Changes in Pore Structure and Connectivity Induced by CO2 Injection in Carbonates: A Combined Pore-Scale Approach

Gharbi, Oussama; Bijeljic, Branko; Boek, Edo S.; Blunt, Martin J.

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2013.06.455

Cited by 66 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…X‐ray microtomography is a powerful method to study the pore‐scale changes induced by rock dissolution (Al‐Khulaifi et al, , ; Gharbi et al, ; Gouze & Luquot, ; Luquot & Gouze, ; Menke et al, , ; Noiriel et al, , , ). Rock property alterations resulting from dissolution depend on the spatial distribution of minerals (mineral heterogeneity), pore structure, reservoir conditions, and flow/transport conditions (Al‐Khulaifi et al, , ; Noiriel et al, ; Wang et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO₂ Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Al‐Khulaifi

Lin

Blunt

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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We study the impact of physical and chemical heterogeneity on reaction rates in multimineral porous media. We selected two pairs of carbonate samples of different physical heterogeneity in accordance with their initial computed velocity distributions and then injected CO2 saturated brine at reservoir conditions at two flow rates. We periodically imaged the samples using X‐ray microtomography. The mineralogical composition was similar (a ratio of dolomite to calcite of 8:1), but the intrinsic reaction rates and mineral spatial distribution were profoundly different. Visualizations of velocity fields and reacted mineral distributions revealed that a dominant flow channel formed in all cases. The more physically homogeneous samples had a narrower velocity distribution and more preexisting fast channels, which promoted dominant channel formation in their proximity. In contrast, the heterogeneous samples exhibit a broader distribution of velocities and fewer fast channels, which accentuated nonuniform calcite distribution and favored calcite dissolution away from the initially fast pathways. We quantify the impact of physical and chemical heterogeneity by computing the proximity of reacted minerals to the fast flow pathways. The average reaction rates were an order of magnitude lower than the intrinsic ones due to mass transfer limitations. The effective reaction rate of calcite decreased by an order of magnitude, in both fast channels and slow regions. After channel formation calcite was shielded by dolomite whose effective rate in slow regions could even increase. Overall, the preferential channeling effect, as opposed to uniform dissolution, was promoted by a higher degree of physical and/or chemical heterogeneity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO₂ Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Al‐Khulaifi

Lin

Blunt

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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“…While numerous experimental and modeling studies have been performed for single-phase reactive transport (RT) [Daccord et al, 1993;Fredd and Fogler, 1999], there are no studies on characterizing two-phase flow in dissolution structures and the formation of dissolution patterns under two-phase-flow conditions. Also, valuable insights in single-phase RT are reported in the CO 2 storage-related literature [Svec and Grigg, 2001;Izgec et al, 2008;Egermann et al, 2010;Gharbi et al, 2013;Lamy-Chappuis et al, 2014;Vialle et al, 2014], but multiphase aspects are still missing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wormhole formation and compact dissolution in single‐ and two‐phase CO₂‐brine injections

Ott

Oedai

2015

Geophysical Research Letters

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Injection of acids and CO2 into geologic formations leads to dissolution of soluble minerals comprising reservoirs rocks. This increases the uncertainty in predicting the security and injectivity of geologic CO2 storage. Here through time‐lapse computed tomography of injection experiments, we present the first dynamic data on wormhole formation and the fluid flow therein. We show that the dissolution during single‐phase flow produces wormholes, as found previously, but that two‐phase flow during CO2‐brine injection leads to compact dissolution. The latter is explained by CO2 preferentially occupying wormhole seeds, which prevents their growth as CO2 is less reactive than acidic brine. On the other hand, the wormhole seeds continue to grow under single‐phase flows with only acidic fluid. The results also suggest that initial Péclet and Damköhler numbers for the single‐phase flow process would fail to describe the dynamic process of whether compact or wormhole dissolution would ensue.

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“…This behavior is often referred to as wormholing [84], and can have important field-scale consequences (e.g. [85]). We show the feasibility of imaging solute transport (diffusion and advection) in 3D in a carbonate at the pore scale.…”

Section: Solute Transportmentioning

confidence: 98%

Fast laboratory-based micro-computed tomography for pore-scale research: Illustrative experiments and perspectives on the future

Bultreys

Boone

Schryver

et al. 2016

Advances in Water Resources

143

119

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Changes in Pore Structure and Connectivity Induced by CO2 Injection in Carbonates: A Combined Pore-Scale Approach

Cited by 66 publications

References 29 publications

Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO₂ Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO₂ Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Wormhole formation and compact dissolution in single‐ and two‐phase CO₂‐brine injections

Fast laboratory-based micro-computed tomography for pore-scale research: Illustrative experiments and perspectives on the future

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Changes in Pore Structure and Connectivity Induced by CO2 Injection in Carbonates: A Combined Pore-Scale Approach

Cited by 66 publications

References 29 publications

Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO2 Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO2 Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Wormhole formation and compact dissolution in single‐ and two‐phase CO2‐brine injections

Fast laboratory-based micro-computed tomography for pore-scale research: Illustrative experiments and perspectives on the future

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Product

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Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO₂ Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Pore‐Scale Dissolution by CO₂ Saturated Brine in a Multimineral Carbonate at Reservoir Conditions: Impact of Physical and Chemical Heterogeneity

Wormhole formation and compact dissolution in single‐ and two‐phase CO₂‐brine injections