Reactive Multiphase behavior of CO2 in Saline Aquifers beneath the Colorado Plateau

Gas reservoirs developed within the Colorado Plateau and Southern Rocky Mountains region are natural laboratories for studying the factors that promote long-term storage of CO{sub 2}. They also provide sites for storing additional CO{sub 2} if it can be separated from the flue gases of coal-fired power plants in this part of the U.S.A. These natural reservoirs are developed primarily in sandstones and dolomites; shales, mudstones and anhydrite form seals. In many fields, stacked reservoirs are present, indicating that the gas has migrated up through the section. There are also geologically young travertine deposits at the surface, and CO{sub 2}-charged groundwater and springs in the vicinity of known CO{sub 2} occurrences. These near-surface geological and hydrological features also provide examples of the environmental effects of leakage of CO{sub 2} from reservoirs, and justify further study. During reporting period covered here (the second quarter of Year 2 of the project, i.e. January 1-March 31, 2002), the main achievements were: (1) Field trips to the central Utah and eastern Arizona travertine areas to collect data and water samples to support study of surface CO{sub 2}-rich fluid leakage in these two areas. (2) Partial completion of a manuscript on natural analogues CO{sub 2} leakage from subsurface reservoirs. The remaining section on the chemistry of the fluids is in progress. (3) Improvements to CHEMTOUGH code to incorporate kinetic effects on reaction progress. (4) Submission of two abstracts (based on the above work) to the topical session at the upcoming GSA meeting in Denver titled ''Experimental, Field, and Modeling Studies of Geological Carbon Sequestration''. (5) Submission of paper to upcoming GGHT-6 conference in Kyoto. Co-PI S. White will attend this conference, and will also be involved in three other papers