Publications

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Laboratory and field developments are underway to use solar energy to power a desalination technology - capacitive deionization - for water produced by remote Coal Bed Methane (CBM) natural gas wells. Due to the physical remoteness of many CBM wells throughout the Southwestern U.S., as shown in Figure 1, this approach may offer promise. This promise is not only from its effectiveness in removing salt from CBM water and allowing it to be utilized for various applications, but also for its potentially lower energy consumption compared to other technologies, such as reverse osmosis. This, coupled with the remoteness (Figure 1) of thousands of these wells, makes them more feasible for use with photovoltaic (solar, electric, PV) systems. Concurrent laboratory activities are providing information about the effectiveness and energy requirements of each technology under various produced water qualities and water reuse applications, such as salinity concentrations and water flows. These parameters are being used to driving the design of integrated PV-powered treatment systems. Full-scale field implementations are planned, with data collection and analysis designed to optimize the system design for practical remote applications. Early laboratory studies of capacitive deionization have shown promise that at common CBM salinity levels, the technology may require less energy, is less susceptible to fouling, and is more compact than equivalent reverse osmosis (RO) systems. The technology uses positively and negatively charged electrodes to attract charged ions in a liquid, such as dissolved salts, metals, and some organics, to the electrodes. This concentrates the ions at the electrodes and reduces the ion concentrations in the liquid. This paper discusses the results of these laboratory studies and extends these results to energy consumption and design considerations for field implementation of produced water treatment using photovoltaic systems.

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The need for fresh water has increased exponentially during the last several decades due to the continuous growth of human population and industrial and agricultural activities. Yet existing resources are limited often because of their high salinity. This unfavorable situation requires the development of new, long-term strategies and alternative technologies for desalination of saline waters presently not being used to supply the population growth occurring in arid regions. We have developed a novel environmentally friendly method for desalinating inland brackish waters. This process can be applied to either brackish ground water or produced waters (i.e., coal-bed methane or oil and gas produced waters). Using a set of ion exchange and sorption materials, our process effectively removes anions and cations in separate steps. The ion exchange materials were chosen because of their specific selectivity for ions of interest, and for their ability to work in the temperature and pH regions necessary for cost and energy effectiveness. For anion exchange, we have focused on hydrotalcite (HTC), a layered hydroxide similar to clay in structure. For cation exchange, we have developed an amorphous silica material that has enhanced cation (in particular Na{sup +}) selectivity. In the case of produced waters with high concentrations of Ca{sup 2+}, a lime softening step is included.

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This report summarizes recent reviews, observations, and analyses believed to be imperative to our understanding of the recent two million cubic feet salt fall event in Big Hill Cavern 103, one of the caverns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The fall was the result of one or more stress driven mechanical instabilities, the origins of which are discussed in the report. The work has lead to important conclusions concerning the engineering and operations of the caverns at Big Hill. Specifically, Big Hill, being the youngest SPR site, was subjected to state-of-the-art solutioning methods to develop nominally well-formed, right-circular cylindrical caverns. Examination of the pressure history records indicate that operationally all Big Hill SPR caverns have been treated similarly. Significantly, new three-dimensional (3-D) imaging methods, applied to old (original) and more recent sonar survey data, have provided much more detailed views of cavern walls, roofs, and floors. This has made possible documentation of the presence of localized deviations from ''smooth'' cylindrical cavern walls. These deviations are now recognized as isolated, linear and/or planar features in the original sonar data (circa early 1990s), which persist to the present time. These elements represent either sites of preferential leaching, localized spalling, or a combination of the two. Understanding the precise origin of these phenomena remains a challenge, especially considering, in a historical sense, the domal salt at Big Hill was believed to be well-characterized. However, significant inhomogeneities in the domal salt that may imply abnormalities in leaching were not noted. Indeed, any inhomogeneities were judged inconsequential to the solution-engineering methods at the time, and, by the same token, to the approaches to modeling the rock mass geomechanical response. The rock mass was treated as isotropic and homogeneous, which in retrospect, appears to have been an over simplification. This analysis shows there are possible new opportunities regarding completing an appropriate site characterization for existing operating cavern fields in the SPR, as well as expansion of current sites or development of new sites. Such characterization should first be consistent with needs identified by this report. Secondly, the characterization needs to satisfy the input requirements of the 3-D solutioning calculational methods being developed, together with 3-D geomechanical analyses techniques which address deformation of a salt rock mass that contains inhomogeneities. It seems apparent that focusing on these important areas could preclude occurrence of unexpected events that would adversely impact the operations of SPR.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve site at West Hackberry, Louisiana has historically experienced casing leaks. Numerous West Hackberry oil storage caverns have wells exhibiting communication between the interior 10 3/4 x 20-inch (oil) annulus and the ''outer cemented'' 20 x 26-inch annulus. Well 108 in Cavern 108 exhibits this behavior. It is thought that one, if not the primary, cause of this communication is casing thread leaks at the 20-inch casing joints combined with microannuli along the cement casing interfaces and other cracks/flaws in the cemented 20 x 26-inch annulus. An operation consisting of a series of nitrogen leak tests, similar to cavern integrity tests, was performed on Cavern 108 in an effort to determine the leak horizons and to see if these leak horizons coincided with those of casing joints. Certain leaky, threaded casing joints were identified between 400 and 1500 feet. A new leak detection procedure was developed as a result of this test, and this methodology for identifying and interpreting such casing joint leaks is presented in this report. Analysis of the test data showed that individual joint leaks could be successfully identified, but not without some degree of ambiguity. This ambiguity is attributed to changes in the fluid content of the leak path (nitrogen forcing out oil) and possibly to very plausible changes in characteristics of the flow path during the test. These changes dominated the test response and made the identification of individual leak horizons difficult. One consequence of concern from the testing was a progressive increase in the leak rate measured during testing due to nitrogen cleaning small amounts of oil out of the leak paths and very likely due to the changes of the leak path during the flow test. Therefore, careful consideration must be given before attempting similar tests. Although such leaks have caused no known environmental or economic problems to date, the leaks may be significant because of the potential for future problems. To mitigate future problems, some repair scenarios are discussed including injection of sealants.

Casing deformation in producing geothermal wells is a common problem in many geothermal fields, mainly due to the active geologic formations where these wells are typically located. Repairs to deformed well casings are necessary to keep the wells in production and to occasionally enter a well for approved plugging and abandonment procedures. The costly alternative to casing remediation is to drill a new well to maintain production and/or drill a well to intersect the old well casing below the deformation for abandonment purposes. The U.S. Department of Energy and the Geothermal Drilling Organization sponsored research and development work at Sandia National Laboratories in an effort to reduce these casing remediation expenditures. Sandia, in cooperation with Halliburton Energy Services, developed a low cost, bridge-plug-type, packer for use in casing remediation work in geothermal well environments. This report documents the development and testing of this commercially available petal-basket packer called the Special Application Coiled Tubing Applied Plug (SACTAP).

The Geothermal Drilling Organization (GDO), founded in 1982 as a joint Department of Energy (DOE)-Industry organization, develops and funds near-term technology development projects for reducing geothermal drilling costs. Sandia National Laboratories administers DOE funds to assist industry critical cost-shared projects and provides development support for each project. GDO assistance to industry is vital in developing products and procedures to lower drilling costs, in part, because the geothermal industry is small and represents a limited market.

Energy (DOE)-industry research and development (R and D) organization, sponsors near-term technology development projects for reducing geothermal drilling and well maintenance costs. Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM) administers DOE funds for GDO cost-shared projects and provides technical support. The GDO serves a very important function in fostering geothermal development. It encourages commercialization of emerging, cost-reducing drilling technologies, while fostering a spirit of cooperation among various segments of the geothermal industry. For Sandia, the GDO also serves as a means of identifying the geothermal industry's drilling fuel/or well maintenance problems, and provides an important forum for technology transfer. Successfully completed GDO projects include: the development of a high-temperature borehole televiewer, high-temperature rotating head rubbers, a retrievable whipstock, and a high-temperature/high-pressure valve-changing tool. Ongoing GDO projects include technology for stemming lost circulation; foam cement integrity log interpretation, insulated drill pipe, percussive mud hammers for geothermal drilling, a high-temperature/ high-pressure valve changing tool assembly (adding a milling capability), deformed casing remediation, high- temperature steering tools, diagnostic instrumentation for casing in geothermal wells, and elastomeric casing protectors.

Sandia`s involvement with downhole instrumentation dates from the mid 1970s when work was centered on the development of a high-temperature acoustic borehole televiewer, and the establishment of a list of high- temperature component parts such as resistors, integrated circuits, and sensors. This work evolved into the development of memory logging devices for the US Continental Scientific Drilling Program. These tools were of low cost and very easy to use. Their deployment resulted in scientific advancement in understanding geothermal formations, and a thrust of the current program is to move memory tools from the scientific realm to the commercial environment. The tools developed and utilized in the SB-15 well among other field tests are completely self- contained in that power is obtained from batteries and data are stored in an electronic memory system. Three memory tools form the backbone of the initial Sandia tool suite. Pressure/temperature measurements are necessary for the evaluation of geothermal reservoirs, and they are relatively simple to make. Thus, the initial Sandia program concentrated on such a tool, and it has been successfully used in SB-15. This tool will form the basis for future tools since many engineering principles were proven in its evolution. This pressure/temperature tool combination is very useful in characterizing the geothermal reservoir. Another tool in the Sandia suite measures the natural gamma rays from the formation. This spectral gamma ray tool is useful in defining lithology, paleoflows, and certain clays. SB-15 well logging history and a preliminary interpretation of the data is presented in this report.

Over 4100 ft (1100 ft oriented) of Mesaverde core was taken during the drilling of the three Multiwell Experiment (MWX) wells, for study in a comprehensive core analysis program. This core traversed five separate depositional environments (shoreline/marine, coastal, paludal, fluvial, and paralic), and almost every major sand in the Mesaverde at the site was sampled. This paper summarizes MWX core analysis and describes the petrophysical properties at the MWX site; reservoir parameters, including permeabilities of naturally fractured core; and mechanical rock properties including stress-related measurements. Some correlations are made between reservoir properties and mineralogy/petrology data. Comparisons are made between the properties of lenticular and blanket sandstone morphologies existing at the site. This paper provides an overview of a complete core analysis in a low-permeability sandstone reservoir. 66 refs., 17 figs. , 9 tabs.

Horizontal stress directions (azimuths) determined from anelastic strain recovery (ASR) and differential strain curve analyses (DSCA) were compared with those from wellbore breakouts detected by borehole televiewer and oriented caliper logs. The ASR/DSCA techniques appear to be more sensitive then the log techniques and provided stress azimuth predictions at depth intervals where the log data did not. Stress azimuth determinations were also made from other core analyses techniques, which, like ASR/DSCA, are associated with the formation of stress release microcracks. Preliminary insights were obtained in the applicability of these other techniques. This work provides information on the stresses at two well sites 3.6 miles apart in Western Colorado; and showing the comparative data in this context provides information on how to apply these techniques and provides an understanding of the apparent influence of geologic effects (topography, depositional environment) on the stresses. 28 refs., 10 figs., 3 tabs.