Effects of CO₂ Injection on the Seismic Velocity of Sandstone Saturated with Saline Water

Abstract

Geological sequestration (GS) of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is considered as one of the most promising technologies to reduce the amount of anthropogenic CO 2 emission in the atmosphere. To ensure success of CO 2 GS, monitoring is essential on ascertaining movement, volumes and locations of injected CO2 in the sequestration reservoir. One technique is to use time-lapsed seismic survey mapping to provide spatial distribution of seismic wave velocity as an indicator of CO 2 migration and volumes in a storage reservoir with time. To examine the use of time-lapsed seismic survey mapping as a monitoring tool for CO 2 sequestration, this paper presents mathematical and experimental studies of the effects of supercritical CO 2 injection on the seismic velocity of sandstone initially saturated with saline water. The mathematical model is based on poroelasticity theory, particularly the application of the Biot-Gassmann substitution theory in the modeling of the acoustic velocity of porous rocks containing two-phase immiscible pore fluids. The experimental study uses a high pressure and high temperature triaxial cell to clarify the seismic response of a sample of Berea sandstone to supercritical CO 2 injection under deep saline aquifer conditions. Measured ultrasonic wave velocity changes during CO 2 injection in the sandstone sample show the effects of pore fluid distribution in the seismic velocity of porous rocks. CO 2 injection was shown to decrease the P-wave velocity with increasing CO 2 saturation whereas the S-wave velocity was almost constant. The results confirm that the Biot-Gassmann theory can be used to model the changes in the acoustic P-wave velocity of sandstone containing different mixtures of supercritical CO 2 and saline water provided the distribution of the two fluids in the sandstone pore space is accounted for in the calculation of the pore fluid bulk modulus. The empirical relation of Brie et al. for the bulk modulus of mixtures of two-phase immiscible fluids, in combination with the Biot-Gassmann theory, was found to satisfactorily represent the pore-fluid dependent acoustic P-wave velocity of sandstone.