Pore-scale imaging of trapped supercritical carbon dioxide in sandstones and carbonates
File(s)Andrew et al IJGGC 2014.pdf (7.06 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Andrew, Matthew
Bijeljic, Branko
Blunt, Martin J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Geological carbon dioxide storage must be designed such that the CO2 cannot escape from the rock formation into which it is injected, and often simple stratigraphic trapping is insufficient. CO2 can be trapped in the pore space as droplets surrounded by water through capillary trapping. X-ray microtomography was used to image, at a resolution of 6.6 μm, the pore-scale arrangement of these droplets in three carbonates and two sandstones. The pressures and temperatures in the pore space were representative of typical storage formations, while chemical equilibrium was maintained between the CO2, brine and rock phases to replicate conditions far away from the injection site. In each sample substantial amounts of CO2 were trapped, with the efficiency of trapping being insensitive to pore-morphology and chemistry. Apart from in one extremely well connected sample, the size distribution of residual ganglia larger than 105 voxel3 obey power law distributions with exponents broadly consistent with percolation theory over two orders of magnitude. This work shows that residual trapping can be used to locally immobilise CO2 in a wide range of rock types.
Date Issued
2014-03-01
Date Acceptance
2013-12-23
Citation
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2014, 22 (1), pp.1-14
ISSN
1750-5836
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
14
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
Volume
22
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000335200900001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Energy & Fuels
Engineering, Environmental
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Engineering
Carbon capture and storage
Pore-scale
Reservoir condition
X-ray microtomography
RELATIVE PERMEABILITY HYSTERESIS
INTERFACIAL-TENSION
CO2
STORAGE
PERCOLATION
OIL
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2014-01-20