In the field of the mitigation action to a low-carbon energetic system, the CCS (Carbon Capture & Storage) can give a contribution around the 14% of the total emissions. This process consists in the capture, the compression and the transport of CO2, generated by the large power plants, and the injection in deep geological formationsable to host it. Therefore, at the base of any CCS project there is the potential sites research and the calculation of the CO2 volume that can be hosted. Many oil, gas, geothermal and water supply reservoirs form in fractured rocks, therefore are considered a great resource also in the field of storage. Fracture networks exist at a wide range of scale in the earth crust and strongly influence the hydraulic behaviour of rocks, providing either pathways or barriers for fluid flow. The main challenge is the development of numerical models that describe adequately the fracture networks and the constitutive equations governing the physical processes in fractured reservoir. In this project through the combination of the classic equivalent continuum approach and the injection modeling on Discrete Fracture Network it will be possibile to parametrize the efficiency of the fracture reservoir to the injection of CO2 in the context of the geological storage.
This research aims to identify at a local scale possible sites for the geological storage of carbon dioxide in Italy. The CCS method is growing rapidly in recent years, in fact the EU has urged all member states to research these sites and implement this technology.
This project is one of the first that examines the research for single structures that can accommodate site-scale storage injection facilities. Through the combination of 3D, numerical and mathematical models, it aims to implement and deepen the knowledge in the study of fractured reservoirs and their relationship with the injection of fluids, in this case CO2