Effects of reduction in porosity and permeability with depth on storage capacity and injectivity in deep saline aquifers: A case study from the Mount Simon Sandstone aquifer

The Upper Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone is recognized as a deep saline reservoir that has significant potential for geological sequestration in the Midwestern region of the United States. Porosity and permeability values collected from core analyses in rocks from this formation and its lateral equivalents in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio indicate a predictable relationship with depth owing to a reduction in the pore structure due to the effects of compaction and/or cementation, primarily as quartz overgrowths. The regional trend of decreasing porosity with depth is described by the equation: phi(d)= 16.36 x e-(0.00039*d), where phi is the porosity and d is the depth in m. The decrease of porosity with depth generally holds true on a basinwide scale. Bearing in mind local variations in lithologic and petro-physical character within the Mount Simon Sandstone, the source data that were used to predict porosity were utilized to estimate the pore volume available within the reservoir that could potentially serve as storage space for injected CO(2). The potential storage capacity estimated for the Mount Simon Sandstone in the study area, using efficiency factors of 1%, 5%, 10%, and 15%, is 23,680, 118,418, 236,832, and 355,242 million metric tons of CO(2), respectively. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.