Carbon capture and storage is widely viewed as an essential component of efforts to prevent dangerous climate change. Potentially many Gt of carbon dioxide may be stored each year in porous rock deep underground. This thesis will evaluate if there is sufficient storage capacity for a proposed project in the UK to capture carbon dioxide from an industrial cluster of heavy industries. Specifically, the goal of this thesis is to evaluate the dynamic storage capacity of carbon dioxide in the East Irish Sea, and check if the results are consistent with the expectations of the HyNet North West project. To do that, the following steps were followed. Firstly, the viable units (both hydrocarbon reservoirs and saline aquifers) were screened on the static capacity estimated by the CO_2 Stored database, with a minimum threshold of 20 Mt (million tonnes). Secondly, geological data for the units were gathered from the literature and estimated by data from nearby formations if missing. Thirdly, the tool CO2BLOCK was used to evaluate the dynamic capacity, by adopting a first order approximate solution and exploring designs with different numbers of wells and positioning. The design with the highest storage capacity was chosen. Fourthly, the dynamic estimates of CO2BLOCK were compared to the estimates present in the CO_2 Stored database. Lastly, the aquifer Collyhurst 2 was chosen as that aquifer with the highest storage capacity and the lowest uncertainty. Thus, a preliminary feasibility analysis of a CCS project, focused on this aquifer, was performed. The main results are an overall storage capacity of saline aquifers of 4.59 Gt (most likely value for 50 wells), consistent with the estimate of the CO_2 Stored database (5.54 Gt). Regarding daughter units, their capacity estimate is 0.149 Gt (10^9 tonnes), which is far lower than that of the CO_2 Stored database. This is due to an error in CO2BLOCK in re-scaling the maximum flow rate. Thus, daughter units' capacity may be neglected, at least for what concerns the HyNet North West project. Lastly, the Collyhurst 2 unit is supposed to provide more than 50% of the storage capacity needed by the HyNet North West project in the next decades. There is a relatively low uncertainty in this estimate, as the formation has been investigated carefully. In conclusion, the dynamic capacity of the East Irish Sea is consistent with the expectations of the HyNet project. Moreover, the dynamic estimates are mostly consistent with the static estimates in the CO_2 Stored database. The discrepancies are due to the use of different parameters in the evaluation of the storage capacity (such as the plume migration velocity) or correlations, within CO2BLOCK, used outside their range of validity.
La cattura e lo stoccaggio della CO_2 è considerata una tecnologia essenziale per prevenire pericolosi cambiamenti climatici. Potenzialmente molte Gt di anidride carbonica possono essere immagazzinate ogni anno in rocce porose in profondità nel sottosuolo. Nello specifico, l'obiettivo di questa tesi è valutare la capacità di stoccaggio dinamica dell'anidride carbonica nel Mare d'Irlanda orientale e verificare se i risultati sono coerenti con le aspettative del progetto HyNet North West. Un progetto per decarbonizzare il cluster di industrie pesanti presente nella zona di Liverpool. Per fare ciò, sono stati seguiti i seguenti passaggi. In primo luogo, le unità geologiche (sia giacimenti di idrocarburi che falde acquifere saline) sono state vagliate sulla capacità statica stimata dal database CO_2 Stored, con una soglia minima di 20 Mt (milioni di tonnellate). In secondo luogo, i dati geologici per le unità sono stati raccolti dalla letteratura e stimati dai dati delle formazioni vicine, se mancanti. Inoltre, lo strumento CO2BLOCK è stato utilizzato per valutare la capacità dinamica, adottando una soluzione approssimata del primo ordine ed esplorando designs con diverso numero di pozzi e posizionamento. È stato scelto il design con la capacità di stoccaggio più elevata e le stime dinamiche di CO2BLOCK sono state confrontate con le stime presenti nel database CO_2 Stored. Infine, la falda acquifera Collyhurst 2 è stata scelta come falda acquifera con la maggiore capacità di stoccaggio e la minore incertezza. Pertanto, è stata eseguita un'analisi preliminare di fattibilità di un progetto CCS (Cattura e Stoccaggio CO_2). I principali risultati sono una capacità di stoccaggio complessiva delle falde acquifere di 4,59 Gt (valore più probabile), coerente con la stima del database CO_2 Stored (5,54 Gt). Per quanto riguarda le unità geologiche “figlie”, la stima della loro capacità è di 0,149 Gt (10^9 tonnellate), che è di gran lunga inferiore a quella del database CO_2 Stored. Ciò è dovuto ad un errore in CO2BLOCK, in particolare, nel ridimensionamento della portata massima. Pertanto, la capacità delle unità figlie può essere trascurata, almeno per quanto riguarda il progetto HyNet North West. Infine, l'unità Collyhurst 2 dovrebbe fornire più del 50% della capacità di stoccaggio necessaria per il progetto HyNet North West nei prossimi decenni. In conclusione, la capacità dinamica dell'East Irish Sea è coerente con le aspettative del progetto HyNet. Inoltre, le stime dinamiche sono per lo più coerenti con le stime statiche nel database CO_2 Stored. Le discrepanze sono dovute all'utilizzo di parametri diversi nella valutazione della capacità di stoccaggio (come la velocità di migrazione del pennacchio) o di correlazioni, all'interno di CO2BLOCK, utilizzate al di fuori del loro range di validità.
Dynamic assessment of CO2 storage capacity in the east Irish Sea
Fiumi, Cristian
2020/2021
Abstract
Carbon capture and storage is widely viewed as an essential component of efforts to prevent dangerous climate change. Potentially many Gt of carbon dioxide may be stored each year in porous rock deep underground. This thesis will evaluate if there is sufficient storage capacity for a proposed project in the UK to capture carbon dioxide from an industrial cluster of heavy industries. Specifically, the goal of this thesis is to evaluate the dynamic storage capacity of carbon dioxide in the East Irish Sea, and check if the results are consistent with the expectations of the HyNet North West project. To do that, the following steps were followed. Firstly, the viable units (both hydrocarbon reservoirs and saline aquifers) were screened on the static capacity estimated by the CO_2 Stored database, with a minimum threshold of 20 Mt (million tonnes). Secondly, geological data for the units were gathered from the literature and estimated by data from nearby formations if missing. Thirdly, the tool CO2BLOCK was used to evaluate the dynamic capacity, by adopting a first order approximate solution and exploring designs with different numbers of wells and positioning. The design with the highest storage capacity was chosen. Fourthly, the dynamic estimates of CO2BLOCK were compared to the estimates present in the CO_2 Stored database. Lastly, the aquifer Collyhurst 2 was chosen as that aquifer with the highest storage capacity and the lowest uncertainty. Thus, a preliminary feasibility analysis of a CCS project, focused on this aquifer, was performed. The main results are an overall storage capacity of saline aquifers of 4.59 Gt (most likely value for 50 wells), consistent with the estimate of the CO_2 Stored database (5.54 Gt). Regarding daughter units, their capacity estimate is 0.149 Gt (10^9 tonnes), which is far lower than that of the CO_2 Stored database. This is due to an error in CO2BLOCK in re-scaling the maximum flow rate. Thus, daughter units' capacity may be neglected, at least for what concerns the HyNet North West project. Lastly, the Collyhurst 2 unit is supposed to provide more than 50% of the storage capacity needed by the HyNet North West project in the next decades. There is a relatively low uncertainty in this estimate, as the formation has been investigated carefully. In conclusion, the dynamic capacity of the East Irish Sea is consistent with the expectations of the HyNet project. Moreover, the dynamic estimates are mostly consistent with the static estimates in the CO_2 Stored database. The discrepancies are due to the use of different parameters in the evaluation of the storage capacity (such as the plume migration velocity) or correlations, within CO2BLOCK, used outside their range of validity.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2021_07_Fiumi.pdf
accessibile in internet solo dagli utenti autorizzati
Descrizione: Assessment of dynamic storage capacity of CO2 in the East Irish Sea
Dimensione
9.84 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
9.84 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/177980