Migration behavior of supercritical and liquid CO2 in a stratified system: Experiments and numerical simulations

Multiple scenarios of upward CO2 migration driven by both injection-induced pressure and buoyancy force were investigated in a horizontally and vertically stratified core utilizing a core-flooding system with a 2-D X-ray scanner. Two reservoir-type scenarios were considered: (1) the terrestrial reservoir scenario (10 MPa and 50 degrees C), where CO2 exists in a supercritical state and (2) the deep-sea sediment reservoir scenario (28 MPa and 25 degrees C), where CO2 is stored in the liquid phase. The core-flooding experiments showed a 36% increase in migration rate in the vertical core setting compared with the horizontal setting, indicating the significance of the buoyancy force under the terrestrial reservoir scenario. Under both reservoir conditions, the injected CO2 tended to find a preferential flow path (low capillary entry pressure and high-permeability (high-k) path) and bypass the unfavorable pathways, leaving low CO2 saturation in the low-permeability (low-k) layers. No distinctive fingering was observed as the CO2 moved upward, and the CO2 movement was primarily controlled by media heterogeneity. The CO2 saturation in the low-k layers exhibited a more sensitive response to injection rates, implying that the increase in CO2 injection rates could be more effective in terms of storage capacity in the low-k layers in a stratified reservoir. Under the deep-sea sediment condition, the storage potential of liquid CO2 was more than twice as high as that of supercritical CO2 under the terrestrial reservoir scenario. In the end, multiphase transport simulations were conducted to assess the effects of heterogeneity on the spatial variation of pressure buildup, CO2 saturation, and CO2 flux. Finally, we showed that a high gravity number (N-gr) tended to be more influenced by the heterogeneity of the porous media.