Evaluating the geological case for carbon dioxide gas storage capacity in depleted fields and saline aquifers

评估枯竭油田和咸水层二氧化碳气体储存能力的地质情况

• 批准号: 1944734
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Heriot-Watt University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1944734
• 关键词: Evaluating; geological; case; carbon; dioxide

Recognition of the deleterious impact that greenhouse gas emissions have for global climate has led scientists to seek ways and means to sequester CO2. As a consequence, there has been a significant research effort to identify geological storage sites in depleted oil and gas fields and saline aquifer fairways in which they sit. To date, the focus has largely been on quantifying the opportunity and many have assumed that the geology of depleted fields and saline aquifers is a given. However, since CO2 is a smaller and more nimble molecule than any long-chained hydrocarbon, the physical integrity of seals that retain oil and gas remains uncertain. Furthermore, dissolution of carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid may have deleterious effects on seal integrity, especially if the latter contains smectite, with which it reacts.Whilst the injection and safe storage of CO2 is in its infancy, the natural occurrence of CO2 in some subsurface traps has long been recognised. Despite the discovery of CO2 in traps often being viewed as exploration 'failure', the full understanding of such sites effectively provides a 'proof-of-concept' that CO2 can be stored safely over geological time scales (Underhill et al., 2009: Yielding et al., 2011). Furthermore, if the circumstances that govern the presence of CO2 at a site are understood and replicated elsewhere, more confidence would then exist in the storage potential possessed by analogous traps. If the understandable and legitimate concerns of people living above onshore CO2 sites are to be allayed, it seems wise to document and fully understand the geological controls on entrapment at locations where CO2 occurs naturally before attempting to inject at new sites devoid of any proven CO2 content. The main aim of the PhD will be to investigate, describe and understand the geological factors that maintain seal integrity and CO2 entrapment at sites where the gas has already been found over geological timescales. The student will apply forensic geoscience through well-calibrated seismic interpretation and core-based sampling to evaluate which fields and aquifers might prove to be the best and safest repositories to use. It is anticipated that the results will help determine whether the life of the mature petroleum provinces like the North Sea can be extended in this way.

认识到温室气体对全球气候的有害影响的认识，导致科学家寻求隔离二氧化碳的方法和手段。结果，已经进行了重大的研究工作，以识别耗尽的石油和天然气田和盐水含水层球道中的地质储存地点。迄今为止，重点主要一直放在量化机会上，许多人认为耗尽的田地和盐水含水层是一个给定的。但是，由于二氧化碳比任何长链碳氢化合物都是一个较小，更敏捷的分子，因此保留石油和天然气的密封物的物理完整性仍然不确定。此外，二氧化碳溶解以形成碳酸可能对密封完整性产生有害的影响，尤其是如果后者含有纤维化石，它与之反应。尽管在陷阱中发现了二氧化碳通常被视为探索“失败”，但对此类站点的全部理解有效地提供了“概念证明”，即可以在地质时间尺度上安全地存储二氧化碳（Underhill等，2009：产量等，2011）。此外，如果在其他地方理解并复制了在站点上存在二氧化碳的存在的情况，那么对类似陷阱所拥有的存储潜力就会有更多的信心。如果要消除生活在陆上二氧化碳站点之上的人们的可理解和合理的关注，那么在尝试在没有任何经过证实的CO2内容的新的网站上注入二氧化碳的地方，在二氧化碳自然发生的位置进行了记录和充分理解与二氧化碳自然发生的地质控制的明智之举。博士学位的主要目的是调查，描述和理解在已经在地质时间尺度上发现气体的地点保持密封完整性和二氧化碳夹带的地质因素。该学生将通过精心校准的地震解释和基于核心的采样来应用法医地球科学，以评估哪些田地和含水层可能被证明是最佳，最安全的存储库。预计结果将有助于确定像北海这样的成熟石油省的寿命是否可以以这种方式延长。