Enhanced Shale Gas Recovery: Gas Sorption Controls on Recoverable Gas and CO2 Storage Capacity

The natural gas industry has seen a revolution in recent times due to the boom in shale gas extraction. The process can be made more efficient by using CO2 injection as part of enhanced recovery. This would serve two key advantages: (1) Preferential shale adsorption of CO2 leading to CO2 storage and (2) Displacement of CH4 leading to higher recovery of natural gas. Executing this process on a field-scale level would need an understanding of the controls on gas adsorption in shale and the overall Gas-in-Place (GIP). In this study, CO2 and CH4 adsorption have been gravimetrically measured at high pressure on a sample of the Bowland shale at 80°C using a Rubotherm Magnetic Suspension Balance. To quantify the compositional effect on adsorption, mesoporous carbon, a synthetic material, has also been used in similar experiments, as an analogue of the organic matter in shale. Both sets of adsorption isotherms have been used to calculate the GIP at reservoir conditions. Good agreement between the two independent sets of data suggests that shales are largely mesoporous and that the organic matter is the main contributor to gas adsorption in shale.