New outreach materials related to CO₂ and CO₂ storage have been posted here.

The objective of these materials is to provide the Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) research and outreach community

with easily transferable demonstrations designed to increase public understanding and acceptance of issues related to greenhouse gas and CSS processes. We approach these issues from an allegorical and experiential perspective, assuming the audience has minimal background in physics and chemistry. 09/13/05

Twenty papers summarizing Frio brine storage results were presented May 2–5, 2005, at the Fourth Annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Sequestration in Alexandria, Virginia.

Click here for a list of authors, titles, and online text and poweroint presentations. The papers represent the work of Bureau researchers and collaborators from four national labs, the U.S. Geological Survey, Schlumberger, Alberta Research Council, and the Australian CO₂ CRC. Researchers focused on the significance of results to global implementation of CO₂ storage, discussed lessons learned, and provided recommendations for follow-on steps for those preparing to embark on field tests as part of the DOE partnerships.

On April 5, using the Kuster sampler, Yousif Kharaka (USGS) and David Freeman (Sandia Technologies) prepare to collect a postinjection surface sample of Frio brines before collecting downhole fluid and gas samples. The “C” sand injection interval in the injection well was sampled to examine postinjection geochemical changes, particularly organics.

The “B” sand, the sand just above the injection interval, was perforated in the observation well to find any evidence of leakage of CO₂ and tracers over this short distance. 04/12/05

Since CO₂ injection was completed in early October, monitoring of shallow-aquifer hydrochemistry and composition of wellhead space and soil gases has continued so that potential leaks of injected gases from the Frio Formation test interval can be detected.

Although groundwater pH, electrical conduct-ance, and alkalinity have varied during the postinjection monitoring period, no definitive indicators of leakage have been identified. 01/05/05

Seay Nance (BEG) purges a shallow (95-ft) water well before sampling groundwater from the Beaumont Formation aquifer. Researchers look for hydrochemical changes as indicators of potential leaks of CO₂ from the Frio injection interval. 01/05/05

Participants in the geologic working group of the Regional Carbon Sequestation Partnership program visited the Frio site October 21, 2004. 12/20/04
Photos by Gary Siegel, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)

academe, and 30 researchers from NETL’s Carbon Sequestration Regional Partnerships, who represented different parts of the U.S. In this photo, a photographer from the Houston Chronicle documents visitors’ examination of the observation wellhead. 10/27/04

observation well 100 feet away from the injection well about 51 hours after the beginning of injection. Success!

10/14/04
CO₂ trucks off-loading liquid CO₂ release some gas-phase CO₂ It is dense and cool and creates fog on the ground.

Seay Nance (BEG) and Yousif Kharaka (USGS) did sampling at a downhole sampler designed and operated by Barry Freifeld and Rob Trautz (LBNL).

experiment will take place at this depth where, the well is open to brine-bearing sandstone.

CO₂ moves toward the observation well will also be monitored.

The blue column overlying the intake protects the hot pump motor from being flooded by cool water in the event of pump failure. The complete assembly is 40 ft long.

2 weeks for “breakthrough” of the tracer. Time to breakthrough is a function of aquifer hydraulic properties that will also control flow behavior of injected CO₂.

08/24/04
Rod Diehl (left) and Art Wells (right) of DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory use a vacuum pump to check seal integrity on a soil-gas monitoring system.

tube to detect PFC tracers that are added to the injected CO₂. The system is one of several designed to detect at the surface potential leaks from the injection interval in the Frio Formation at 5,100 ft.

07/06/04
Core from the BEG Frio Brine Pilot injection well at the injection interval shows steep bedding as a result of local dip of 16° and cross-laminated fluvial sandstone. The bluish colors are typical of the rock and result from contact with brines that are near-saturation with dissolved methane. Red stain is the result of invasion of the core by drilling mud that has been tagged with Rhodamine WT. Invasion shows the distribution of high permeability that will be quantified in the laboratory in the next few weeks

The numerical model pictured, prepared by Christine Doughty of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, shows the expected geometry of injected CO₂ (in bright colors) within the Frio “C” sand. What is depicted is near the end of the injection period, when the CO₂ has reached the observation well under one possible experimental condition. Shale layers are expected to limit any out-of-zone leakage, an effect that can be observed in the middle of the model. BEG researcher Seay Nance has supervised installation of 100-ft-deep “sentinel” wells near the injection well. These wells will detect any unexpected out-of-zone leakage of CO₂ if it should reach fresh water—a part of the program that assesses risk of any environmental impacts. Additional monitoring will be done at depth and at land surface to document presence or absence of leakage.

06/23/04
International interest in the Frio Brine experiment is mounting. In addition to hosting visitors representing the Japanese Geologic Carbon Storage Research Program, RITE, Susan Hovorka was interviewed about the Frio pilot by a French energy news agency, Enterpress via e-mail and by BBC, World Business Report Radio by phone.

The image of Earth at night shows the distribution of lights. A proxy for global energy use, the image puts the issue into global perspective.

the experiment site to facilitate exchange of information regarding the international issue of options to reduce atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide. The Frio Brine Pilot test well has already been drilled to a depth of 4,900 feet. This well will provide access to high-permeability sandstones of the Frio Formation to test modeling and monitoring strategies for injection of CO₂.

closely monitored to calculate rates of leakage.

This experiment is being conducted to explore solutions to atmospheric emissions of CO₂. The project is gaining national exposure, and the site expects many more visitors before the end of the year.

description), recently completed a workover on the monitoring well owned by Texas American Resources. This experiment involves injecting a small volume of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into a well-known volume of the subsurface of South Liberty oil field and then closely monitoring the well to calculate rates of leakage. Remediation of existing wells is one of the key unknowns in the plan to reduce atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide by reinjecting the CO₂ into oil reservoirs in decline in order to enhance production.