Life Cycle Inventory of CO2 in an Enhanced Oil Recovery System

Abstract

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has been identified as a method of sequestering CO₂ recovered from power plants. In CO₂-flood EOR, CO₂ is injected into an oil reservoir to reduce oil viscosity, reduce interfacial tension, and cause oil swelling which improves oil recovery. Previous studies suggest that substantial amounts of CO₂ from power plants could be sequestered in EOR projects, thus reducing the amount of CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere. This claim, however, ignores the fact that oil, a carbon rich fuel, is produced and 93% of the carbon in petroleum is refined into combustible products ultimately emitted into the atmosphere. In this study we analyze the net life cycle CO₂emissions in an EOR system. This study assesses the overall life cycle emissions associated with sequestration via CO₂-flood EOR under a number of different scenarios and explores the impact of various methods for allocating CO₂ system emissions and the benefits of sequestration.