Simulation of CO2 mineral trapping and permeability alteration in fractured basalt: Implications for geologic carbon sequestration in mafic reservoirs

Wu, Hao; Jayne, Richard; Bodnar, Robert J.; Pollyea, Ryan M.

doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2021.103383

Cited by 50 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Precipitation along the fracture network would take longer and more flux input would be needed to disconnect porosity, particularly along the X direction, along which the fracture network is distributed. This confirms some other experimental results according to which precipitation of secondary minerals on the surface would reduce the available reactive surface area, thus slowing down dissolution rates of basalts with time and hence CO 2 mineralisation (Wells et al 2017;Wu et al 2021). When we consider constant dissolution rate, where a constant thickness of calcite is dissolved from the fluid accessible surface at any time step, and fractures remain open, our results indicate that along the X direction dissolution of calcite back Fig.…”

Section: Porosity and Permeability Results From Xct Morphological Bac...supporting

confidence: 90%

“…It has been shown experimentally that carbonate and secondary minerals are likely to precipitate in diffusion-dominated areas of fractures (Luhmann et al 2017;Wu et al 2021). When considering that in situ precipitation may have localised within fracture-like pores and initiated at fracture-wall interfaces, our results show that mineralisation causes porosity to become disconnected more slowly (Figs.…”

Section: Porosity and Permeability Results From Xct Morphological Bac...supporting

confidence: 50%

“…Basalts are therefore considered to be excellent candidates for CO 2 storage by mineral trapping because they make up ~ 10% of Earth's continental surface and the vast majority of seafloors (Goldberg et al 2008;Matter et al 2016;Oelkers et al 2008), and are often capped by impermeable sediments, offering additional advantage towards preventing post-injection leakage (Goldberg et al 2009). These abundant and accessible units contain up to 25% by weight of calcium, magnesium and iron, causing high reactivity with CO 2 and facilitating the production of stable and nontoxic pore-filling minerals (Goldberg et al 2009(Goldberg et al , 2008Luhmann et al 2017;Matter et al 2016;Wu et al 2021). This reactivity translates into carbonate mineralisation on the timescale of weeks to years, compared to hundreds or thousands of years for sedimentary rocks (Matter et al 2016;Menefee et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Evolution of Paleo-Porosity in Basalts: Reversing Pore-Filling Mechanisms Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

et al. 2022

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Often carrying a high-volume fraction of vesicles, basaltic rocks can be an important reservoir horizon in petroleum systems, and are considered an excellent candidate for CO2 storage by in situ mineral trapping. The frequency of amygdaloidal basalts in many sequences highlights the prevalence of mineralisation, but when the vesicle network has been filled, the basalts can act as impermeable seals and traps. Characterising the spatial and temporal evolution of the porosity and permeability is critical to understanding the petro-physical properties and CO2 storage potential of basalts. We exploit X-ray computed tomography (XCT) to investigate the precipitation history of an amygdaloidal basalt containing a pore-connecting micro fracture network now partially filled by calcite as an analogue for CO2 mineral trapping in a vesicular basalt. The fracture network likely represents a preferential pathway for CO2-rich fluids during mineralisation. We investigate and quantify the evolution of basalt porosity and permeability during pore-filling calcite precipitation by applying novel numerical erosion techniques to “back-strip” the calcite from the amygdales and fracture networks. We provide a semi-quantitative technique for defining reservoir potential and quality through time and understanding sub-surface flow and storage. We found that permeability evolution is dependent on the precipitation mechanism and rates, as well as on the presence of micro fracture networks, and that once the precipitation is sufficient to close off all pores, permeability reaches values that are controlled by the micro fracture network. These results prompt further studies to determine CO2 mineral trapping mechanisms in amygdaloidal basalts as analogues for CO2 injections in basalt formations.

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Section: Porosity and Permeability Results From Xct Morphological Bac...supporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Porosity and Permeability Results From Xct Morphological Bac...supporting

confidence: 50%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Evolution of Paleo-Porosity in Basalts: Reversing Pore-Filling Mechanisms Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

et al. 2022

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“…1,2 This problem has been widely concerned around the world. 3,4 Therefore, in its 2017 report, the Sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stressed the need to limit temperature rise to less than 1.5 C, and the reduction of CO 2 emissions is key to limiting temperature rise. 5 It is one of the important means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions effectively to capture CO 2 generated by industrial activities and inject it into underground deep saline aquifers for storage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…14 Many geochemical simulators are used for CO 2 geological storage, among which TOUGHREACT is the most typical one. 3,15,16 They can well simulate the water-rock reaction process in the CO 2 sequestration process of the saltwater layer. In addition to a chemical process, some software even coupled the multi-phase physical seepage and thermal transport process into the model.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of different mineral reaction kinetics equations on predicting long‐term CO ₂ mineral sequestration

Wang

Pan

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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CO 2 geological storage (CGS) is one of the important means to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mineral trapping is an important factor affecting long-term storage security. The process of mineral trapping is significantly affected by mineral reaction kinetics. Therefore, it is of great significance to clarify the influence trend and degree of the control equation of mineral reaction kinetics on predicting the process of CO 2 storage and the amount of mineral sequestration. In this paper, the effect of different reaction rate equations on predicting long-term CO 2 sequestration mechanisms are compared and analyzed by numerical simulation using the existing reaction rate equations. The results show that different reaction rate equations of related minerals have no significant effect on predicting the total amount of CO 2 sequestration and the transformation relationship among different minerals, but will significantly affect different forms of CO 2 sequestration, especially mineral trapping. The ratio of mineral trapping predicted by different reaction rate equations is 20% to 41%. And the predicted CO 2 mineral trapping rate is twice as high when the linear rate equation is used as when the nonlinear rate equation is used. In previous studies, linear rate equations have been widely used to describe the dissolution/precipitation reactions of related minerals, which may greatly overestimate the reaction rate and theoretical capture capacity of minerals. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out reaction kinetics experiments and numerical simulation studies on various major minerals under the condition of CO 2 geological storage in the future, to obtain a more accurate mineral dissolution/precipitation reaction rate equation and improve the ability to evaluate the long-term CO 2 geological sequestration safety.

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Two‐phase flow behavior in CO₂ geological storage considering spatial parameter heterogeneity

Zhong,

Li,

et al. 2023

Greenhouse Gases

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Saline aquifer rocks exhibit significant spatial randomness due to geological sedimentation processes. To address the issue of the heterogeneity of rock formations in numerical simulations, it is common practice to homogenize rock layers with similar lithologies. However, the acceptability of the errors generated during homogenized computations is a major concern and should be investigated. Therefore, to study the influence of heterogeneity at the storage site on the CO2 migration behavior, the Monte Carlo simulation–random finite element method (MCS‐RFEM) was combined with a CO2 two‐phase flow model to compare the effects of the coefficient of variation (Cv) and correlation length (λx) of random reservoir permeability fields on the migration distance and extent of CO2 storage under the same mean conditions. The results showed that higher Cv and λx values significantly reduced the CO2 migration distance while increasing the spread extent. Compared to the homogeneous model, at a λx value of 100 m, the CO2 migration distance decreased by 5.05%, while the profile sweep area increased by 6.20%. Concurrently, with increasing Cv, the area with a CO2 volume fraction higher than 0.75 decreased by 20.22%, while an increase in λx resulted in a 42.35% increase in the area with a CO2 volume fraction higher than 0.75. Therefore, reservoirs with high Cv and low λx values are more suitable for safely storing CO2. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Simulation of CO2 mineral trapping and permeability alteration in fractured basalt: Implications for geologic carbon sequestration in mafic reservoirs

Cited by 50 publications

References 54 publications

The Evolution of Paleo-Porosity in Basalts: Reversing Pore-Filling Mechanisms Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

The Evolution of Paleo-Porosity in Basalts: Reversing Pore-Filling Mechanisms Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

Effects of different mineral reaction kinetics equations on predicting long‐term CO ₂ mineral sequestration

Two‐phase flow behavior in CO₂ geological storage considering spatial parameter heterogeneity

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Simulation of CO2 mineral trapping and permeability alteration in fractured basalt: Implications for geologic carbon sequestration in mafic reservoirs

Cited by 50 publications

References 54 publications

The Evolution of Paleo-Porosity in Basalts: Reversing Pore-Filling Mechanisms Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

The Evolution of Paleo-Porosity in Basalts: Reversing Pore-Filling Mechanisms Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

Effects of different mineral reaction kinetics equations on predicting long‐term CO 2 mineral sequestration

Two‐phase flow behavior in CO2 geological storage considering spatial parameter heterogeneity

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Product

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Effects of different mineral reaction kinetics equations on predicting long‐term CO ₂ mineral sequestration

Two‐phase flow behavior in CO₂ geological storage considering spatial parameter heterogeneity