Background
The evidence from existing CO₂ storage projects shows that accurate characterization of fluid-rock interactions is of paramount importance for better predictions of the CO₂ injectivity, storage capacity, and long-term plume migration.

Achieving the potential of CCS and CO₂ injection needed to meet the global CO₂ emission reduction targets calls for standardized laboratory protocols, reduced measurements costs, and open access to the results. Laboratory measurements, accompanied by core-scale modeling, will result in better understanding of the physical mechanisms governing the CO₂ sequestration.

Objectives
The project will establish laboratory procedures for determining important parameters of carbon dioxide injection into geological formations, e.g., relative permeabilities and capillary pressure curves using a standard core-flooding laboratory equipment. The accuracy and applicability of these procedures will be analyzed using the in-situ real-time saturation monitoring with X-ray computer tomography (CT).

Linking the results of the project to a specific industrially operated geological site (Stenlille) will provide the data needed for estimating the commercial viability of CO₂ storage and the estimates for the workforce needed to run such operations.

Expected results

1. Conduct the CO₂-brine core flooding experiments both using X-ray CT monitoring and an acoustic two-phase separator for saturation logging on reservoir samples from the Stenlille gas storage site.
2. Obtain the relative permeability and capillary pressure functions from both saturation logging methods.
3. Establish the laboratory procedures for the two-phase miscible flows and identify the domain of applicability of both approaches.
4. Develop analytical and semi-analytical models for CO₂ plume migration using the obtained laboratory measurements.