Modeling Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Injection in Heterogeneous Porous Media

We investigate the physical processes that occur during the sequestration of CO 2 in liquid‐saturated, brine‐bearing geologic formations using the numerical simulator TOUGH2. Carbon dioxide is injected in a supercritical state that has a much lower density and viscosity than the liquid brine it displaces. In situ, the supercritical CO 2 forms a gas‐like phase, and also partially dissolves in the aqueous phase, creating a multiphase, multicomponent environment that shares many important features with the vadose zone. The flow and transport simulations employ an equation of state package that treats a two‐phase (liquid, gas), three‐component (water, salt, CO 2 ) system. Chemical reactions between CO 2 and rock minerals that could potentially contribute to mineral trapping of CO 2 are not included. The geological setting considered is a fluvial/deltaic formation that is strongly heterogeneous, making preferential flow a significant effect, especially when coupled with the strong buoyancy forces acting on the gas‐like CO 2 plume. Key model development issues include vertical and lateral grid resolution, grid orientation effects, and the choice of characteristic curves.