation of drying effects, salt precipitation and capillary forces, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 22 (2014) 291-300.

[5] M. Zeidouni, M.P. Darvish, D. Keith, Analytical solution to evaluate salt precipitation during CO₂ injection in saline aquifers, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 3 (2009) 600-611.

[6] G. Bacci, S. Durucan, A. Korre, Experimental and numerical study of the effects of halite scaling on injectivity and seal performance during CO₂ injection in saline aquifers, Energy Procedia 37 (2013) 3275-3282.

[7] H. Alkan, Y. Cinar, E.B. Ülker, Impact of capillary pressure, salinity and in situ conditions on CO₂ injection into saline aquifers, Transport Porous Media 84 (2010) 799-819.

[8] T. Giorgis, M. Carpita, A. Battistelli, 2D modeling of salt precipitation during the injection of dry CO₂ in a depleted gas reservoir, Energy Convers. Manag. 48 (2007) 1816-1826.

[9] H. Golghanddashti, M. Saadat, S. Abbasi, A. Shahrabadi, Experimental investigation of water vaporization and its induced formation damage associated with underground gas storage, J. Porous Media 16 (2) (2013) 89-96.

[10] C. Grattoni, P. Guise, G. Phillips, Q. Fisher, R. Knipe, Evaluation of Water Evaporation and Salt Precipitation Due to Flow in Gas Reservoirs, 2009. SCA2009-14.

[11] S. Lorenz, W. Muller,Modelling of halite formation in natural gas storage aquifers, in:California: Proceedings Tough Symposium, 2003.

[12] A. Battistelli, T. Giorgis, D. Marzorati, Modeling halite precipitation around CO₂ injection wells in depleted gas reservoirs, in: EAGE 67th Conference & Exhibition-Madrid, Spain, 2005.

[13] H. Ott, S.M. Roels, K. de Kloe, Salt precipitation due to supercritical gas injection: I. Capillary-driven flow in unimodal sandstone, Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control 43 (2015) 247-255.

[14] E. Zuluaga, J.C. Monsalve, Water Vaporization in Gas Reservoirs, SPE, 2003, 84829.

[15] W. Kleinitz, M. Koehler, G. Dietzsch, The Precipitation of Salt in Gas Producing Wells, SPE, 2001, 68953.

[16] R. Tang, Y. Etzion, Comparative studies on the water evaporation rate from a wetted surface and that from a free water surface, Build. Environ. 39 (1) (2004) 77-86.

[17] Q.T. van Dorp, M. Slijkhuis, P.L.J. Zitha, Salt Precipitation in Gas Reservoirs, SPE, 2009, 122140.

[18] C. Taberner, G. Zhang, L. Cartwright, T. Xu, Injection of Supercritical CO₂ into Deep Saline Carbonate Formations Predictions from Geochemical Modeling, SPE, 2009, 121217.

[19] L. Nghiem, V. Shrivastava, B. Kohse, Modeling Aqueous Phase Behavior and Chemical Reactions in Compositional Simulation, SPE, 2011, 141417.

[20] T.J. Tambach, D. Loeve, C. Hofstee, W.J. Plug, J.G. Maas, Effect of CO₂ injection on brine flow and salt precipitation after gas field production, Transport Porous Media 108 (2014) 171-183.

[21] Y. Tang, R.Z. Yang, Z.M. Du, F.H. Zeng, Experimental study of formation damage caused by complete water vaporization and salt precipitation in sandstone reservoir, Transport Porous Media 107 (2015) 205-218.

[22] M.F. Hawkins Jr., A note on the skin effect, Tech. Note 389, Trans. AIME 207 (1956) 356-357.

[23] B.C. Craft,M.F. Hawkins Jr., Applied Petroleum Reservoir Engineering. Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632: Prentice Hall PTR, 1991.

[24] C. Qiao, L. Li, R.T. Johns, T. Xu, Compositional Modeling of Reaction-induced Injectivity Alteration during CO₂ Flooding in Carbonate Reservoirs, SPE, 2014, 170930.

[25] Y. Tang, Z.M. Du, S.N. Zhang, et al. Formation water vaporization and salt out at near wellbore zone in high temperature gas reservoir, J. Southwest Petrol. Univ. (Sci. & Tech. Ed.), 29 (2) (2007) 96e99 (Chinese).

[26] L. Guglielmini, A. Gontcharov, J. Aldykiewicz, H.A. Stones, Drying of salt solutions in porous materials: intermediate-time dynamics and efflorescence, Phys. Fluid. 20 (2008), 077101.

[27] Y. Peysson, Permeability alteration induced by drying of brines in porous media, Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 60 (2012) 1-12, 24206.