Reactive Transport Modeling to Study Fluid-Rock Interactions in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) with CO2 as Working Fluid

Abstract

There is a growing interest in the novel concept of operating Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) with CO2 instead of water as heat transmission fluid. Initial studies have suggested that CO2 will achieve larger rates of heat extraction, and can offer geologic storage of carbon as an ancillary benefit. A fully developed EGS with CO2 would consist of three distinct zones, (1) a central zone or “core” in which all aqueous phase has been removed by dissolution into the flowing CO2 stream, so that the reservoir fluid is a single supercritical CO2 phase; (2) a surrounding intermediate zone, in which the reservoir fluid consists of a two-phase water-CO2 mixture; and (3) an outer or peripheral zone, in which the reservoir fluid is a single aqueous phase with dissolved CO2. Fluid-rock interactions in EGS operated with CO2 are expected to be vastly different in zones with an aqueous phase present, as compared to the central reservoir zone with anhydrous supercritical CO2. We have performed chemically reactive transport modeling to investigate fluid-rock interactions in the peripheral zone of an EGS operated with CO2.