Numerical modeling of the dynamic variation in multiphase CH<sub>4</sub> during CO<sub>2</sub> enhanced gas recovery from depleted shale reservoirs

doi:10.1007/s11707-021-0869-x

Front. Earth Sci.

2021, Vol. 15

Issue (4) : 790-802 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-021-0869-x

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Numerical modeling of the dynamic variation in multiphase CH₄ during CO₂ enhanced gas recovery from depleted shale reservoirs

Jun LIU^1,²(

), Ye ZHANG¹, Lijun CHENG¹, Zhaohui LU¹, Chunlin ZENG¹, Peng ZHAO³(

)

¹. Key Laboratory of Shale Gas Exploration (Ministry of Natural Resources), Chongqing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chongqing 401120, China
². Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
³. College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

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Abstract

Regarding CO₂ enhanced shale gas recovery, this work focuses on changes in the multiphase (free/adsorbed) CH₄ in the process of CO₂ enhanced shale gas recovery, by utilizing a rigorous numerical model with real geological parameters. This work studies nine injection well (IW) and CH₄ production well (PW) combinations of CO₂ to determine the influence of IW and PW locations on the dynamic interaction of multiphase CH₄ during 10000 d of CO₂ injection. The results indicate that the content of both the adsorbed CH₄ and free CH₄ is strongly variable before (and during) the CO₂-CH₄ displacement. In addition, during the simulation process, the proportion of the adsorbed CH₄ among all extracted CH₄ phases dynamically increases first and then tends to stabilize at 70%–80%. Moreover, the IW-PWs combinations significantly affect the outcomes of CO₂ enhanced shale gas recovery – for both the proportion of adsorbed/free CH₄ and the recovery efficiency. A longer IW-PW distance enables more adsorbed CH₄ to be recovered but results in a lower efficiency of shale gas recovery. Basically, a shorter IW-PWs distance helps recover CH₄ via CO₂ injection if the IW targets the bottom layer of the Wufeng-Longmaxi shale formation. This numerical work expands the knowledge of CO₂ enhanced gas recovery from depleted shale reservoirs.

Keywords CO₂-CH₄ displacement free gas Longmaxi shale CH₄ desorption numerical simulation

Corresponding Author(s): Jun LIU,Peng ZHAO

Online First Date: 24 March 2021 Issue Date: 20 January 2022

Cite this article:

Jun LIU,Ye ZHANG,Lijun CHENG, et al. Numerical modeling of the dynamic variation in multiphase CH₄ during CO₂ enhanced gas recovery from depleted shale reservoirs[J]. Front. Earth Sci., 2021, 15(4): 790-802.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-021-0869-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2021/V15/I4/790

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the geological settings, model description and THM coupling process (Liu et al., 2017a; Zhao et al., 2020). (a) regional overview of Well-WQ2; (b) schematic diagram of the IW and PWs; (c) the dual-porosity modeling system; (d) THM coupling relations.

Tab.1 Vertical heterogeneity of the WL shales at Well-WQ2

Parameter	Value	Parameter	Value
Langmuir strain coefficient of CH₄ (e_L1)	8.1e-4	Endpoint relative permeability of gas (k_rg0)	0.875
Langmuir strain coefficient of CO₂ (e_L2)	3.6e-3	Endpoint relative permeability of water (k_rw0)	1.0
Dynamic viscosity of CH₄ (m_g1, Pa·s)	1.34e-5	Biot coefficient of matrix (a_m)	0.8
Dynamic viscosity of CO₂ (m_g2, Pa·s)	1.84e-5	Biot coefficient of fracture (a_f)	0.1
Dynamic viscosity of water (m_w, Pa·s)	8.9e-4	Density of the shale skeleton (r_c, kg/m³)	2470
Diffusion coefficient of CH₄ (D₁, m²/s)	3.6e-12	Initial fracture width (b, m)	5e-4
Diffusion coefficient of CO₂ (D₂, m²/s)	5.8e-12	Initial fracture stiffness (K_n_j, GPa/m)	10
Thermal coefficient of gas sorption (c₁, 1/K)	0.021	Maximum fracture aperture (Dv_max, m)	0.001
Thermal coefficient of gas sorption (c₂, 1/MPa)	0.071	Thermal expansion coefficient (a_T, 1/K)	2.4e-5
Capillary pressure (p_cgw, MPa)	0.035	Specific heat capacities of shale (C_s, J/(kg·K))	1380
Initial density of saturated vapor (r_fv0, kg/m³)	0.13	Specific heat capacities of CH₄ (C_g1, J/(kg·K))	2220
Latent heat of vapor (R_v, J/(K·kg))	461.51	Specific heat capacities of CO₂ (C_g2, J/(kg·K))	844
Klinkenberg factor (b_k, MPa)	0.76	Specific heat capacities of water (C_w, J/(kg·K))	4187
Desorption time of CH₄ (t₁, d)	0.221	Specific heat capacities of vapor (C_v, J/(kg·K))	1996
Desorption time of CO₂ (t₂, d)	0.334	Thermal conduction coefficient of shale (l_s, W/(m·K))	0.1913
Henry’s coefficient of CH₄ (H_g1)	0.0014	Thermal conduction coefficient of CH₄ (l_g1, W/(m·K))	0.0301
Henry’s coefficient of CO₂ (H_g2)	0.0347	Thermal conduction coefficient of CO₂ (l_g2, W/(m·K))	0.0137
Residual gas saturation (s_gr)	0.05	Thermal conduction coefficient of water (l_w, W/(m·K))	0.5985
Irreducible water saturation (s_wr)	0.42	Isosteric heat of CH₄ adsorption (q_st1, kJ/mol)	16.4
Reference temperature for test (T_ref, K)	300	Isosteric heat of CO₂ adsorption (q_st2, kJ/mol)	19.2

Tab.2 Key parameters for CS-EGR in this numerical simulation

Fig.2 Original content of multiphase CH₄ in each layer before CO₂ injection.

Fig.3 Dynamic decrement of multiphase CH₄ in representative cases (a) H50 and (b) M150.

Fig.4 Variation in the rate of decrease in multiphase CH₄ during the CS-EGR process of representative cases (a) H50 and (5) M150.

Fig.5 Percentage variation of free CH₄ in whole reservoir of each operation condition.

Fig.6 Dynamic variation of free CH₄ in the matrix and in the fracture of representative cases (a) H50 and (b) M150.

Fig.7 Relative content of CH₄ in the fracture to that in the matrix during the CS-EGR process for each operation case.

Fig.8 Residual content of multiphase CH₄ in the whole reservoir of representative cases (a) H50 and (b) M150.

Fig.9 Decrease in multiphase CH₄ from each layer in all simulation cases after 10000 d of CS-EGR operation.

Fig.10 Final residual CH₄ in whole reservoir under each IW-PWs combination at the end of CS-EGR operation.

Fig.11 Multiphase recovered CH₄ from the whole reservoir and the corresponding proportion of free/adsorbed CH₄.

Fig.12 Total recovery efficiency of multiphase CH₄ from whole reservoir under each IW-PWs combination.

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