Strength Development and Carbonation Characteristics of Slag Cement/Class C Fly Ash blended CO₂Injection Well Sealant

Abstract

CO 2 injection well sealant is vulnerable to supercritical CO 2 (scCO 2 ) exposure. To develop an alternative to the conventional sealant system (class G cement/class F fly ash), the performance of slag cement (SPC) systems containing class F fly ash (FFA) or class C fly ash (CFA) was evaluated and compared with the conventional sealant under scCO 2 conditions. All sealant systems showed an immediate increase in compressive strength upon scCO 2 exposure and, at 37.6 MPa, SPC/CFA showed the highest compressive strength after 14 days, which was much higher than the 29.8 MPa of the conventional sealant system. Substantial decreases in porosity were observed in all sealant systems, which were partly responsible for the increase in strength. Carbonation reactions led to pH decreases in the tested sealants from 12.5 to 10~11.6. In particular, the greatest decrease in pH in slag cement/class C fly ash probably supported relatively sustainable alkali activation reactions and the integrity of cement hydrates in this system. XRD revealed the presence of CaCO 3 and a decrease in the content of cement hydrates in the tested sealants upon scCO 2 exposure. TGA demonstrated a greater increase of CaCO 3 and calcium-silicate-hydrate phases in SPC/CFA than in the conventional sealant upon scCO 2 exposure.

A clean and sustainable CO2 storage method in construction materials

“…The strength reduction after 7 days causes due to the weaken NASH bond and degradation of CSH. In ScCO 2 condition, formed CaCO3 in form of calcite, vaterite and aragonite helps to seal the pores in cement and increases the compressive strength (Kim, 2016).…”