A study of safe CO2 storage capacity in saline aquifers: A numerical study

Abstract

An effective way of reducing greenhouse gas content in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide (CO2) geo-sequestration in saline aquifers. The main objective of this study is to develop a 3-D numerical model to identify the optimum CO2 storage capacity in saline aquifers by studying the factors affecting it and the possibility of the injected CO2 back-migrating into the atmosphere. A 1000m×1000m×184 m saline aquifer, lying 800 m below the ground surface, was therefore considered to develop a model using the COMET 3 reservoir simulator. The effects of injecting CO2 properties (injection pressure) and the aquifer's properties (depth, temperatures and salinity) on the CO2 storage capacity were examine..