Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Carbon dioxide miscible flooding is one of the most promising methods of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) for light and medium oil reservoirs. Additionally, this process can be utilized as a means of storing carbon dioxide in oil reservoirs and other geological formations, such as deep aquifers. The combination of CO2 EOR and storage provides an attractive and economically viable solution for storage and sequestration of CO2 in partially depleted oil reservoirs.        Here a comprehensive research program is proposed aiming at investigating a novel method based on utilizing Bovine Carbonic Anhydrase enzyme as a catalyst for accelerating mineralization and precipitation of CO2 in form of calcium and/or magnesium carbonate in porous media, where CO2 flooding is implemented. The in-situ precipitation of solid precipitants would lead to reduction of the permeability of existing pathways of CO2. Therefore, the subsequent injected CO2 will flow through unswept regions of reservoir. This enhances the volumetric sweep efficiency (i.e. conformance) of CO2 flooding process, which leads to improved oil recovery and increased pore volume available for storing CO2. Furthermore, this enzyme can be utilized for permanent sequestration of injected CO2 in the form of calcium carbonate.        The goal for this proposed research is to conduct a thorough experimental, and mathematical modeling, research to investigate the effect of various parameters such as temperature, pH, enzyme concentration, permeability of porous media and various operating conditions on the enzymatic mineralization of CO2 at conditions similar to those found in oil reservoirs and/or deep aquifers. The results of this research will be used to develop an optimized process for improving volumetric sweep efficiency of CO2 in oil reservoirs during CO2 EOR projects, as well as a practical solution for permanent sequestration of CO2 in oil reservoirs and/or deep aquifers.