Stéphanie Vialle & Jonathan Ajo-Franklin 
Geological Carbon Storage 
Subsurface Seals and Caprock Integrity

Geological Carbon Storage Subsurface Seals and Caprock Integrity

Seals and caprocks are an essential component of subsurface hydrogeological systems, guiding the movement and entrapment of hydrocarbon and other fluids. Geological Carbon Storage: Subsurface Seals and Caprock Integrity offers a survey of the wealth of recent scientific work on caprock integrity with a focus on the geological controls of permanent and safe carbon dioxide storage, and the commercial deployment of geological carbon storage.

Volume highlights include:

* Low-permeability rock characterization from the pore scale to the core scale

* Flow and transport properties of low-permeability rocks

* Fundamentals of fracture generation, self-healing, and permeability

* Coupled geochemical, transport and geomechanical processes in caprock

* Analysis of caprock behavior from natural analogues

* Geochemical and geophysical monitoring techniques of caprock failure and integrity

* Potential environmental impacts of carbon dioxide migration on groundwater resources

* Carbon dioxide leakage mitigation and remediation techniques

Geological Carbon Storage: Subsurface Seals and Caprock Integrity is an invaluable resource for geoscientists from academic and research institutions with interests in energy and environment-related problems, as well as professionals in the field.

Table of Content

Contributors vii

Preface xi

Part I: Caprock Characterization

1. Microstructural, Geomechanical, and Petrophysical Characterization of Shale Caprocks 3
David N. Dewhurst, Claudio Delle Piane, Lionel Esteban, Joel Sarout, Matthew Josh, Marina Pervukhina, and M. Ben Clennell

2. Transport in Tight Rocks 31
Marc Fleury and Etienne Brosse

3. Pore-to-Core Characterization of Shale Multiphysics 45
Thomas Dewers, Jason Heath, Hongkyu Yoon, Mathew Ingraham, Joseph Grigg, Peter Mozley, Enrico Quintana, and Zuleima Karpyn

4. Analysis of the Pore Structures of Shale Using Neutron and X-Ray Small Angle Scattering 71
Lawrence M. Anovitz and David R. Cole

Part II: Fracture Generation, Permeability, and Geochemical Reactions in Damaged Shale

5. Fracture Initiation, Propagation, and Permeability Evolution 121
Russell L. Detwiler and Joseph P. Morris

6. Effect of Fracture Density on Effective Permeability of Matrix-Fracture System in Shale Formations 137
Li Chen, Jeffrey De’Haven Hyman, Zhou Lei, Ting Min, Qinjun Kang, Esteban Rougier, and Hari Viswanathan

7. Gas-Water-Mineral Reactivity in Caprocks: Measurements, Estimates, and Observations 147
Julie K. Pearce and Grant K.W. Dawson

8. Fluid-Rock Interactions in Clay-Rich Seals: Impact on Transport and Mechanical Properties 167
Elin Skurtveit, Rohaldin Miri, and Helge Hellevang

9. Coupled Processes in a Fractured Reactive System: A Dolomite Dissolution Study with Relevance to GCS Caprock Integrity 187
Jonathan Ajo-Franklin, Marco Voltolini, Sergi Molins, and Li Yang

10. Leakage Processes in Damaged Shale: In Situ Measurements of Permeability, CO2 Sorption Behavior, and Acoustic Properties
J. William Carey, Ronny Pini, Manika Prasad, Luke P. Frash, and Sanyog Kumar 207

Part III: Monitoring Caprock Failure

11. In-Zone and Above-Zone Pressure Monitoring Methods for CO2 Geologic Storage 227
Seyyed A. Hosseini, Mahmood Shakiba, Alexander Sun, and Susan Hovorka

12. Monitoring and Modeling Caprock Integrity at the In Salah Carbon Dioxide Storage Site, Algeria 243
Donald W. Vasco, Robert C. Bissell, Bahman Bohloli, Thomas M. Daley, Alessandro Ferretti, William Foxall, Bettina P. Goertz-Allmann, Valeri Korneev, Joseph P. Morris, Volker Oye, Abe Ramirez, Antonio Pio Rinaldi, Alessio Rucci, Jonny Rutqvist, Josh White, and Rui Zhang

13. Evaluation of Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) as Tracers for CO2 Containment and Migration Monitoring 271
Matthew Myers and Cameron White

Part IV: Environmental Impacts and Remediation Techniques

14. Migration and Leakage of CO2 from Deep Geological Storage Sites 285
Andreas Busch and Niko Kampman

15. A Review of Studies Examining the Potential for Groundwater Contamination from CO2 Sequestration 305
Charuleka Varadharajan, Ruth M. Tinnacher, Robert C. Trautz, Liange Zheng, Baptiste Dafflon, Yuxin Wu, Matthew T. Reagan, Jens T. Birkholzer, and J. William Carey

16. Review of CO2 Leakage Mitigation and Remediation Technologies 327
Cesar A. Castaneda-Herrera, Geoffrey W. Stevens, and Ralf R. Haese

Index 339

About the author

Stéphanie Vialle, Curtin University, Australia

Jonathan Ajo-Franklin, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

J. William Carey, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA