2nd Meeting of the Geological Storage Modelling Network

Publication Overview

The second meeting of the IEAGHG International Research Network on CO₂ Geological Storage Modelling was hosted by the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, on February 16th and 17th, 2010. The meeting comprised four technical sessions: Modelling Methodology and Recent Advances, Integrated Roles and Objectives of Modelling, Modelling of Real Storage Projects; Case Studies and International Efforts towards Best Practice and Modelling Protocols. The agenda was designed to provide ample time for discussions between participants, with breakout groups in sessions 1 and 2, and plenary discussions following sessions 3 and 4. Discussions following Session 1 focussed on recent advances in modelling. Current theoretical and laboratory scale research has continued to advance our understanding of the processes which will control the behaviour of stored CO₂ in the subsurface and govern potential leakage mechanisms. However, there was a consensus that an increased number of large-scale storage projects are required to provide data with which modelling methods can be calibrated

Publication Summary

Discussions following Session 1 focussed on recent advances in modelling. Current theoretical and laboratory scale research has continued to advance our understanding of the processes which will control the behaviour of stored CO₂ in the subsurface and govern potential leakage mechanisms. However, there was a consensus that an increased number of large-scale storage projects are required to provide data with which modelling methods can be calibrated. Priorities for modelling R&D were discussed after the presentations in Session 2. Topics that participants felt were of pressing concern for modellers and in need of further research included:

• Storage engineering options, e.g. brine extraction;
• Wettability and relative permeability;
• Rates of CO₂ dissolution into formation brines;
• Efficiency of capillary trapping;
• Coupling of processes, and the merits of modelling processes separately to aid up scaling (the ‘divide and conquer’ approach);
• Realistic boundary conditions for flow modelling.