A Multiphasic Model Describing the CO2 Injection Problem

According to the annual data, the portion of ejected carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into the atmosphere is much higher in comparison to other greenhouse gases. Therefore, the development of various scenarios in order to reduce the CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere is nowadays a challenge and a relevant subject in research. The current investigation is dedicated to the modelling of a CO 2 injection into a water‐saturated aquifer as the most capable reservoir, where its upward migration is blocked by a dense cap‐rock layer. The major part of the study is focused on two specific processes taking place in the stored reservoir: the phase transfer phenomenon of the supercritical CO 2 which occurs under changeable surrounding conditions and the sequestration‐driven deformation of the solid skeleton acting under the pressure of the pumped CO 2 . For the numerical simulations within a continuum‐mechanical framework, a multiphasic model based on the Theory of Porous Media is introduced. Moreover, the main principles of developing a constitutive equation for the mass production term for the mass balance equation are discussed here. (© 2010 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)