Project: Rock4CCS
Funding: EU H2020 and OFEN
Project dates: 01.11.2022 – 01.11.2026
Geological sequestration of CO2 involves high pressure injection of liquid CO2 (deeper supercritical) into deep underground porous reservoirs covered by a layer of impermeable cap rock. Fluids injections may induce stress and chemical perturbations and even cause irreversible deformation in and around injection formations leading to reservoir clogging, borehole failure, damage in caprock, and the creation of new fractures or the reactivation of existing faults. Here, via laboratory pilot studies, mimicking injection into a reservoir on a miniature scale, we will characterize the effect of pressurized water and weak acid such as CO2, on yield and ultimate strengths of porous reservoir rocks and how does these high-pressure fluids influence the failure mechanisms.
Project: Friction
Funding: Gaznat
Project dates: 01.12.2016 – 01.03.2021
Here, as case study, we investigate this question using a new experimental method for evaluating the risk of 1) CO2 leakage and 2) induced seismicity, provoked by fault reactivation during geological CO2 sequestration. Our experiments stimulate CO2 injections into a reservoir-cap rock system bounded by faults at different state of stability. Fluid pressure, flow rate injection, fluid chemistry and fluid physical properties effects on fault stability will be investigated, in order to find the good ‘fluid cocktail’ for CO2 geological sequestration. These data will provide new constraints on the reservoir permeability evolution in case of fault reactivation and will shed new light on the physics of induced earthquakes mechanics, by recording the micro-seismicity while testing the deformation.
Project: SOE, Supply of Energy
Funding: CTI
Project dates: 01.01.2017 – 01.01.2021
The SCCER-SoE carries out innovative and sustainable research on the supply of electricity from hydropower and geo-energy in order to meet the challenges of the Energy Strategy 2050.