New method of carbon dioxide underground storage coupled with shale gas recovery

Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale, a type of sedimentary rock. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. One analyst expects shale gas to supply as much as half the natural gas production in North America by 2020. As of 2010, Poland imports two-thirds of its natural gas from Russia. ConocoPhillips has announced plans to explore for shale gas in Poland, along with Lane energy. The recently made available US Department of Energy report revealed that the largest reserves of shale gas in Europe are in Poland. The authors of the report calculate that Poland has reserves of about 22.45 trillion cubic meters of shale gas, of which 5.30 trillion cubic meters is immediately available for extracting. The most common method of shale gas recovery is hydraulic fracturing - the propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid. Hydraulic fractures form naturally, as in the case of veins or dikes, and is one means by which gas and petroleum from source rocks may migrate to reservoir rocks. This process is used to release petroleum, natural gas (including shale gas, tight gas and coal seam gas), or other substances for extraction, via a technique called induced hydraulic fracturing. The method is critically assessed by ecologists. The paper deals with new method of gas shale fracturing and gas recovery coupled with carbon dioxide storage. It allows to effectively mine the shale gas and to store carbon dioxide in shale rock. It must be noticed that CO2 pollution is a very important problem in Poland, because of European Union CO2 limits. Also the numerical calculation of carbon dioxide thermodynamical process of decompression process, which simulates the injection of the cold liquid gas into the shale formation (high temperature and pressure conditions) and its influence on shale rock fracturing will be presented.