Transport mechanisms for CO2-CH4 exchange and safe CO2 storage in hydrate-bearing sandstone

Abstract

CO2 injection in hydrate-bearing sediments induces methane (CH4) production while benefitting from CO2 storage, as demonstrated in both core and field scale studies. CH4 hydrates have been formed repeatedly in partially water saturated Bentheim sandstones. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and CH4 consumption from pump logs have been used to verify final CH4 hydrate saturation. Gas Chromatography (GC) in combination with a Mass Flow Meter was used to quantify CH4 recovery during CO2 injection. The overall aim has been to study the impact of CO2 in fractured and non-fractured samples to determine the performance of CO2-induced CH4 hydrate production. Previous efforts focused on diffusion-driven exchange from a fracture volume. This approach was limited by gas dilution, where free and produced CH4 reduced the CO2 concentration and subsequent driving force for both diffusion and exchange. This limitation was targeted by performing experiments where CO2 was injected continuously into the spacer volume to maintain a high driving force. To evaluate the effect of diffusion length multi-fractured core samples were used, which demonstrated that length was not the dominating effect on core scale. An additional set of experiments is presented on non-fractured samples, where diffusion-limited transportation was assisted by continuous CO2 injection and CH4 displacement. Loss of permeability was addressed through binary gas (N2/CO2) injection, which regained injectivity and sustained CO2-CH4 exchange