Analytical solution for Joule-Thomson cooling during CO2 geo-sequestration in depleted oil and gas reservoirs

Mathematical tools are needed to screen out sites where Joule-Thomson cooling is a prohibitive factor for CO2 geo-sequestration and to design approaches to mitigate the effect. In this paper, a simple analytical solution is developed by invoicing steady-state flow and constant thermophysical properties. The analytical solution allows fast evaluation of spatiotemporal temperature fields, resulting from constant-rate CO2 injection. The applicability of the analytical solution is demonstrated by comparison with non-isothermal simulation results from the reservoir simulator TOUGH2. Analysis confirms that for an injection rate of 3 kg s(-1) (0.1 MT yr(-1)) into moderately warm (>40 degrees C) and permeable formations (>10(-14) m(2) (10 mD)), JTC is unlikely to be a problem for initial reservoir pressures as low as 2 MPa (290 psi). (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.