Stockage géologique du CO2: l'étanchéité des puits

Carbon capture and storage is an innovator approach to fight climate changes through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Abandoned coal mines are currently less studied than other reservoirs but could also be used for the storage of carbon dioxide. However the problem of shaft sealing appears to be central as far as the safety, economic, ecologic and health stakes of geological storage are concerned. The purpose of the present work is the study of shaft sealing in the framework of CO2 storage projects. More precisely the problem consists in the numerical study, with the LAGAMINE finite elements code, of gas transfers around a shaft seal system. A coupled hydro-mechanical model of unsaturated geomaterials is presented. The response of the flow model is first studied through a simple synthetic problem simulating the injection of gas in a concrete-made column. It stands out of this first modeling that the advection of the gas phase represents the main transfer mechanism of CO2 in highly unsaturated materials. Furthermore the setting of a bentonite barrier seal allows limiting considerably gas influx to the biosphere. A 2D axisymetric hydromechanical modeling of the Anderlues natural gas storage site is then performed. The design of the shaft seal system appears to be a determinant element to evaluate the risks of CO2 leakage.