A modeling of buoyant gas plume migration Page: 3 of 29
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1 Introduction
This work is motivated by the growing interest in injecting carbon dioxide into
deep geological formations as a means of avoiding its atmospheric emissions
and consequent global warming. Ideally, the injected gas stays in the injec-
tion zone for a long time, is dissolved in the formation brine, and becomes
trapped by mineralization. However, a gas leakage from primary storage may
occur because of cracks or other naturally or inadvertently man-made conduits
in the cap rock. Even if the injected carbon dioxide is in supercritical state,
its viscosity and density are lower than those of the in situ formation brine.
Therefore, buoyancy always drives the injected carbon dioxide upward. Un-
derstanding the buoyancy-driven plume migration and estimation of the time
scales associated with plume evolution are critical for developing appropriate
regulations protecting safety of potable water resources.
The objective of this study is to characterize the evolution of a plume of su-
percritical carbon dioxide in a water-saturated porous medium. The model is
one-dimensional, which means that we focus of the evolution of a horizontally-
spread plume far from its lateral boundaries. We estimate the velocity of plume
propagation taking into account the density and viscosity contrast between the
injected CO2 and formation water. This work follows previous studies (Silin
et al., 2006, 2007) where a more general model of two-phase vertical counter-
current flow has been discussed. Here, we simplify that model by neglecting
capillary forces. This simplification leads to a more transparent theory while
preserving the main conclusion of the more general approach. Two-phase flow
is characterized by a hyperbolic equation, which is then solved using method
of characteristics (Petrovskii, 1966; Lax, 1973). Mathematically, the evolution3
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Silin, D.; Patzek, T. & Benson, S.M. A modeling of buoyant gas plume migration, article, December 1, 2008; Berkeley, California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc895713/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.