Assessing CO2 Adsorption Capacities onto Shales Through Gravimetric Experiments: A First Step in the Feasibility Study of Coupling “Fracking” with Carbon Storage

Abstract

Oil and gas production from shale formations stimulated by hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") is an abundant source of domestically available energy for the United States of America. Today, shale formations are mostly fracked using fresh water or brine which induces large volumes of water to manage. The use of CO 2 is an alternative fracking option and appears to have several benefits, as (1) it does not require water but carbon dioxide; as (2) injection of carbon dioxide could enhance the gas recovery; and as (3) carbon dioxide could be adsorbed onto the shale surface to be permanently stored in the formation. We performed adsorption experiments to assess the quantity of carbon dioxide that could be adsorbed onto shale.

A review of carbon dioxide adsorption to unconventional shale rocks methodology, measurement, and calculation

“…They also showed that the helium compressibility can be obtained using correlation to measure the void space, whereas the CO 2 values should be obtained using other methods. Lafortune [20] measured CO 2 adsorption on Mesozoic Marine Basin shale samples from France using magnetic suspension balance. The samples were crushed to powder size, and used for the adsorption experiments.…”