International Journal of Environment and Climate Change

Scientific investigations and observations show that carbon dioxide is a major contributor to the increasingly damaging effects of global warming. Thus, geological sequestration of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers is already in operations across the globe. However, geological carbon sequestration in an aquifer should be safeguarded from CO₂ leakage into the atmosphere and/or CO₂ migration into potable water aquifers that are also present in the subsurface. To promote safety of living and non-living species that are near and far from the geological sequestration sites, this work presents techniques for monitoring the greenhouse gas stored in geological porous media, using experiments and numerical simulation techniques. The work employed two-phase flow parameters like capillary pressure (P^c), bulk electrical conductivity (σ_b), dielectric permittivity (ε_b) and their respective relationship with water saturation (S). P^c-S relationship was found to rise with increasing rate of CO₂ injection while ε_b–S and σ_b-S relationships were not affected by the injection rate of CO₂. Thus, it can be inferred that the ε_b–S and σ_b-S relationships will be more reliable in application to the monitoring of CO₂ plume in geological carbon sequestration.  On the other hand, ε_b–S and σ_b-S relationships are found to be affected by temperature. While ε_b–S decreases with temperature, σ_b-S relationship shows opposite behavior, rising with increasing temperature. Also, in different porous media, ε_b–S and σ_b-S relationships remained higher in limestone than silica sand. Finally, the numerical simulation was used to corroborate the experimental observations in P^c-S relationship. This work draws the attention of the stakeholders in climate change mitigation to the challenges involved in risk aversion techniques that are currently in existence.

Retraction Notice: This paper has been retracted from the journal after receipt of written complains. This journal is determined to promote integrity in research publication. This retraction is in spirit of the same. After formal procedures editor(s) and publisher have retracted this paper on 5^th March-2016. Related policy is available here: http://goo.gl/lI77Nn