IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i22p5786-d1524771.html

Numerical Simulation Study of Salt Cavern CO 2 Storage in Power-to-Gas System

Author

Listed:
  • Weizheng Bai

    (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Jun Lu

    (PipeChina Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200122, China)

  • Jian Wang

    (PipeChina Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200122, China)

  • Xinghui Fu

    (Jiangsu Suyan Jingshen Co., Ltd., Huai’an 223200, China)

  • Yaping Fu

    (PipeChina Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200122, China)

  • Yashuai Huang

    (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Xiao Wang

    (State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China)

  • Xilin Shi

    (State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Abstract

China’s renewable energy sector is experiencing rapid growth, yet its inherent intermittency is creating significant challenges for balancing power supply and demand. Power-to-gas (PtG) technology, which converts surplus electricity into combustible gas, offers a promising solution. Salt caverns, due to their favorable geological properties, are among the best choices for large-scale underground energy storage in PtG systems. CO 2 leakage along the interlayer and salt rock–interlayer interfaces is a key constraint on the CO 2 tightness of subsurface salt caverns. This paper focuses on the critical issue of tightness within salt cavern CO 2 storage, particularly in the Jintan region. A coupled hydro-mechanics mathematical model is developed to investigate CO 2 transportation and leakage in bedded salt caverns, with key variables such as permeability range, pore pressure evolution, and permeability changes being analyzed. The results reveal that permeability plays a decisive role in determining the CO 2 transportation rate and leakage extent within the salt rock layer. Notably, the CO 2 transportation rate and influence range in the mudstone interlayer are significantly larger than those in the salt rock over the same period. However, with prolonged storage time, the CO 2 transportation rate and pressure increase in both salt rock and mudstone interlayer exhibit a decreasing trend, eventually stabilizing as the CO 2 pressure front reaches the boundary of the simulation domain. Furthermore, elevated operating pressure markedly expands the permeability range and results in higher cumulative leakage. For a specific salt cavern, the CO 2 leakage range can reach up to 142 m, and the leakage volume can reach 522.5 tonnes with the increase in operating pressure during 35 years of operation. Therefore, the setting of operational pressure should fully consider the influence of permeability and mechanical strength of the salt rock and mudstone interlayer. These findings provide valuable insights into optimizing the sealing performance of salt cavern CO 2 storage systems under varying conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Weizheng Bai & Jun Lu & Jian Wang & Xinghui Fu & Yaping Fu & Yashuai Huang & Xiao Wang & Xilin Shi, 2024. "Numerical Simulation Study of Salt Cavern CO 2 Storage in Power-to-Gas System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:22:p:5786-:d:1524771
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/22/5786/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/22/5786/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aminu, Mohammed D. & Nabavi, Seyed Ali & Rochelle, Christopher A. & Manovic, Vasilije, 2017. "A review of developments in carbon dioxide storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 1389-1419.
    2. Li, Peng & Li, Yinping & Shi, Xilin & Zhu, Shijie & Ma, Hongling & Yang, Chunhe, 2024. "Gas tightness around salt cavern gas storage in bedded salt formations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    3. Li, Hang & Ma, Hongling & Liu, Jiang & Zhu, Shijie & Zhao, Kai & Zheng, Zhuyan & Zeng, Zhen & Yang, Chunhe, 2023. "Large-scale CAES in bedded rock salt: A case study in Jiangsu Province, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arian Semedo & João Garcia & Moisés Brito, 2025. "Cryogenics in Renewable Energy Storage: A Review of Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-23, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sadeghpour, Farshad, 2025. "Storage efficiency prediction for feasibility assessment of underground CO2 storage: Novel machine learning approaches," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    2. Shanling Zhang & Sheng Jiang & Hongda Li & Peiran Li & Xiuping Zhong & Chen Chen & Guigang Tu & Xiang Liu & Zhenhua Xu, 2025. "Current Status and Reflections on Ocean CO 2 Sequestration: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-28, February.
    3. Jin Liao & Cai Li & Qihui Yang & Aixia Sun & Guangze Song & Joaquin Couchot & Aohan Jin & Quanrong Wang, 2025. "Suitability Evaluation of Site-Level CO 2 Geo-Storage in Saline Aquifers of Ying–Qiong Basin, South China Sea," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-17, June.
    4. Nassabeh, Mehdi & You, Zhenjiang & Keshavarz, Alireza & Iglauer, Stefan, 2024. "Sub-surface geospatial intelligence in carbon capture, utilization and storage: A machine learning approach for offshore storage site selection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    5. Zhao, Guojun & Zheng, Jia-nan & Gong, Guangjun & Chen, Bingbing & Yang, Mingjun & Song, Yongchen, 2023. "Formation characteristics and leakage termination effects of CO2 hydrate cap in case of geological sequestration leakage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    6. Shun Wang & Kan Jin & Wei Zhao & Luojia Ding & Jingning Zhang & Di Xu, 2025. "Mechanism, Modeling and Challenges of Geological Storage of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-25, August.
    7. Barbara Uliasz-Misiak & Jacek Misiak, 2024. "Underground Gas Storage in Saline Aquifers: Geological Aspects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-23, March.
    8. Chang, Yuan & Gao, Siqi & Ma, Qian & Wei, Ying & Li, Guoping, 2024. "Techno-economic analysis of carbon capture and utilization technologies and implications for China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    9. Yuan, Chen & Yu, Xinran & Li, Peijin & Shan, Xijie & Hong, Weimin & Li, Yuxing & Chen, Zhangxing & Liu, Cuiwei & Wu, Keliu, 2025. "From micro to macro: A comprehensive review for underground hydrogen storage technologies and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    10. Liang, Rui & Ma, Hongling & Li, Hang & Wang, Xuan & Zeng, Zhen & Zheng, Zhuyan & Li, Wentao & Huang, Yashuai & Zhao, Kai, 2025. "Techno-economic analysis of compressed air energy storage in abandoned salt caverns: A case study in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    11. Wang, Xuan & Ma, Hongling & Li, Hang & Zeng, Zhen & Liang, Xiaopeng & Yang, Chunhe, 2024. "Projected effective energy stored of Zhangshu salt cavern per day in CAES in 2060," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    12. Abdul Rehman Baig & Jemal Fentaw & Elvin Hajiyev & Marshall Watson & Hossein Emadi & Bassel Eissa & Abdulrahman Shahin, 2025. "Comprehensive Insights into Carbon Capture and Storage: Geomechanical and Geochemical Aspects, Modeling, Risk Assessment, Monitoring, and Cost Analysis in Geological Storage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-55, September.
    13. Wang, Xuan & Ma, Hongling & Zeng, Zhen & Li, Hang & Liang, Wei & Liang, Xiaopeng & Fang, Jiangyu & Zhao, Kai, 2025. "Determination of operating parameters for W-shaped salt caverns," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    14. Fu, Liupeng & Shi, Xilin & Fan, Jinyang & Li, Peng & Hong, Yang & Liu, Xiaoyi & Li, Wentao, 2025. "A novel comprehensive evaluation system for the feasibility of salt cavern hydrogen storage (SCHS)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    15. Fu, Liupeng & Fan, Jinyang & Shi, Xilin & Zhu, Shijie & Wei, Xinxing & Tian, Hao, 2025. "Concealed morphology construction and stability evaluation of two butted-well horizontal salt caverns gas storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    16. Andreas Mühlbauer & Dominik Keiner & Tansu Galimova & Christian Breyer, 2024. "Analysis of production routes for silicon carbide using air as carbon source empowering negative emissions," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 1-25, January.
    17. Zhang, Bodu & Jiang, Guosheng & Bao, Ting & Ding, Xuanming & Cao, Zhendong & Zhang, Lin, 2026. "A review of underground energy storage: Modeling, experiments, and challenges," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 407(C).
    18. Guo, Pengyu & Fan, Jinyang & Li, Zongze & Fourmeau, Marion & Zou, Yang & Chen, Jie & Jiang, Deyi, 2025. "Exploring compressed air energy storage in abandoned flooded coal mine: Thermodynamic analysis and applicability study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    19. Xiang Ao & Yuxi Rao & Honglian Li & Beijun Song & Peng Li, 2025. "Flow–Solid Coupled Analysis of Shale Gas Production Influenced by Fracture Roughness Evolution in Supercritical CO 2 –Slickwater Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-23, October.
    20. Zheng, Long & Jing, Zefeng & Feng, Chenchen & Wang, Lichao & Zhou, Yujuan & Qiao, Mingzheng & Liu, Zhen, 2026. "Underground hydrogen storage (UHS): Comparative analysis of key performance metrics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 226(PD).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:22:p:5786-:d:1524771. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.