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Monte Markley, P.G. SCS Aquaterra

Comparison of Regulatory Requirements and Injection Zone Characteristics - A case study between Kansas and Illinois. Monte Markley, P.G. SCS Aquaterra. What to do when you need to dispose of high volume fluids?. One way is to drill a disposal well.

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Monte Markley, P.G. SCS Aquaterra

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  1. Comparison of Regulatory Requirements and Injection Zone Characteristics - A case study between Kansas and Illinois Monte Markley, P.G. SCS Aquaterra

  2. What to do when you need to dispose of high volume fluids? One way is to drill a disposal well

  3. Part 1 - Major Differences in Kansas and Illinois Permitting • Area of Review • Area Permits • Injection Pressures • Different focus during permit review • Permitting Staff Experience • FORMS!

  4. Area of Review • Kansas is 1 mile vs. 2.5 miles in Illinois • Some parts of state are similar to SE Kansas and poor well records • ILOIL database is much less user friendly than KGS site • P&A records harder to obtain in Ill.

  5. Area Permits • Must specify a location for single well or area permit • Can place well anywhere in area permit boundary • Use conservative AOR based on property ownership

  6. Allowable Disposal Well Injection Pressure • Kansas is gravity only • In Illinois –Can’t exceed fracture gradient that is site specific. Current well expected to have a 1,700 psi well head pressure as max inj. pressure

  7. Regulatory Background • EPA Region 5 previously used a fracture pressure gradient of 0.80 psi/ft for calculating MIPs for injection well permits in MI & IN, unless a lower pressure was suitable found it was not protective in all situations. • IL set MIPs on a case-by-case basis; all are presently less than 0.60 psi/ft. • Current disposal well in Hamilton County is expected to be around .80 psi/ft

  8. Map of Pressure Increases

  9. Regulatory Focus Groundwater Flow in Deep Aquifers Freshwater Saline

  10. Permitting Staff Experience • Kansas is more hands on and well rounded • Illinois is more departmentalized and permit engineer often does not know what other departments will focus on.

  11. FORMS……… • Kansas Item # 10 and general guidance documents much more concise and user friendly • IEPA guidance was often vague and conflicting • IEPA required use of TEN separate forms that were not electronic • And 5 copies of everything

  12. Part 2 – Injection Zone Characteristics • Arbuckle prevalent injection target over most of Kansas • Knox Mega Group in Ill Basin is stratigraphic equivalent of Arbuckle Group • Primary injection targets in Ill. are Knox and Mt. Simon -Focus in deeper portions of the basin is the Knox • Knox has some excellent potential but not studied much yet. No large scale data set to draw upon.

  13. Coal Mine Class 1 Disposal Well • Decided on Knox due to Mt. Simon thinning or absent in area and no local control • Essentially a wildcat hole to explore feasibility of Knox as disposal zone in the Ill. Basin

  14. Illinois Basin - Basement Structure WWDW#1

  15. Southern Illinois Geology J. Crockett PTTC Workshop, March 6, 2013

  16. Geologic Control?

  17. Mt. Simon Isopach

  18. Knox Isopach

  19. Knox Core

  20. Knox Core

  21. Knox Core

  22. Knox as an Injection Interval? • Excellent porosity based on logs, core and cuttings • Permeability ranges from .001 to 400-500 md • Highly influenced by vugs, fractures and secondary quartz overgrowths in pore throats • Injection zone water acidic (pH 5.8-6.4) • Creates chemical compatibility concerns and pretreatment issues • Conducting step tests and well stimulation to determine final disposal capacity and pressures

  23. Conclusions • Kansas is much easier regulatory environment • Permit application was approved with no deficiencies noted • Jury is still out on suitability of Knox as injection zone in deeper portions of the basin • Well stimulation and step testing in the next couple of months will provide more information

  24. Questions Monte Markley, P.G. mmarkley@scsengineers.com

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