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State of the Art Geo-Energy Technology in North America

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2023) | Viewed by 8538

Special Issue Editors

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Interests: multi-scale geomechanics; multi-phase fluid flow in porous media; CCUS; geo-energy
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Interests: geological storage of greenhouse gases; mine waste management; petroleum geomechanics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Geo-energy has played a significant historical role in industrial development, health promotion, technology enhancement, and sustainability through the extraction of oil, natural gas, and coal. However, fuel combustion has led to global warming and the current climate crisis, promoting the dire need for cutting-edge technologies to transit toward a low carbon future. With 36.1 billion metric tons of proved oil reserves (2020), North America is expected to remain the main contributor to the global hydrocarbon supply chain. Hence, it is essential to develop technologies for efficient and responsible utilization of hydrocarbon resources. With continuous oil and natural gas deployment in the foreseeable future energy scheme, geological CO2 storage will be crucial in achieving net-zero emission programs in North America. In addition, innovative subsurface energy storage technologies (e.g., hydrogen storage) to deal with the intermittency of renewables will contribute significantly to energy transition strategies. Geothermal energy is also expected to increase its contribution to the future energy system. Environmental safety and geohazard risk assessments are critical in all of these scenarios to meet stakeholders’ concerns. 

This Special Issue aims to collect original research papers (numerical, experimental, field) focused on “State-of-the-Art Geo-Energy Technology in North America”. Submissions are welcome in the following areas:

  1. Recent advances in geological CO2 storage;
  2. Enhanced geothermal energy recovery;
  3. Integrated CO2 storage and geothermal energy recovery;
  4. New methods for subsurface energy storage;
  5. Conventional/unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs E&P;
  6. Fluid flow in porous media;
  7. Data science in geo-energy;
  8. Subsurface risk assessment.

Dr. Amir Haghi
Prof. Dr. Rick Chalaturnyk
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • CCUS
  • geothermal
  • geo-energy storage
  • hydrocarbon
  • subsurface risk

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

37 pages, 20322 KiB  
Article
Estimating Sustainable Long-Term Fluid Disposal Rates in the Alberta Basin
by Mahendra Samaroo, Rick Chalaturnyk and Maurice Dusseault
Energies 2023, 16(6), 2532; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en16062532 - 07 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1758
Abstract
Reliable regional-scale permeability data and minimum sustained injectivity rate estimates are key parameters required to mitigate economic risk in the site selection, design, and development of commercial-scale carbon sequestration projects, but are seldom available. We used extensive publicly available disposal well data from [...] Read more.
Reliable regional-scale permeability data and minimum sustained injectivity rate estimates are key parameters required to mitigate economic risk in the site selection, design, and development of commercial-scale carbon sequestration projects, but are seldom available. We used extensive publicly available disposal well data from over 4000 disposal wells to assess and history-match regional permeability estimates and provide the frequency distribution for disposal well injection rates in each of 66 disposal formations in the Alberta Basin. We then used core data and laboratory analyses from over 3000 cores to construct 3D geological, geomechanical and petrophysical models for 22 of these disposal formations. We subsequently used these models and the history-matched regional permeability estimates to conduct coupled geomechanical and reservoir simulation modeling (using the ResFrac™, Palo Alto, CA, USA, numerical simulator) to assess: (i) well performance in each formation when injecting carbon dioxide for a 20-year period; (ii) carbon dioxide saturation and reservoir response at the end of the 20-year injection period; (iii) reliability of our simulated rates compared to an actual commercial sequestration project. We found that: (i) the injection rate from our simulations closely matched actual performance of the commercial case; (ii) only 7 of the 22 disposal formations analyzed appeared capable of supporting carbon dioxide injectors operating at greater than 200,000 tons per year/well; (iii) three of these formations could support injectors operating at rates comparable to the successful commercial-scale case; (iv) carbon dioxide presence and a formation pressure increase of at least 25% above pre-injection pressure can be expected at the boundaries of the (12 km × 12 km) model domain at the end of 20 years of injection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State of the Art Geo-Energy Technology in North America)
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23 pages, 1984 KiB  
Article
Assessment of the Brittle–Ductile State of Major Injection and Confining Formations in the Alberta Basin
by Mahendra Samaroo, Rick Chalaturnyk, Maurice Dusseault, Judy F. Chow and Hans Custers
Energies 2022, 15(19), 6877; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15196877 - 20 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2050
Abstract
Subsurface interaction between critically stressed seismogenic faults and anthropogenic fluid injection activities has caused several earthquakes of concern over the last decade. Proactive detection of the reverse and strike-slip faults inherent in the Alberta Basin is difficult, while identification of faults likely to [...] Read more.
Subsurface interaction between critically stressed seismogenic faults and anthropogenic fluid injection activities has caused several earthquakes of concern over the last decade. Proactive detection of the reverse and strike-slip faults inherent in the Alberta Basin is difficult, while identification of faults likely to become seismogenic is even more challenging. We present a conceptual framework to evaluate the seismogenic potential of undetected faults, within the stratigraphic sequence of interest, during the site-selection stage of fluid injection projects. This method uses the geomechanical properties of formations present at sites of interest and their current state of stress to evaluate whether hosted faults are likely to be brittle or ductile since the hazard posed by faults in brittle-state formations is generally significantly higher than that of faults in ductile-state formations. We used data from approximately 3100 multi-stress triaxial tests to calculate the Mogi brittle–ductile state line for 51 major injection and confining formations in the Alberta Basin and in situ stress and pore pressure data from approximately 1200 diagnostic fracture-injection tests to assess the last-known brittle–ductile state of each formation. Analysis of these data shows that the major injection formations assessed in the Alberta Basin were in a ductile state, with some confining (caprock) formations in a brittle state at the time of the stress measurements. Once current site-specific in situ stress data are available, our method enables site-specific assessment of the current brittle–ductile state of geologic formations within the zone of influence of large-volume fluid-injection projects and an evaluation of the associated potential for fault seismogenesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State of the Art Geo-Energy Technology in North America)
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15 pages, 3460 KiB  
Article
Experimental Characterization of Hydrodynamic Properties of a Deformable Rock Fracture
by Amir H. Haghi and Richard Chalaturnyk
Energies 2022, 15(18), 6769; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15186769 - 16 Sep 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1112
Abstract
Characterization of stress-dependent single-phase and multiphase fluid transport in fractured geo-materials is essential for a wide range of applications, including CO2 sequestration, energy storage, and geo-energy extraction. However, pivotal studies on capillarity and multiphase fluid flow in deformable rock fractures are surprisingly [...] Read more.
Characterization of stress-dependent single-phase and multiphase fluid transport in fractured geo-materials is essential for a wide range of applications, including CO2 sequestration, energy storage, and geo-energy extraction. However, pivotal studies on capillarity and multiphase fluid flow in deformable rock fractures are surprisingly sparse. In this study, we initially investigated the hydro-mechanical properties of an intact mixed-wet Calumet carbonate from the Waterways formation (Alberta) under isothermal conditions (40 °C). Then, we conducted core-flooding experiments using water and N2 to assess changes in the aperture, absolute permeability, relative permeability, and capillary pressure of an artificially fractured Calumet core in response to changes in effective confining stress during loading (0–10 MPa) and unloading (10–3 MPa). We quantified the fracture’s non-linear closure and hysteresis effect during the cyclic loading–unloading processes. We found that porosity and absolute permeability of the fracture decreased from 1.5% and 19.8 D to 1.18% and 0.22 D, respectively, during the loading. We revealed a systematic rightward shift in the relative permeability and a significant upward shift in the dynamic capillary pressure curves as the fracture deformed. This fundamental study demonstrates the critical role of fracture deformation on fluid flow in fractured rocks, which paves the way for future research in geoscience and engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State of the Art Geo-Energy Technology in North America)
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32 pages, 14262 KiB  
Article
An Assessment of the Net Fluid Balance in the Alberta Basin
by Mahendra Samaroo, Rick Chalaturnyk, Maurice Dusseault, Richard Jackson, Arndt Buhlmann and Hans Custers
Energies 2022, 15(3), 1081; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15031081 - 01 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2974
Abstract
Net fluid balance in the Alberta Basin has been negative over the last 60 years because extensive fluid production has consistently exceeded injection during this period. However, future gigaton-scale carbon sequestration, among other activities, can result in future cumulative fluid injection exceeding extraction [...] Read more.
Net fluid balance in the Alberta Basin has been negative over the last 60 years because extensive fluid production has consistently exceeded injection during this period. However, future gigaton-scale carbon sequestration, among other activities, can result in future cumulative fluid injection exceeding extraction (i.e., a positive net fluid balance). The in-situ net fluid balance (i.e., total fluids produced minus total fluids injected) in this basin over the period 1960–2020 shows that a liquids deficit of 4.53 × 109 m3 and a gas deficit of 6.05 × 1012 m3 currently exist. However, fluid deficits are more significant in the upper stratigraphic intervals (located more than 1 km above the Precambrian Basement) than in the stratigraphic intervals located within 1 km of the Precambrian Basement in most geographic regions. This observation indicates that greater sustainable injection capacity for large-scale fluid injection may exist in the upper stratigraphic intervals (located at more than 1 km above the Precambrian Basement), reducing the potential for generating induced seismicity of concern. Additionally, while fluid depletion rates consistently increased over most of the last 60 years in the Alberta Basin, this trend appears to have changed over the past few years. Such analysis of regional net fluid balance and trends may be useful in assessing regional sustainable fluid storage capacity and managing induced seismicity hazards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State of the Art Geo-Energy Technology in North America)
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