CO2, N2, and CO2/N2 mixed gas injection for enhanced shale gas recovery and CO2 geological storage

In this work, using fractured shale cores, isothermal adsorption experiments and core flooding tests were conducted to investigate the performance of injecting different gases to enhance shale gas recovery and CO2 geological storage efficiency under real reservoir conditions. The adsorption process of shale to different gases was in agreement with the extended-Langmuir model, and the adsorption capacity of CO2 was the largest, followed by CH4, and that of N-2 was the smallest of the three pure gases. In addition, when the CO2 concentration in the mixed gas exceeded 50%, the adsorption capacity of the mixed gas was greater than that of CH4, and had a strong competitive adsorption effect. For the core flooding tests, pure gas injection showed that the breakthrough time of CO2 was longer than that of N-2, and the CH4 recovery factor at the breakthrough time ( R-CH4 ) was also higher than that of N-2. The R-CH4 of CO(2 )gas injection was approximately 44.09%, while the of N(2 )was only 31.63%. For R-CH4 CO2/N-2 mixed gas injection, with the increase of CO2 concentration, the R-CH4 increased, and the R(CH4 )for mixed gas CO2/N-2 = 8:2 was close to that of pure CO2, about 40.24%. Moreover, the breakthrough time of N-2 in mixed gas was not much different from that when pure N-2 was injected, while the breakthrough time of CO2 was prolonged, which indicated that with the increase of N-2 concentration in the mixed gas, the breakthrough time of CO2 could be extended. Furthermore, an abnormal surge of N-2 concentration in the produced gas was observed after N-2 breakthrough. In regards to CO2 storage efficiency (S storage-CO2), as the CO2 concentration increased, S (storage-CO2) also increased. The of the pure CO2gas injection S storage-CO2 was about 35.96%, while for mixed gas CO2/N-2 = 8:2, S (storage-CO2) was about 32.28%.

Automated summary

This work investigates the performance of injecting different gases to enhance shale gas recovery and CO2 geological storage efficiency using fractured shale cores under real reservoir conditions. The adsorption process of shale to different gases follows the extended-Langmuir model, with CO2 showing the highest adsorption capacity, followed by CH4, and N-2 having the smallest adsorption capacity. Core flooding tests show that CO2 has a longer breakthrough time compared to N-2, and the recovery factor for CH4 at the breakthrough time is higher for CO2 injection. The storage efficiency of CO2 also increases with increasing CO2 concentration.