This article looks at the critical link between orphan wells and climate change, delving into their risks and environmental impacts. It will explore the challenges in transitioning to sustainable energy systems while managing the growing number of orphan wells contributing to global climate change.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, orphan wells are unplugged or plugged gas and oil wells with no recent production. The relationship between orphan wells and climate change is discussed in this article.
Conventional carbon capture is limited by high transportation costs and the need for intensive purification. Membrane-based direct air capture is a promising alternative because capture and storage can be performed at the same remote sites, and low CO2 purity is acceptable for geological storage because the impurities are not hazardous. Molecular dynamics simulations of geological storage of CO2-N2-O2 mixtures from direct air capture demonstrated that this approach is both environmentally acceptable and economically viable.