LBNL Research Overview: Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program

1. LBNL Research Overview:Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program Earth Sciences Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory September 2009

2. LBNL GCS Research History and Mission To develop the knowledge and understanding of CO2 injection, storage, migration processes, impacts, and monitoring to inform and guide the safe and effective implementation of geologic carbon sequestration.

3. Budget FY09 Total FY09 Est. = $7.35M

4. LBNL Contributions to GCS Science • Field tests • CCP Volumes • IPCC report • Journal articles (>85) • Special Issues • Conferences

5. Main Projects in GCS Program ZERT • Predictive modeling • Monitoring and verification • Multiphase Flow and displacement GEOSEQ • Frio Brine Pilot (Texas) • Otway Basin Pilot (Australia) • In Salah Industrial-Scale (Algeria) WESTCARB • Regional characterization • Pilot injection projects EPA/NETL • CO2 impacts on groundwater • Induced seismicity

6. ZERT Project at LBNLCurt Oldenburg, Karsten Pruess, Tianfu Xu, Christine Doughty, Jennifer Lewicki, Tim Kneafsey Modeling of flow and transport • TOUGH2 • TOUGHREACT • WebGasEOS Monitoring and verification • Shallow-release experiment • Detection optimization Multiphase flow studies • Relative permeability • Capillary trapping

7. Shallow-Release Experimental SiteJennifer Lewicki and Curt Oldenburg Facility Goals, Rationale & Design • Develop a well–characterized site • Inject CO2 at controlled rates • Deploy surface monitoring techniques • Use this site to establish detection limits for monitoring technologies • Use this site to improve models for groundwater – vadose zone – atmospheric dispersion models • Develop a site that is accessible and available for multiple seasons / years • Three summers of experiments have now been carried out (2007-2009). • Modeling predictions and numerous monitoring methods have been evaluated and demonstrated. Slotted Stainless Pipe With Internal CO2 Pipe & Packer System for Even Gas Distribution

8. GEOSEQ: Frio Brine Pilot (Tom Daley and Barry Freifeld) Pre- and post-test modeling Geophysics • VSP • Cross-well Pressure transient analysis Tracers

9. GEOSEQ: Australian – U.S. Collaboration – The Otway Project (Barry Freifeld and Tom Daley) • 100,000 tonnes over 2 years (1 kg/s) • Injection Started April 2008 • MMV – surface gas, 4 D seismics, geochemical sampling Australian CO2CRC Project – store carbon dioxide in a depleted gas field ~ 2 km deep.

10. Recording Time Sensor depth Integrated Geophysical and Geochemical Monitoring Barry Freifeld and Tom Daley Multi-level U-tube geochemical sampling system provides information on the distribution of CO2 and arrival of gas tracers Naylor-1 seismic monitoring adds capabilities for spatial/ temporal imaging of the CO2 plume in addition to assessing integrity of the CO2 storage reservoir.

11. GEOSEQ: In Salah Project Jonny Rutqvist, HH Liu, and Don Vasco Evolution of surface deformation • Assess the effectiveness of CO2 storage in low permeability formations using long-reach horizontal injection wells. • Investigate monitoring techniques to evaluate the performance of a high pressure CO2-injection operation. Satellite-based interferometry measurements (InSar) Evolution of volume change in reservoir  track fluid pressure and estimate reservoir flow properties Fluid Flow and Geomechanical Modeling

12. CO2 Storage and Groundwater Resources*Jens Birkholzer and Quanlin Zhou Research Topic: Groundwater Quality Changes in the Case of CO2 Intrusion Concerns • Dissolution of CO2 into groundwater increases acidity • Increased acidity may mobilize hazardous constituents present in minerals Objective • Systematic evaluation of the potential hydrochemical impact of CO2 storage projects on groundwater *EPA/NETL Coordinated Research Effort

13. Major Research Program Elements ZERT (Zero Emissions Research and Technology): Fundamental research on geological storage GEOSEQ: Scientific field testing and analysis of geologic storage WESTCARB: Pilot testing to demonstrate the potential for CO2 storage in deep geological formations and enable deployment of CCS technology EPA/NETL: Impacts of CO2 on groundwater and seismicity Demonstration and deployment Fundamental Knowledge

14. ESD Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program Curtis M. Oldenburg, Program Head cmoldenburg@lbl.gov Larry R. Myer, Deputy Program Head lrmyer@lbl.gov http://esd.lbl.gov/GCS 2009

15. Energy Frontier Research CenterBerend Smit et al. Capture of CO2 from gas streams New materials and concepts Inorganic materials Polymer membranes Physical separations Characterization Materials Properties Integration Making/testing actual separations Computation Separation simulator Gas separations are difficult and expensive and may benefit from “molecular control” that nanoscience and technology offers Nanostructured polymer membranes Metal-organic frameworks

16. Energy Frontier Research CenterDon DePaolo et al. Control of CO2 Thrust Area 1: Control of carbonate mineral nucleation and growth Thrust Area 2: Structure, dynamics, and transport of fluids in nanopores and thin films Thrust Area 3: Emergent processes GCS involves injecting CO2 into rock formations with no control on where CO2 will go, or how it will chemically react with the rocks and ambient fluids