Experimental approaches to assess the feasibility of low permeable geomaterials as potential subsurface carbon storage repositories

Speaker : Dr. Manab Mukherjee

Abstract:‍Capturing and sequestering the anthropogenic toxic gases like CO2 in subsurface geological reservoirs has been identified as a technological mitigation measure to limit the climate change crisis, during the transition to zero-carbon energy production. This talk will underpin the mechanisms of CO2 storage in coal seams aided by Coal Bed Methane recovery, reports experimental CO2 adsorption isotherms in coal samples from the Jharia (350-360m) and the South Karanpura (50-60m) Coalfields, India, at three different temperatures (28, 35 and 45°C) and up to 4 MPa CO2 injection pressures, assess the influence of gas slippage on intrinsic permeability of dissimilar coals, reports longitudinal (VP) and shear (VS) wave velocities, and their anisotropy in coal-samples under dry, water, and partially CO2 saturated conditions. The talk will also report the efficiency of fluid fracturing to enhance reservoir permeability, by performing fluid driven tensile fracturing of Vosges sandstone at different loading configurations, and observe the strain localization phenomenon from onset of deformation to post failure. Our experimental findings suggest that fluid fracture initiation and initial propagation is primarily influenced by stress path anisotropy, and at much later stages direction of bedding planes influence the propagation direction of the fractures.