Numerical simulation of CO2 storage with enhanced gas recovery in depleted tight sandstone gas reservoirs

•The technical feasibility of CO2 flooding to improve gas recovery in depleted tight gas reservoirs is evaluated.•The production performance of the natural gas extraction and CO2 storage processes is analyzed.•Production well and injection well are recommended to be fully perforated in the gas interval.•The gravity difference between CO2 and CH4 has no significant impact on production.•Injecting CO2 when tight gas reservoir is depleted leads to higher total gas recovery. Injecting CO2 into depleted gas reservoirs can sequester greenhouse gases and simultaneously enhancing gas recovery, which has significant environmental and economic benefits. Natural gas resources in tight sandstone reservoirs are huge, but the gas production decreases rapidly and the gas recovery is low due to poor reservoir properties. When these gas reservoirs are depleted, the implementation of CO2 flooding has greater potential to improve gas production and store CO2. However, the production characteristics of the CO2 flooding process and application potential in tight gas reservoirs at the field scale are not yet clear. To fully understand the production mechanism of the CO2 flooding and evaluate the technical feasibility, based on the geological data of the Sulige gas field in the Ordos Basin, a 3D numerical simulation model under the five-point well pattern is established. The production behavior of enhanced gas recovery and CO2 storage processes is studied through numerical simulation approach. Results indicate that the CH4 production rate is significantly increased after CO2 flooding, and the gas recovery can be increased by up to 19.2%, confirming the feasibility of CO2 injection to enhance CH4 production in depleted tight gas reservoirs. Once the CO2 breakthrough occurs, the CH4 production rate decreases rapidly, and the CO2 distribution is only slightly affected by the gravity difference of the components. These characteristics are significantly different from those of high-permeability gas reservoirs. The CO2 front in the early stage is proportional to the square root or cube root of time, depending on the perforation location and reservoir thickness. However, the CO2 front in the late flood stage shows a linear relationship with the square of time. It is recommended that injection well and production wells are completely perforated because the enhanced gas recovery is higher than other perforation options and excessive bottom-hole pressure in the injection well can be avoid