Application of tracer tests using SF6 and chloride for hydrogeological characterization of a CCS site, Eumseong, Korea

Abstract:

Push-pull tracer test was conducted to acquire precise site information and characteristics on a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)-site at Eumseong, Korea. Push-pull test is very simple to design, and perform. The test is also convenient to set a duration of experiment period based on the background ground-water velocity. In this study, SF6 and Chloride were used as tracers known as non-reactive tracers. The performed push-pull tests were consisted of 3 phases: 1) solution injection phase; 2) rest phase; and 3) pumping phase. We used a portable multi-level packer to isolate the injection interval. Samples were obtained during pumping phase at every 2 minutes. LTC level-logger was installed to record real-time water level, temperature, and electric conductivity before and during the experiment. A breakthrough curve was obtained by analyzing LTC level-logger data and tracer concentration of water samples. The values of ground water velocity and effective porosity from two tracers came out similar values. SF₆ and chloride did not show intervening effect and display similar transport behavior. It seems that both tracers can be applied independently or together to perform tracer tests for estimation of transport behaviors of dissolved volatile components.  

Acknowledgement: Financial support was provided by the "R&D Project on Environmental Management of Geologic CO2 Storage" from the KEITI (Project Number: 2014001810003) and Korea Ministry of Environment as "The GAIA project(2014000540010)"