A Study of Residual Carbon Dioxide Trapping in Sandstone

Abstract

The storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in deep brine-filled geologic strata is largely seen as one of the most important tools for CO 2 emissions mitigation on industrial scales. Residual trapping is a major factor in determining the ultimate extent of CO 2 migration within the reservoir. At the same time there are few studies that have observed the trapping characteristics for CO 2 -brine systems in permeable rocks, including the impact of reservoir conditions, and this remains a major uncertainty for geologic CO 2 storage. In this experimental study, we take advantage of flow conditions that enhance the capillary end effect so that a large saturation gradient across the core is created during drainage with CO 2 . We observe residual trapping of CO 2 in sandstone rocks across the wide range of conditions representative of subsurface reservoirs suitable for CO 2 storage. The observations are made using a reservoir condition core-flooding laboratory that includes high precision pumps, accurate temperature control, the ability to recirculate fluids for weeks at a time and a rotating X-ray CT scanner. Application of residual trapping curves in reservoir scale simulation has also been discussed.

A comprehensive review of value-added CO2 sequestration in subsurface saline aquifers

“…However, the trapped residual CO2 which are essentially immobile would be dissolved in the formation fluids by molecular diffusion until an equilibrium concentration is reached. Residual trapping, which is also known as capillary trapping, plays a key contribution in defining the eventual amount of CO2 migration and distribution within the formation which, in turn, affects the effectiveness of other trapping mechanisms (Niu et al, 2014).…”

Investigations of Structural and Residual Trapping Phenomena during CO2 Sequestration in Deccan Volcanic Province of the Saurashtra Region, Gujarat

“…Most of these studies were conducted with numerical simulations or/and experimental investigation under controlled parameters by considering the core samples of the geological domain [31,48]. Most researchers use experimental techniques like core-flooding techniques and X-ray microtomography to study the trapping capacity at the lab scale [27,44,46,49].…”

Effect of CO2 Flooding on the Wettability Evolution of Sand-Stone

“…In carbon geo-sequestration, wettability is a crucial factor that intensely and directly influences containment security, injectivity, structural, dissolution, and residual trapping capacities [18,19] [20]. These differences in wettability are caused by geological and chemical factors, such as surface chemistry (e.g., organic content) [21][22][23], reservoir pressure (the increase in pressure leads to a decrease in water wettability) [18,24,25], reservoir temperature [26][27][28], salinity, and ion type (salinity increases as CO 2 wettability increases) [18,[29][30][31][32]. Therefore, it is essential to understand the fluid-rock interaction, as these interactions clearly can affect the capillary pressure and aquifer permeability, and hence the injectivity and storage capacities [33,34].…”