CO2 Accounting and Risk Analysis for CO2 Sequestration at Enhanced Oil Recovery Sites.

Using CO2 in enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) is a promising technology for emissions management because CO2-EOR can dramatically reduce sequestration costs in the absence of emissions policies that include incentives for carbon capture and storage. This study develops a multiscale statistical framework to perform CO2 accounting and risk analysis in an EOR environment at the Farnsworth Unit (FWU), Texas. A set of geostatistical-based Monte Carlo simulations of CO2-oil/gas-water flow and transport in the Morrow formation are conducted for global sensitivity and statistical analysis of the major risk metrics: CO2/water injection/production rates, cumulative net CO2 storage, cumulative oil/gas productions, and CO2 breakthrough time. The median and confidence intervals are estimated for quantifying uncertainty ranges of the risk metrics. A response-surface-based economic model has been derived to calculate the CO2-EOR profitability for the FWU site with a current oil price, which suggests that approximately 31% of the 1000 realizations can be profitable. If government carbon-tax credits are available, or the oil price goes up or CO2 capture and operating expenses reduce, more realizations would be profitable. The results from this study provide valuable insights for understanding CO2 storage potential and the corresponding environmental and economic risks of commercial-scale CO2-sequestration in depleted reservoirs.

Adventitial Cells and Perictyes Support Chondrogenesis Through Different Mechanisms in 3-Dimensional Cultures With or Without Nanoscaffolds.

In previous studies, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) derived from bone marrow and fat tissues were shown to increase proliferation and matrix production of chondrocytes (CH) in co-culture. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of pericytes (CD31(neg)CD45(neg)CD146+CD34(neg)) and adventitial cells (CD31(neg)CD45(neg)CD146(neg)CD34+) sub-populations of MSCs in supporting proliferation and matrix deposition of CH. The MSCs were derived from synovial membrane and attaching fat tissue. Then, the pericytes and adventitial cells were sorted from total MSCs and co-cultured with articular CH respectively. In pellet co-culture model, the pericytes showed more prominent effects on glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) production and Collagen II synthesis than the adventitial cells which had stronger effects on promoting CH proliferation. In addition, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed to examine the expression of a group of secreted growth factors and co-culture performed on electrospun scaffolds based on Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB4HB), to verify the trophic effects of different MSC sub-populations in 3-Dimensional (3D) environment. In conclusion, it was found that the pericytes and adventitial cells support CH in different ways; the adventitial cells more supporting the proliferation of CH, while pericytes are better in stimulating GAGs and collagen production of CH.