INL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Science

CO2 Sequestration with Enhanced Coal

Bed Methane Recovery

Continued on back

About the Research

There is a growing concern in

the international community

that CO2

 emissions from

burning fossil fuels may play

an important role in global

climate change. Recent efforts

in reducing the carbon content

in fuels and improving the

energy efficiency can certainly help in reducing the

amount of CO2

 released into

the atmosphere. However,

large-scale carbon sequestration will definitely be required to achieve the U.S.

national goal of reducing

green house gas emissions

from 1530 million tons of

carbon equivalent (tce) in

2002 to 1255 million tce in

2012.

The first large-scale opportunities for carbon dioxide

sequestration are likely to be

associated with storage in

geologic formations. These

geologic formations include

oil and natural gas reservoirs,

saline aquifers, and coal beds.

In some instances, the

recovery of a saleable commodity will offset the cost of

sequestration. Naturally, these

projects will be favored over

non-income generating

projects. Included within this

category are CO2

 injection for

enhanced oil recovery,

ressure maintenance of oil or

gas reservoirs, and enhanced

methane production from coal

seams. Of the sequestration

options available, geologic

sequestration of CO2

 in coal

formations to enhance coal

bed methane production is

considered one of the methods with the greatest shortterm potential.

Current Research

Current research activities at

the INL focus on addressing

the knowledge gaps as well as

the risks involved in geologic

Positioning for a sustained long-term research effort and aiming at solving real

world carbon sequestration problems, INL is actively engaged in developing a

regional sequestration partnership that includes other research institutions, state

government agencies and industry partners.

CO2 sequestration with enhanced coal bed methane recovery at BP’s

Tiffany Field.

sequestration of CO2 in coal

seams. The actual CO2

sequestration capacity of coal

is largely dictated by how

effectively injected gases

contact and interact with the

reservoir over the active

project lifetime — defined as

the economic limit for

methane recovery and CO2

storage. Usually this is

dictated by CO2

 breakthrough,

poor injectivity or a variety of

other factors that make further

operation economically

prohibitive.

Obvious factors, which may

control contact and interac-
INL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

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Management Contact

Bruce Reynolds

208-526-1992

Bruce.Reynolds@inl.gov

tion, include the CO2-coal

capacity curve (isotherm),

reservoir heterogeneity, the

respective roles of convective

and diffusive transport in a

fractured medium, and the

effect of CO2

 on reservoir

permeability. Unfortunately,

the effects of these factors are

still not well understood. To

address these knowledge

gaps, INL has two ongoing

projects studying the effect of

CO2

 on reservoir permeability

and the multi-component CO2

adsorption behavior of coal.

Also, through a collaborative

agreement with BP, INL

developed mechanistic

models specific to CO2

sequestration in BP’s Tiffany

coal bed methane (CBM)

field. These models are

necessary to estimate storage

capacity, in-situ concentration, transport velocity,

contacted volume, and the

timeframe for filling, monitoring, and storage. In a separate

project funded by a joint

industry consortium, the

Carbon Capture Project

(CCP), INL is in the process

of developing methodology

for conducting probabilistic

risk assessment of CO2

storage in coal using the

Tiffany field as the actual

field demonstration of the

technology. The mechanistic

models developed in BP’s

Tiffany project are being used

as predictive models in the

risk analysis project.

INL is a U.S. Department of

Energy national laboratory

operated by Battelle Energy

Alliance