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During the past decade, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) has gained considerable recognition as a viable option to mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This process involves capturing CO2 at emission sources such as power plants, refineries, and processing plants, and safely and permanently storing it in underground geologic formations. Many CO2 injection tests have been successfully conducted to assess the storage potential of CO2 in saline formations, oil and natural gas reservoirs, organic-rich shales, and unmineable coal reservoirs. Coal seams are an attractive reservoir for CO2 storage due to coal's large capacity to store gas within its microporous structure, as well as its ability to preferentially adsorb CO2 over naturally occurring methane resulting in enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) recovery. A small-scale CO2 injection test was conducted in Southwest Virginia to assess the storage and ECBM recovery potential of CO2 in a coalbed methane reservoir. The goal of this test was to inject up to 20,000 tons of CO2 into a stacked coal reservoir of approximately 15-20 coal seams. Phase I of the injection test was conducted from July 2, 2015 to April 15, 2016 when a total of 10,601 tons of CO2 were injected. Phase II of the injection was conducted from December 14, 2016 to January 30, 2017 when an additional 2,662 tons of CO2 were injected, for a total of 13,263 total tons of CO2 injected. A customized monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) plan was created to monitor CO2 injection activities, including surface, near-surface, and subsurface technologies. As part of this MVA plan, chemical tracers were used as a tool to help track CO2 plume migration within the reservoir and determine interwell connectivity. The work presented in this dissertation will discuss the development and implementation of chemical tracers as a monitoring tool, detail wellbore-scale tests performed to characterize CO2 breakthrough and interwell connectivity, and present results from both phases of the CO2 injection test. PHD During the past decade, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) has gained considerable recognition as a viable option to mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This process involves capturing CO2 at emission sources such as power plants, refineries, and processing plants, and safely and permanently storing it in underground geologic formations. Many CO2 injection tests have been successfully conducted to assess the storage potential of CO2 in saline formations, oil and natural gas reservoirs, organic-rich shales, and unmineable coal reservoirs. Coal seams are an attractive reservoir for CO2 storage due to coal’s large capacity to store gas within its microporous structure, as well as its ability to preferentially adsorb CO2 over naturally occurring methane resulting in enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) recovery. A small-scale CO2 injection test was conducted in Southwest Virginia to assess the storage and ECBM recovery potential of CO2 in a coalbed methane reservoir. The goal of this test was to inject up to 20,000 tons of CO2 into a stacked coal reservoir of approximately 15-20 coal seams. Phase I of the injection test was conducted from July 2, 2015 to April 15, 2016 when a total of 10,601 tons of CO2 were injected. Phase II of the injection was conducted from December 14, 2016 to January 30, 2017 when an additional 2,662 tons of CO2 were injected, for a total of 13,263 total tons of CO2 injected. A customized monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) plan was created to monitor CO2 injection activities, including surface, near-surface, and subsurface technologies. As part of this MVA plan, chemical tracers were used as a tool to help track CO2 plume migration within the reservoir and determine interwell connectivity. The work presented in this dissertation will discuss the development and implementation of chemical tracers as a monitoring tool, detail wellbore-scale tests performed to characterize CO2 breakthrough and interwell connectivity, and present results from both phases of the CO2 injection test.

Permanently sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) in gas-bearing shale formations is beneficial in that it can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions as well as enhance gas recovery in production wells. This is possible due to the sorption properties of the organic material within shales and their greater affinity for CO2 over methane. The phenomenon of preferentially adsorbing CO2 while desorbing methane has been proven in coalbed reservoirs successfully, and is feasible for shale formations. The objective of this thesis is to explore the potential for enhanced gas recovery from gas-bearing shale formations by injecting CO2 into a targeted shale formation. With the advancement of technologies in horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing, shale gas has become a significant source of energy throughout the United States. With over 6,000 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of theoretical gas-in-place, Appalachia has proven a major basin for gas production from organic shales. With its extensive shale reserves and lack of conventional reservoirs typically used for CO2 storage, Appalachia's unconventional reservoirs are favorable candidates for CO2 storage with enhanced gas recovery. Enhancing gas recovery not only increases reserves, but extends the life of mature wells and fields throughout the basin. As part of this research, 510 tons of CO2 were successfully injected into a horizontal production well completed in the Chattanooga shale formation, a late Devonian shale, in Morgan County, Tennessee. An extensive monitoring program was implemented during the pre-injection baseline, injection, soaking, and flowback phases of the test. Multiple fluorinated tracers were used to monitor for potential CO2 breakthrough at offset production wells and to help account for the CO2 once the well was flowed back. Results from this test, once the well was put back into normal production state, confirm the injectivity and storage potential of CO2 in shale formations, as well as an increase in gas production rate and quality of gas produced. Master of Science